One Firewall protecting it all?

To make my network to work and share files I must disable my firewall on my second rig but my main rig that has direct connection to the modem/internet has a firewall. My question is: Is that one firewall protecting my second rig? In the past I have been thinking it was because activity is logged in the firewall log on my main rig from accessing the internet on the second rig.

Does your main machine has two network cards?

What is probably happening is that the firewall on the second machine isn't setup to allow a connection to the ports required for file sharing.

Yes, the main rig has two network cards. My only concern is if the second rig is being protected by the main rig's firewall.

If you are using internet connection sharing, than I think the second rig is ok.

Axle