Home network Internet security

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

Must one have an Internet security program on every PC in one's home network, or just the primary PC? In addition, must one have an anti-virus program on every PC in the network?

 

[Thanee]

With Internet Security you mean a Firewall, I suppose?

If you have a router managing all the connections to the outside (your home network being connected to the router), which is highly recommendable, you do not necessarily need another Firewall, since the router already acts as one (and much better than any software Firewall, anyways).

As for Anti-Virus, it's probably a good idea to have one run on each PC, but the main PC could be sufficient (though that won't usually include the other PCs in the checks, if that's your question). Just depends on how paranoid you are, really. It's most important on PCs where you use lots of new and different programs, especially free software downloaded from the internet; or when the computer's user is of the kind that really needs to see what this pretty new e-mail attachment is...

Bye
Thanee

 

[GlassJaw]

I would never connect a PC with a broadband connection to the internet without a router/firewall anymore. You just asking to get hacked. A router will protect you against people from the outside trying to get in.

Remember though, if you click on something you shouldn't have (like spam email), the router won't help you at all. Once you initiate the connection, your computer is free game.

 

[XCorvis]

Do you have broadband or dialup, and do you run your internet connection through one computer to the others (internet sharing) or does each attach to the router directly? Assuming broadband and a multi-port router, either the router needs to have a firewall or each computer does. There's a weak firewall built into windows XP, but you can find better products. If you have dialup, a firewall is a good idea but probably not necessary because of the little time you're online. Worry more about viruses. If you've got broadband and are sharing the connection, I'm not really sure. Probably only one firewall is necessary, on the main computer.

You need AV on every computer connected to a network, even if the connection is run through another computer. You can get free virus scanners from AVG and some other places (I can't recall the names), so there's no reason not to have it.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 (AVG free version)

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

With Internet Security you mean a Firewall, I suppose?

If you have a router managing all the connections to the outside (your home network being connected to the router), which is highly recommendable, you do not necessarily need another Firewall, since the router already acts as one (and much better than any software Firewall, anyways).

As for Anti-Virus, it's probably a good idea to have one run on each PC, but the main PC could be sufficient (though that won't usually include the other PCs in the checks, if that's your question). Just depends on how paranoid you are, really. It's most important on PCs where you use lots of new and different programs, especially free software downloaded from the internet; or when the computer's user is of the kind that really needs to see what this pretty new e-mail attachment is...

Bye
Thanee

I would never connect a PC with a broadband connection to the internet without a router/firewall anymore. You just asking to get hacked. A router will protect you against people from the outside trying to get in.

Remember though, if you click on something you shouldn't have (like spam email), the router won't help you at all. Once you initiate the connection, your computer is free game.

Thanks for the replies. Everything currently goes through my main PC, which has Norton Internet Security installed. I currently network to another PC via a hub. I am upgrading to a wireless router/firewall setup this week, and will also add a third PC to the mix. The router/firewall, along with Norton, should cover me then.

I'm still debating the anti-virus on each PC however. We'll see how it goes...

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

Do you have broadband or dialup, and do you run your internet connection through one computer to the others (internet sharing) or does each attach to the router directly? Assuming broadband and a multi-port router, either the router needs to have a firewall or each computer does. There's a weak firewall built into windows XP, but you can find better products. If you have dialup, a firewall is a good idea but probably not necessary because of the little time you're online. Worry more about viruses. If you've got broadband and are sharing the connection, I'm not really sure. Probably only one firewall is necessary, on the main computer.

You need AV on every computer connected to a network, even if the connection is run through another computer. You can get free virus scanners from AVG and some other places (I can't recall the names), so there's no reason not to have it.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 (AVG free version)

I have broadband, with the connection going through one PC currently. That'll change with the wireless setup this week. Thanks for the link and advice!

 

[Thanee]

I am upgrading to a wireless router/firewall setup this week...

Good.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Rackhir]

With all of the stuff on the internet you are insane if you don't run at least anti-virus on a machine that is connected to the internet.

What's worse you are likely helping to spread spam and participate in Denial of Service attacks, since both are done by using compromised machines. Machines compromised because people don't bother to maintain their computers properly.

On one of the computers at my job, I got careless and didn't make sure it was upgraded to the latest version of the AV software. When I did upgrade it, I found that there was something like 50 pieces of adware/spamware on the machine. This was on a machine that was running anti-virus software, that just wasn't the latest version.

 

[GlassJaw]

On one of the computers at my job, I got careless and didn't make sure it was upgraded to the latest version of the AV software. When I did upgrade it, I found that there was something like 50 pieces of adware/spamware on the machine. This was on a machine that was running anti-virus software, that just wasn't the latest version.

The thing is, anti-virus software alone won't protect you from everything. A lot spyware comes from stuff that YOU click on or from hackers port-scanning and looking for openings and back doors into your computer. Once found, they install all sorts of nice things. For that type of stuff, you absolutely need a router/firewall. And I much prefer a hardware firewall to software.

 

[Rackhir]

The thing is, anti-virus software alone won't protect you from everything. A lot spyware comes from stuff that YOU click on or from hackers port-scanning and looking for openings and back doors into your computer. Once found, they install all sorts of nice things. For that type of stuff, you absolutely need a router/firewall. And I much prefer a hardware firewall to software.

Yes, this is why I said "at least" and not "you only need to" or "forget about anything other than". Your comment is akin to my complaining that your recomendation does nothing to back up the OPs computer system.