Firewall assistance

RAF

After receiving incredible, mind-saving advice from this site on how to rid my computer of adware/spyware, I thought I'd pose a question to those who know much more about computers than I. Background: I run my own small company (very small-two computers) and have a desktop that's wired into a wireless router with a cable modem. I have a laptop that I use that connects to the office network. Whenever I try to add the extra protection of a firewall (on either computer), I lose the ability to communicate on my network, whether it's file sharing, printer sharing or otherwise. I'd like to use a firewall for additional protection but it doesn't seem possible with my current configuration. I was told by the computer setup person when he hooked up my network that my wireless modem (D-Link DI-524) has a firewall built in and hence I don't need the individual computers to have one. However, I am unsure as to the truth of that statement. Any help is greatly appreciated.

flyrice

That guy's right...most of the wireless routers today do have a built in firewall.

But to solve your problem, make sure your laptop's firewall is configured to send and receive from your desktop. I had that same problem when I was networking my house...the ZoneAlarm firewall wasn't letting any PC see any other PC.

Find out the IP address of both of your computers (go to command prompt by clicking on START -> RUN -> CMD and then type ipconfig to find it out.) Then set the firewalls to allow the ips to get through your firewall.

Dexter

Personally, I would not bother using the software firewall either computer. Your DI-524 Router has a good hardware built in that uses NAT routing to help protect against any direct intrusion attempts. It gives you all the protection you need. I have done several SOHO networks (small office / homes) and the hardware firewall is more than sufficient. Adding a software firewall just adds complications like this into the mix, and also adds another running processes to your systems, slowing them down slightly.

If you really do want to use a software firewall, you need to enable each computer's software firewall to allow incoming and outgoing Port 139 connections. That is the port Windows uses for NetBIOS Sessions, which is what Windows File and Printer Sharing uses to communicate. Depending on whether you have a free version of the firewall software or a paid version, you may not be able to configure it to allow Port 139 on only certain IP ranges.

My advice is just use the hardware firewall, that is what it is designed for.

Dexter...

RAF

Thanks for the replies. Since it took the better part of 2 weeks to get my network set up and working properly I think I'll simply allow the router's firewall to do the job. I'll just continue using the 4 or 5 adware/spyware programs and Norton to give me the additional protection. Thanks again.