The best way to go would be to get a hardware firewall, especially if you have DSL. I am not too sure if there is a hardware firewall alternative to a cable modem. Webramp, Netopia and 3Com make some excellent DSL routers with a built in firewall... yes they are around $500 (give or take a hundred) but they blow away software firewalls in terms of security.
Software firewalls usually can cause slow connections (please note the word usually), conflict problems, extensive logs, etc. Hardware firewalls, IMO, configure alot easier and keep the bad guys out alot more then software firewalls do.
I could go on and on about the pros and the cons of software and hardware filrewalls, but I think you get the general idea
If you want to check out more info on DSL routers then check out Webramp, 3Com and Netopias websites.Please note that I am not bashing software firewalls in anyway, alot of them are excellent. Just get what you can afford or how paranoid you are
Personally, I have a Netopia router with all ports blocked from the outside. No I don't have any information on my PC that could do damage to me, but it is nice to know that my router/firewall is there. Of course a very determined person can break through any firewall; software or hardware.Any comments or opinions are welcome.
Justin
