I was losing my internet connection so I took my computer in for service. The tech installed a new ethernet card and told me also that my firewall (I was using the free Comodo firewall) was causing me to lose my internet connection. He suggested installing a router instead so I purchased and installed a Netgear wireless router. The box says it provides double firewall security (NAT FIREWALL and SPI FIREWALL).
I was told that a router is alot better than a software firewall. Is this true?
First of all why did he change the Network card if the problem is with the FW?
Well I doubt it. And also you “should” be able to correct the problem if the CPF caused it.
Now that you’ve moved to a router. Let’s talk about the new situation.
SF firewalls needs resources from the Computer to run. But HW firewalls are dedicated for that tasks. It’s good to have a HW FW if you can. But configuring this is hard since you have to login to the router all the time.
It’s better to have a Software FW as well. Since then u have two levels of defense. And you can monitor your applications as well. I have a router (with FW) and I run CPF as well.
Hope this helps!
regards,
Dam
I smell a rat here personally, grog45…
The only reason, IMO, that a tech would sell hardware to “solve” a software issue is to make some money at the customer’s expense. If there is a known software conflict, the ethical thing to do is refer the customer to the vendor. And Damitha’s right - if that was the case, that’s something that could be easily fixed for free!
Also, selling a hardware firewalled router to replace a software router is also suspect; they are two different things, and serve two different purposes. Additionally, a NAT router (most are) is NOT a firewall. NAT stands for network address translation, and means that the firewall assigns an IP range to all computers behind it (ie, the network). This IP address range is different than the external/public IP address assigned by the ISP. While this does help improve security, especially when combined with the SPI (stateful packet inspection) firewall, NAT is not a firewall.
A hardware firewall, such as in the common router, is designed essentially to keep “bad” things out. However, this is geared toward actual traffic and traffic types (without getting too technical, this won’t do anything about websites you interact with, things you download, spam, viruses, etc; it should stop or deter the average hacker and hacking attempts to gain access to your network). Some hardware firewalls do much much more, but these are not for the home user. 
A software firewall on the other hand, is designed to keep bad things in, and to some extent, out. It does not have, typically, the outward defensive capabilities that a hardware firewall does. On the other hand, if you do come in contact with something nasty (virus, etc), it should alert you and allow you to contain that nasty so that it doesn’t use your machine to gain access to others.
Thus, it is good to have both, no doubt. But neither one really replaces the other. With a wireless router, you need to be sure that it is configured properly for the best security; otherwise there are those that will piggyback your bandwidth/connection (or try to use the airwaves to hijack your system. There is a tutorial in the FAQ section, about securitying your WiFi LAN.
LM
Yeah, and this time it’s bigger than the cat. :o
CFP isn’t good enough for you anymore >:(. Hardware firewalls also have outbound defense ???
Sorry, that doesn’t sound quite right, does it. But my word was “outward” not “outbound”. That meaning, that it provides a barrier outward, to keep the bad out, rather than inward, to keep the bad in. That could be seen as going against the regular descriptors, so I apologize for any confusion. (:SHY)
LM
No, no. My fault. So used to the computer tech terms of inbound, outbound, incoming, outgoing, that I forgot about inward and outward and that they hold multiple meanings. :-\
BTW, if you type define:outward on a Google search, the last definition is:
[b]outbound[/b]: that is going out or leaving; "the departing train"; "an outward journey"; "outward-bound ships"
Just a little reminder that there is a site, http://www.portforward.com/ , that has alot of good info
when it comes to configuring routers. Thought I would throw this one in