Home networking security

Hi All,

                        I have been playing around with Networking my home computers for a
                        while now. While I have been able to network them without many
                        problems I usually do not enable file and print sharing for security
                        reasons. Not having this enabled sort of defeats the purpose for
                        networking in the first place. I am running "Norton Personal Firewall"
                        and "BlackIce". Are these 2 programs going to give me enough security
                        if I decide to keep file and print sharing enabled all the time?
                        At this time I my setup is as follows.

                        2 computers dualbooting Win 2000 and Win98
                        Linksys 5 port hub
                        Cable modem

                        Thanks for any help.
                        Stephen

[wizbones]

Your Linksys should be protection enough. You can specifiy what to allow through and what not to allow.

Check out Linksys's web site for more info on how to configure the router to better protect yourself.

Running a personal firewall and blackice in the background is overkill in my opinion but if it makes you feel better than hey knock yourself out  

I have had very little problem using the linksys for my clientele, and you can block everything if you'd like. Happy surfin n networkin

Hi Wizbones,

Thanks for the reply. Just one thing that I want to make clear. I am running a Linksys's Hub not a router.
Just wanted to point that out. So do you still think my system is secure enough or do you think that maybe I should get a router with a hardware firewall?

Thanks
Stephen

[wizbones]

Doh,

Missed the hub part. So I guess that makes my earlier reply completely null n void and out there as it were.

Thanks for pionting out my ignorance  ;D

Well running personal firewall and blackice is pretty decent. I personally would swap to Zonealarm Pro much better product and it does support NAT (network address translation) it runs about 45 bucks or so american. The free version only supports one computer.

Blackice is only good for reporting what's going on that's it.

Other than that I apologize profusely for giving out bad info there   I'll do better next time, promise

Hi Wizbones,

Thanks for your input.  I will check into getting Zonealarm Pro.
Thanks again
Stephen