Sharing Internet between new Desktop and Laptop

wolfman

Sorry, missed where you mentioned about ZoneAlarm and Norton, hence recommending Kerio.

Yeah, leave it on all the time, you shouldn't have any problems. I've not switched mine off for 3 years now apart from the occassional reboot

Slimeball20

Thanks for all the help.

I was just concerned at my modem showing activity even though my machine was off.

The router firewall should be OK to prevent anything nasty happening.

MercilessKiller

Stabilo wrote:

MercilessKiller, the trusty firewall is blamed for almost all PC faults (monitor flickers, hard disk noisey, Excel fails to add up ).

I suggest the laptop is incorrectly configured i.e. fixed I.P. rather than server assigned etc. It is possible for the wireless network to be configured correctly and still not obtain an internet connection.

If OP still has problems after disabling firewall PROTECTION they should repost and we could help configure the laptop.

If NAT was disabled on the router (possible for a novice user) surely the pc could be hacked if the software firewall is disabled?

Stabilo.

Who the hell said disable NAT?

Lol... to be quite honest with you, it is a really straight forward thing.

Nat is a firewall ON THE ROUTER and should/would not be disabled during home use. However, the software firewalls on the computers such as ZA, norton, and windows firewall BLOCK access to and from the router meaning the pc can not ping or download data for websites, but can connect to the likes of msn messenger etc....

MercilessKiller

Slimeball20 wrote:

Thanks for all the help.

I was just concerned at my modem showing activity even though my machine was off.

The router firewall should be OK to prevent anything nasty happening.

Router firewall is all you need

You ain't going to be hacked with that thing protecting you no worries.

wolfman

MercilessKiller wrote:

Router firewall is all you need

If you only want one way protection that is. A router firewall won't protect you from outbound connections. So once something is on your system and unnoticed, it can do as it pleases.

Also a router firewall can only filter packets on things such as ports and ip addresses. It can't handle specific applications. For example msn messenger and trillian may use the same ports, but the router wouldn't know the difference. How port hijacking can occur.

A router will protect you generally from most things, but to not have any restriction on outbound connections from your machine is definitely running a risk, which is why I'd always run a software firewall.

Even if it's something as light as Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 (6mb of resources). You'd be amazed how complex leaking tricks are these days, even software firewalls are having to be constantly updated to keep up with them.

It's a personal choice, so each to his own. With a software firewall you do have to install it, use up resources, and "train" it. But then you gain extra security.

Rex_Mundi

However, the software firewalls on the computers such as ZA, norton, and windows firewall BLOCK access to and from the router meaning the pc can not ping or download data for websites, but can connect to the likes of msn messenger etc.

When I set up the router on this network. My Zonealarm Pro asked my permission to allow traffic to the router, and I clicked yes (with the box ticked so it remembered my choice). It was that easy to set up.

The advice from wolfman is very good advice. A software firewall gives you much more comprehensive control of what data is allowed to leave your computer.

You say that your antivirus/antispyware will deal with any possible nasties that may send information from your computer. But these don't generally scan in 'real time' (not the antispyware anyway). If you picked up some spyware today, and it began to send out your passwords/bank details/personal info. Without a software firewall to warn you, it would be free to send out information till you ran your next spyware scan. How often do you propose to run these scans to be safe? If you scanned daily, and you picked up the spyware just after your scan. It would have 24 hours of free reign with your info till your next scan. A software firewall would pick it up the moment it tried to send your info out of your computer.

I know which method of protection (and level of safety) I prefer and recommend to others.

Slimeball20

Hi everyone,

Quick update:

1) Tried disabling all firewall protection on the laptop but to no avail. The wireless connection with the router is established but pages cannot be displayed when we go into IE.

2) Zone Alarm Pro on my Desktop doesn't recognise the IP address of the wireless connection. Should I add it to my Trusted Zone to see if it makes a difference? Browsing using the Desktop is normal (I'm typing from it).

I have the properties of the wireless connection i.e. IP, Subnet, and Default Gateway. What can I do with these to sort things out please?

Thanks.

Rex_Mundi

Try this.

Control panel>network>scroll down to TCP/IP and your wireless card. Click this once to highlight it. Click properties and make sure you have you've got a tick in 'obtain an IP address automatically'

Stabilo

Slimeball20 wrote:

Hi everyone,

Quick update:

1) Tried disabling all firewall protection on the laptop but to no avail. The wireless connection with the router is established but pages cannot be displayed when we go into IE.

2) Zone Alarm Pro on my Desktop doesn't recognise the IP address of the wireless connection. Should I add it to my Trusted Zone to see if it makes a difference? Browsing using the Desktop is normal (I'm typing from it).

I have the properties of the wireless connection i.e. IP, Subnet, and Default Gateway. What can I do with these to sort things out please?

Thanks.

So it wasn't a firewall problem (MercilessKiller).

Stabilo

Rex_Mundi

Stabilo wrote:

So it wasn't a firewall problem (MercilessKiller).

Stabilo

................ROFL :rotfl: