I realised in my last crusade to inform the less informed that i neglected to offer my knowelge on the origenal post
Quote:
Originally posted by Denise
Hi,
I do have AV, Firewall and run AdAware & Spybot obsessively.
Is a NAT "router"(?) required if you’re a home PC user not on a LAN?
If a person did use a P2P should a NAT "router"(?) be used?
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1stly, Having an AV softeware firewall, good stuff, running anti spyware stuff , great good work
2ndly NO a NAT router is NOT required, its good to have, being you dont have to have ur pc constantly switched on to maintain the connection. but a simple BB modem connected is fine. the casual user on BB is at the SAME risk of being hacked as a casual user of dial up, and you dont see them using a NAT router (normally), most BB services have the same rotating random ip asigning as dial up.
NAT is required if you wish to have more than one person on ur LAN, its kinda a done thing, you wont be able to do it otherwise if you didnt have a nat router, most if not all modem/routers "gateways" will have it,
I use a NAT router/modem on my network and im the only person on it, just because i refuse to run the shit dial in software that the ISP's dish out, rebranding my OS stuff to their company
3rdly NO you dont have to use a nat router to use p2p in the sense that any programmer that can code a virus can code in counter measures like uPNP that most routers seem to have
once a virus is on ur machine even with a hardware nat firewall router, it can still propogate, port numbers like 80 etc are fully open to the router since every machine uses them and the router is quiet happy about it, couldnt care less.
what will stop it is a good av and software firewall. since the hardware solution to the software problem is insanly expensive, only used by corporate companys
infact most p2p programs will work without configuring the router at all...
The benefits of a software firewall are numberless, eg #1 ( ok i realise this has a number, yes you got me on that one, but if you tried to write them all down you wouldnt be able to, but i digress )you have a program on your machine that constantly checks for updates OR takes ages to initialise because it wont operate without first checking the net connection, and if its server is being slow it can just take hours, block the access with the firewall and just stop its access, the fewer programs that you have connecting to the net the safer your machine is
NB IF you have a WIRELESS router/modem thing then PLEASE configure it properly. I have personally sat on top of a hill with my laptop and a modifed pringles tube and surfed the net freely throughout my town, its lit up like a christmas tree with all the open wireless networks
NP Rocket my coat is fine ty LOL