3 questions

First, let me describe my setup. I live in 56k land (hello boonies), and have two pc's in my house. One in my room and one in my brother's. Each has a modem for the internet, and they are networked via a hub, each using a D-Link ethernet card.

1.) I'm having troubles with some games. I got UT to work by making the pc's have a static ip on the lan. Other games, like Starcraft, I have problems with. I can't find the other pc's game. (OS: win2k)

2.) What is a stable and fast internet browser besides IE and netscape? Well, is there really any difference between how fast data is accessed with different browsers in the first place?

3.) I'm also looking for a good firewall program. Freeware! But that's not the question...the question is how do I use it? I've never used a firewall before, so I am totally in the dark on this one.

TIA

Hi there...

I am not a big gamesplayer, so I'll let someone else take question one.

As to #2, Opera is a great web browser that has always seemed to be much faster that Netscape or IE, IMHO. The lastest version is adware, which I am not fond of, but folks who use it still stay it is a pretty good performer. I stuck with one of the older versions, which didn't have the ads at all.

http://www.opera.com/

As for a firewall, I'd recomend Zone Alarm. Easy to use, easy to install, and a nice piece of software, particularly since there is a free version which works well.

http://www.zonelabs.com/

I run W2K on one of my systems, and have had no problems with ZoneAlarm at all. I did decide to pay a bit and get the Pro version, but only because I use a Virtual Private Network for my employer, and wanted to control things a bit more than the free version allows.

Hope this helps,

Dave

1.) do u have IPX/SPX and other protocols installed?

since 2 and 3 were just answered while I was writing this, I wont repeat it, but I agree with dru

Oooh, thanks Dru! How do I config zone alarm? Like, how do I know which ports to let data in and out or whatever? Do I need to specify every program that I want to have data go in and out etc?

Lesse I have TCP/IP, Client for MS networks, and file sharing. Do I need IPX for starcraft?

yeah IPX/SPX is used alot in lanning..

as for ZoneAlarm, once u've run it, it'll block all sortsa stuff, but it'll alert u, Do u want to continue? u can say yes, and don't ask again for this file, so after awhile the progs u use it'll know and block the rest..

Ok, thanks you two. Ok, super super super huge props to the makers of Opera and you guys for pointing me towards it. I've been looking for a browser for windows that would let me easily toggle images, and it has it right next to the address bar!! I got the non-java version since I already have the jdk on my pc and I didn't want to wait an hour to try it out, hehe. Mmmmm, happy me

I think w/ ZA you can configure it to allow packets out from programs on your system w/o having to have it ask before the program is run. Like configuring it BEFORE it asks.