No. I was only identifying the XP built-in firewall. The XP firewall is a one-way service - it blocks inbound traffic only. The typical home-use NAT router blocks inbound traffic from the Internet automatically. So the XP firewall is redundant for protection against Internet intrusions in this scenario.
[OK, since someone will rush to point out if I don't say it, the XP firewall can still be useful if another machine on your LAN gets infected with something that spreads machine-to-machine via the LAN. But generally, when all machines on the LAN are equipped with AV software, have the latest MS security patches, and you're allowing F&P sharing between those machines, the added protection from the XP firewall is next to nothing.] 3rd party s/w firewalls which look at outbound traffic are still useful, because they can distinguish between the program sending the traffic, and prohibit rogue programs from accessing the network. A separate firewall can't block or allow traffic based on the program that orignates the traffic. Carl -----Original Message----- From: Windows Home/SOHO [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard King Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 12:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: File system sharing over a wireless net Hi, So one can rely on the router in place of say EZ-Armor's firewall? I know that to get my new wireless XP laptop to see & work with the old wired 2K desktop, it was necessary to add the router's IP address range to both machines' firewalls as "good guys" (I initially thought it was a case of cyber-sulk ;-). I assume this means some config work on the router, which IMHO would be trickier than with EZ-Armor. Regard, Richard.be ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Houseman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 4:40 AM Subject: Re: File system sharing over a wireless net > If the desktop is XP then you want to be disabling the XP firewall, or > reconfiguring the XP firewall to permit file sharing access. The XP > firewall isn't really needed when the machines access the Internet via a > router. -- ---------------------------------------- The WIN-HOME mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
