Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 01:07:51 +0200 From: Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> To: Kiffin Gish <kiffin@gish.demon.nl> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Firewall or not ... Message-ID: <20050921230751.GA73255@slackbox.xs4all.nl> In-Reply-To: <4331AF00.2010900@gish.demon.nl> References: <4331AF00.2010900@gish.demon.nl>
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--zhXaljGHf11kAtnf Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 09:05:36PM +0200, Kiffin Gish wrote: > I have installed FreeBSD 5.4 on my Dell Inspiron 8200 using WiFi to=20 > access the Internet. >=20 > My question is what are the pros and cons of running a firewall on my=20 > client, e.g. is it really necessary. A pro would be that a firewall enables you to keep people from accessing your laptop remotely. WiFi connections aren't that secure, unless you encrypt the traffic. So if your laptop is not a server, use a firewall to disable all incoming packets except those related to connections you initiated. That way you can secure necessary services like mail and printin= g. > I mean it's not like I am running Windows and have to bloat it with all= =20 > McAfee, Zonealarm ad infinitum -- or do I? I've got pf on my workstation. I haven't noticed any performance or network speed loss while using it. So I can see few reasons not to use a firewall. If you're not running windows, don't bother with a virus scanner. Do filter your mail for spam, though. Roland --=20 R.F.Smith (http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/) Please send e-mail as plain text. public key: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/pubkey.txt --zhXaljGHf11kAtnf Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFDMefHEnfvsMMhpyURAocAAKCrf3V3uuXonPnvHc18uZk2k2XfTwCglzwW ojBLYGSQx8xml8Bq/8kSn1M= =PZfD -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --zhXaljGHf11kAtnf--
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