Well they can
be both or different. I am not here to confuse you but the terminology for these
devices varies with whom you talk to. So for the sake of simplicity I will call
it a Router, because that is what it does. It routes your network activity to
the World Wide Web or your local network.
So you decided that a dialup connection was to slow or you needed
broadband
and the local phone or cable company came by and installed your internet
connection. WOW!
That is fast! (Fast won't last long -
the computer axiom - what is fast today will be slow tomorrow!)You get your mail in a flash, the web
page opens like it was there on your desk top all the time.
Now the hackers can see you!WHAT?
Yup, as soon as the your ISP
(Internet Service Provider) turned on your service and you connected to the www
the hackers can see your computer.
So what you going to do? I mean you have XP and it has a firewall right? Well
yes and no..... XP's firewall is ok, but it has deficiencies, most software
firewalls do. When you want to keep the hackers/thieves/criminals at bay you
need a hardware solution, because hardware can do more than software.
So what can hardware do for me that MS can't? Well for one thing it can make
your computer
disappear from the www and the
hackers will lose interest in trying to get into your computer. It can also stop
a Trojan (if you get infected by a virus) from calling home and giving away your
personal information.
So you say I need to buy another piece of equipment. No, you can rely on the
built in firewall that is provided by the OS. This is the same concept as a back
up: How much is your data and/or family's security worth? Besides routers are not
that expensive, less than $100.
I will go at this step by step, I am going to use a Linksys router for my
examples because I have one and am familiar with the process of setting it up,
most if not all will have the same features, they may be named differently
(proprietary information) or be in different steps but ultimately will have a
process to do the job.
1) Connection - Depending on the router you have you will have two types of
connections on the back of the box. One should be labeled LAN and one should be
labeled WAN. (LAN is Local Area Network - i.e. your house or business,
WAN is
Wide Area Network - the connection to your ISP).
2) First locate the WAN connection, the cable from your DSL or Cable modem
will go here.
3) Locate the LAN connection(s) your computer(s) will connect here.
(Depending on the router you have you may have one or more LAN connection ports
- called RJ45 ports)
4) Connect your primary computer to a LAN connection, power up the router and
your computer.
5) open your browser, type in 192.168.1.1 (check your documentation for your
router if it is not a Linksys, the ip may be different.). Press enter, you
should get a box for a login. Enter the user id (if required) and the password
provided by the manufacture.
6) You should be at the main screen of the setup program. From here we will
setup your router to block all incoming ping, udp , and whois requests. (Make
your home or business invisible!)
Status page:
For the most part all of the screens that you have available can
be changed but it is best to leave them at the default settings unless you have a need to
change something. Before I go to the two screens of interest I will point out
that the status screen will be of interest to you from time to time. If you
look down towards the middle you will see the ip address that the ISP has
assigned your router, if you have not connected it to the WAN don't worry it
will be populated as soon as you do. It should be something like this:
MAC Address: (00-a1-b5-f7-c3-e6)
IP Address:
0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask:
0.0.0.0
Default Gateway:
0.0.0.0
DNS:
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0
If you look under this table you will see two buttons:
DHCP Release
and DHCP Renew
You can get a new IP address or release your current address and get a new
one if you are having connection problems.
To the actual pages that you need to modify, these pages are on the top row
of the header:
Password page:
Router Password: Change the default password here! Make it something you know
that the average person on the street would not know about you, something unique
that you will remember five days from now, or write it down if you use a complex
password.
UPnP Services: Disable (This stops the Universal Plug and Play process
from connecting with out your knowledge)
Restore Factory Defaults: This is
good for when the router is not performing and you need to reset it, leave it at
'NO' for now. (Only change this if directed by the manufacture's tech support.)
DHCP page:
DHCP Server: 'Enable '
Starting IP Address: 192.168.1.X (you can add a number here to be the
first IP address the router will give out, say 50 or 100, anything above two.
Number of DHCP Users: 4 (set this to the maximum of computers you have connected
to the router physically, do not go over the number of connections. This will
preclude someone from connecting to your router with out your knowledge, and
believe me if they can they will!)
On the top of the page look for Advanced Setup,
click it.
What we are interested in is at the bottom of the page:
I have highlighted the two that should be enabled and the
four that should
be disabled.
This is what makes your router and your computer
invisible: Block WAN Request.
IPSec pass through will play havoc with your browser and email leave
disabled.
PPTP and L2TP are VLan ports unless you have reason to turn on
leave disabled.
Remote Management,disable this,
only enable if you are taking to the manufactures tech support, they may want to
get into the router to download the diagnostics.
Use default MTU leave enabled this is for the default packet size for
data being sent out to the WAN. On some WAN's you can change this property to
increase or decrease the packet size of each request, this could either increase
or decrease your connect speed, use caution when modifying the MTU.
There are other items that are of interest to a more advanced user, such as
Filtering, you can use the built in help to read up on these. If you have a
child that uses the internet you can set a filter for either the software (NetNanny)
or the computer here.
Forwarding page:
Quote the page:
"UPnP Port Forwarding allowsInternet Users to access Serverson your LAN. It
also allows you to configure two-way communications, Game Servers, and other
Internet applications with special requirements."
What this means to you is lets say you have a accounting package that
requires a certain port or ports to communicate with your bank. You can set a
range of ports say 1800 to 1900 or set single ports 1801 and 1901 for the
package. Only traffic from that package will go through those ports. Check your
software documentation or help files for any application that should connect to
the internet or specific host and does not.
That is all there is for you to do. Now if you are a tinker and want to do
more then I suggest you look at the built in help file and do a search on the
internet for 'Firewalls' and 'Proxy' there is a ton of information
about what application uses what port or what port(s) the hackers like the best and
so on.
Reset the router -
The
Linksys routers (and switches or hubs) have a small reset button on the back of
the router. Using a ball point pen or a very small screw driver you can reset
the router to factory defaults by pressing the button and holding it in for
about ten seconds. The router must be powered up for this to take effect. The
best way to reset the router to factory defaults is to use the web page.
If you are setting up a Wireless Router you need to check
this
important page about securing your wireless
router and wireless adapters! Most Important!
Note:Users with XP, Vista,
and Windows 7 should read the
Windows Firewall Service page
for more information.
If you would like to learn more about networking these guys have a lot of information.
Over the last five or six months I have
been getting emails asking for a recommendation when this page is read. I have
been using Linksys (Cisco Co.) products for a long time I can attest to the
robustness of their products so I will recommend two products that I use
everyday and in over seven years (yes my router and switches are that old!) I
have not had one failure.
This site contains a lot of information. As
with any publication not all information is available due to space, time, or
subject constraints.
If you have a question that you did not find the answer
on this web site you a can
ask your question here and we will endeavor to get you the most up to date
answer possible!
