Fire wall

Like most of us here I leave my pc on 24-7 to run SETI, And Im on a cable modem. I leave It also on so SETI can update as needed.
Im useing black ice as my fire wall Do you think this is good enugh? what do you guys use?

I use a router.

I was just using Zonelarm, but I recently added a Linksys router; it seems to have reduced the 3 of scans coming in.

There have been other threads discussing firewalls, a lot of good info- check 'em out.

Im behind a Linksys router as well. I also use ZA (pro version).

Fire Wall

I use a Netgear RT311 router/firewall. I may end up replacing it with a home built Linux setup to allow for better logging...if I ever get off my butt and figure out Linux!

Cy

I have a Netgear R0318 router/firewall which is pretty good imho

Hub and switch

Toomny,

A simple explanation is that a hub will send any and all traffic to all ports regardless of destination. A switch does not do this, it learns which port each MAC address (for each system etc.) is on and will only send traffic to the correct port. This allows for faster traffic by reducing collisions and increases security. A router switch is a regular network switch with a router built in such as for a xDSL or cable connection. The router is able to properly send traffic to that particular connection type. My RT311 also has a built in firewall. The router talks to the cable modem and to the local network switch.

Generally switches are best for speed but limit the ability to "watch" the network since not all traffic is sent down every port. Since switches are not much more than hubs these days most people get them instead. HTH.

Cy

A couple of my friends have the Lynksys routers and besides minor problems sending them stuff, they work really nicely.