On Sunday 07 Sep 2003 7:13 pm, crak600 wrote: > so here's a question about the viruses. does a router with a natural > firewall built in help out at all? i'm on cable and i run a 4 port > router, even though i only have one computer on it, and i only use > the router for the firewall protection, just to keep the hackers out. > but since my IP address stops at the router and my machine gets a > different IP address, because the router gives it an IP address like > it's on a network, does this help out at all in the stopping of > spreading any viruses? > > if i am wrong in any of this, please correct me. i was told that > what is seen from the outside is one IP address, and if i was running > 4 computers off of the router, only the one IP address assigned to me > by the cable company would be seen on the 'outside' using basic means > to see it. of course, they could use some programs to see there are > more machines on the network if they really wanted to, but that'd > start being an invasion of privacy at a certain point. > > like i said, if i'm wrong, correct me. please. > > Mike
A firewall will stop you being hacked, either by a person or by a "virus" on an infected machine, if it is set up right. It will not protect you from virii that arrive in mail or anything else that you let through the firewall. For example if you run a web server, that server is open to be hacked. A router firewall will usually let out all traffic from your LAN towards the Internet. Therefore it is not helpful in preventing you spreading virii. It could be setup to do so, but it isn't usually, and it sounds as if you are using a factory default setp. -- Richard Urwin
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