On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 09:05:36PM +0200, Kiffin Gish wrote: > I have installed FreeBSD 5.4 on my Dell Inspiron 8200 using WiFi to > access the Internet. > > My question is what are the pros and cons of running a firewall on my > client, e.g. is it really necessary.
A pro would be that a firewall enables you to keep people from accessing your laptop remotely. WiFi connections aren't that secure, unless you encrypt the traffic. So if your laptop is not a server, use a firewall to disable all incoming packets except those related to connections you initiated. That way you can secure necessary services like mail and printing. > I mean it's not like I am running Windows and have to bloat it with all > McAfee, Zonealarm ad infinitum -- or do I? I've got pf on my workstation. I haven't noticed any performance or network speed loss while using it. So I can see few reasons not to use a firewall. If you're not running windows, don't bother with a virus scanner. Do filter your mail for spam, though. Roland -- R.F.Smith (http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/) Please send e-mail as plain text. public key: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/pubkey.txt
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