Firewalling Your Home Network

What Santiago needs is a good combo of firewall software and firewall hardware. First of all, he needs to keep Windows updates current so that new security patches are installed as soon as they are available. Then he needs to run antivirus software and keep it current. A three-layered protection system of Windows updating, antivirus software, and firewalling software/hardware is an excellent way of protecting your home network.

Not only can firewall software protect your network from outside forces, it can also protect it from problems that originate from the inside. Not to say that Santiago’s friends are family would knowingly infiltrate his security, but accidents do happen. Someone might accidentally stumble across a site that is armed with malicious viruses, spyware, or adware. Firewall software can block certain sites from being loaded, such as sites with content inappropriate for children. These are sites in which a vast majority are more likely to be corrupted with these security risks than other types of sites. Some good titles of firewall software are Zone Alarm, Norton Personal Firewall, and McAfee Personal Firewall.

He also needs a router with firewall abilities. This is a great way to restrict outsiders from accessing your network system and can block anonymous internet requests. With this feature, your network is prevented from being accessed and detected from others on the Internet without an invitation.

Santiago’s current network setup is through the use of a host computer. One computer is hooked up to the cable modem and serves as a host computer which can share its internet access with a computer that is hooked up to it via a crossover cable. This setup is definitely not ideal when you have more than two computers on the network and want to maximize speed, efficiency, and security. What his family needs is a router, with firewall abilities of course, that allows computers on a LAN to share broadband Internet and also serves as an access point for wireless connections. So the new setup would be he and his wife’s computers both connected to a switch which is then connected to a router which is connected to the cable modem. The router would have a wireless access point that would allow Santiago’s daughter to connect to Internet anywhere in the house she pleases via her notebook’s wireless modem.