Thread: Computer people please help.

Originally Posted by chee16

i am against Wi-Fi because of the constant EMFs givin off (i know this is controversial but it is my opinion ) and since i would be sitting in them for 9 hours a day so i used a simple 4 way router (we have natural practitioners int he back that also use it). i don't know about the firewall with it but i run the windows firewall. i am always open to suggestions though.


thanks
Wes

If the device you use to connect to the internet is not a router but a switch or a hub, then you won't even get to the point of enabling windows firewall without being infected.
Last time I checked, a vanilla XP install is infected before you even get the chance to enable firewall or install updates.

If you open a command line window and execute the command 'ipconfig', what IP addresses do you see? I don't need the full address, but if you can post the first 2 numbers, I can tell whether you are safe or not.
For example, if the IP address is 192.168.1.1, then just post the 192.168 part.

Anyway, due to the nature of tcp/ip and current networking concepts, most internet routers perform an operation that switches the IP address of your computer with its own IP address when making an outside connection. This is commonly called NAS (Network Address Translation).

A side efect of NAS is that by default, it is impossible from anything on the outside to make a connection with anything on the inside. Otoh, a hub or a switch passes everything through both ways. And it might surprise you, but any public IP address is constantly under attack from various botnets or viruses. So if you don't own a firewall, then at least you should use a router (which may or may not be the case already).

A friend of mine had a wireless router, and he didn't use wireless anymore so he planned on connecting his ethernet port directly to the net I convinced him to simply take off the antennas and replace them with blind caps, and use it as a router.

A real firewall would be even better, but that would require a good understanding of TCP/IP if you want to actually do anything useful with it. Without that, the use of a NAS device + windows firewall is good enough for most home users.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If the device you use to connect to the internet is not a router but a switch or a hub....
....what IP addresses do you see?

i am using a D-Link Ethernet Broadband Router (EBR-2310).

the IP address starts with 192.168

thanks for all the help and the info, i really appreciate it.

Wes

Originally Posted by chee16

i am using a D-Link Ethernet Broadband Router (EBR-2310).

the IP address starts with 192.168

thanks for all the help and the info, i really appreciate it.

Wes

192.168 is an address range that is reserved for private use. The main implication for you is that this means that your device is indeed a router and uses NAS. And unless otherwise configured, it will not let outside connections get in.

This means that your computer is relatively safe during installation, and if you are using windows firewall, you should be fine as long as you take no unnecessary risks like installing things you got from unkown people / sites.