Date: 04/14/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: no keywords

I have always assumed that on a typical HOME (WIRED) network (2-4 or more computers) that the router's built-in firewall was enough protection and individual firewalls on each computer was overkill. I would imagine at work you may want to use a firewall on your PC (as you can't trust every user on the company network to be "honest" or careful about what they d/l).

Am I correct in these assumptions?

Why then do people have home networks where they dedicate whole PCs to firewall duty? My network is pretty "basic" (two WinXP PCs on a Linksys router/firewall) and yet we can swap/share files, never had an intruder and get all our mail, etc with no problems. Are the other, more complicated home setups simply done by people with Everest-syndrome ("Because it is there!")? Or maybe to learn how to do it for work? What advantages are there? Why does the caged bird sing? :)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/660741.html