Hardware firewall

If you have an "always on" Internet connection, then consider using a hardware firewall. A hardware firewall protects all of the computers and other devices on your network, eliminating the need to install a software firewall on each one. If you’re not convinced that you need a firewall, then consider this: fully one third of all personally-owned computers on broadband (cable modem, DSL, and so on) connections have had one or more Trojan horse programs installed and are actively used to relay millions of spam messages and participate in massive distributed denial-of-service attacks.

Hardware firewalls are generally very easy to set up which only need to plug in and are very reliable. I have used Netgear and D-Link firewalls and both were highly reliable. I also use ZoneAlarm on all PCs on my home network, and none has ever detected traffic that the firewalls should have blocked. I have used default settings on both firewall products and have never needed to troubleshoot a problem.

In fact, both hardware firewalls I have used were "plug and play" — all I needed to do was connect them to the network and turn them on, and they began working immediately.

Selecting and purchasing hardware firewall

A hardware firewall is a small appliance that you install in your home network. The firewall protects every computer — in fact, anything connected to your network — from the threats present on the Internet.

You can’t just buy a firewall-only appliance. Instead, many common devices purchased for home networks — switches, routers, and wireless access points — come with a firewall built in. This is a convenience, as nearly all home networks need one or more of these other devices anyway . The most popular hardware devices contain all these functions in one compact unit.

Installing hardware firewall

There are many different kinds of home networking appliance products that contain firewalls, and many different kinds of home networks. Instead of showing every possible combination of firewall product and home network, I provide a checklist to help you decide what to do:

Draw a picture of how your network devices fit together — DSL modem, cable modem, computer(s), anything else, and the wiring that connects them — before you start. If you cannot make the firewall work, you need to put your network back together the way it was before you started.

Label your cables. Same reason.

Write down your computer’s network settings before you begin. Follow these instructions to view these settings:

In Windows XP, right-click My Network Places, click Properties, find and right-click Local Area Connection (found in the LAN section), and click Properties. Find and click TCP/IP in the list of connection types, and click Properties. Write down all of the settings in the General and Alternate Configuration tabs. Don’t forget to look at any Advanced settings.

Read the installation instructions that accompany your firewall before you begin. Make sure you understand how to do everything you have to do.

Make sure you have all the necessary cabling. You may need one or more additional "patch cords" (they look like phone cords but have wider connectors).

Make sure you have enough electrical outlets. Your firewall will take up one or more plugs, depending on the shape of your power supply and your plug strip.

Install the firewall in a safe, out-of-the-way location where it will not get spilled on, stepped on, or covered with papers. Make sure it’s in a place where you can see the blinking lights.

Consider using small adhesive labels (P-Touch or Dymo, for instance) to label your wires and the connectors on your firewall. You may be able to position the labels so that they align with the indicator lights on the front of the firewall so that you can easily see the status of the different ports. 

There is one important task to do after your firewall is running. You must change the firewall’s default password! Read the user’s manual carefully and locate the instructions on how to change the password. Use a new password that’s easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. Write it down in a safe place.

The reason to change the firewall’s default password is this: If a security vulnerability is ever discovered in the make and model of firewall that you’re using, you could be in trouble if your firewall still has the default password. Hackers know the default passwords for everything, and it could give them access to your network and your computers. 

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