I am getting ready to go wireless with my home router. Does anyone have a suggestion as to a basic firewall that I should get? On the one hand, I really don't have much on my PC's so it does not have to be super secure. I mean if someone wants to go to the trouble of hacking into a few games and some scuba downloads & pictures, well more power to them. On the other hand, I don't want my broadband taken over either. Mostly I am looking for easy and cheap. Any sugestions appreciated.
The router probably has some basic protection built in. There is also some software at Target and Wal-Mart that would probably be good enough for what you're describing.
There is a pretty popular free firewall at:
In the bottom right hand corner there is a ZoneAlarm free download. All the computer trade rags talk it up but I have never used it though...
When you implemnt your wireless you only extened you network to the out side world. If you change you SSID, disable the broadcast and turn on encryption. You will prevent "outside users" from accessing your network.
Implementing a firewall to your internet connection is something you should do weather you have wireless or not.
tbrown, if you would like some help doing this let me know. I will be home tonight after work.
If you walk outside your house sometime and find strange looking chalk marks on the sidewalk, those are war chalk markings. The lesson, really focus on securing your wireless network when you first setup the device.
Personally I don't recommend firewall software that runs on your computer. I would go on ebay and buy an older Watchguard SOHO firewall, or something similar. Another option is to install something like a Smoothwall firewall. Just take an old PC (I use an old P2/300 system), two network cards, and install the Smoothwall (free) software on it. A separate firewall provides more flexibility and easier network troubleshooting.
tbrown, did you ever get up and running???
Got put on the back burner for awhile. Gotta get my garage rebilt now the weather is better. I still have it in non wireless though, I just hate cables.