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Re: ENCRYPTION???
plantsower #24954 02/06/13 02:29 AM
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BTW, the router link didn't work. The Belkin page did, but not the funny address you gave me before that.

Rita


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
plantsower #24955 02/06/13 03:36 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
BTW, the router link didn't work.

That's probably because you need an ethernet connection between Mac and router to access the setup pages.
Btw, did you manage to get the setup info for your router via that Belkin support page?


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
alternaut #24956 02/06/13 04:29 AM
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Oh, okay.


Originally Posted By: alternaut
Originally Posted By: plantsower
BTW, the router link didn't work.

That's probably because you need an ethernet connection between Mac and router to access the setup pages.
Btw, did you manage to get the setup info for your router via that Belkin support page?


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
alternaut #24957 02/06/13 09:13 AM
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I've d/l'ed and given both WaterRoof and NoobProof look-sees...and trashed both.

Not to say that I ran into any issues with either, just that both presented me with too many options that I don't know how to address...don't even know that I particularly need to implement.

OS X's basic firewall has served me just fine for years, and I'll stick with it, "out of the box," until I run into a situation that demands (I dunno what) than I've already got.

Thanks for both links, though.


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
artie505 #24959 02/06/13 03:36 PM
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If you're happy and satisfied with your current setup, by all means, leave it as it is. The utilities I linked to give you (extra) options in case you need them, that's all. laugh

That also applies to having both a hardware (router) and software (OS-based) firewall in place: if you're happy, fine. If not, it gives you options that might help alleviate any issues. And now my wife is preparing for a trip overseas a final comment on this topic I left out of an earlier post above: since she won't be behind the family router when gone, she'll have to activate the OS firewall. Given that this might easily be forgotten, hers is a circumstance that resembles that of many travelers, and one that warrants to have the OS firewall switched ON by default, even at home behind the router. As long as that doesn't noticeably interfere with her regular computing activities (default settings), there's no problem with that. Should she need custom configurations at a later date, it's important to take the presence of a double firewall into account to avoid problems. We'll see to that if and when it happens. cool


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
alternaut #24960 02/06/13 05:07 PM
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Well, I guess I have to assume my router firewall did interfere with my OS firewall yesterday after I turned it on. My webpages started looking wonky. Little patches of text would show up here and there. Another time, a page loaded up but was completely grayed out. So, I turned off the software in my MBP. I'll ask the guy who set up our router, etc. if the firewall is, indeed, turned on.

Thanks again.

Rita



Originally Posted By: alternaut
If you're happy and satisfied with your current setup, by all means, leave it as it is. The utilities I linked to give you (extra) options in case you need them, that's all. laugh

That also applies to having both a hardware (router) and software (OS-based) firewall in place: if you're happy, fine. If not, it gives you options that might help alleviate any issues. And now my wife is preparing for a trip overseas a final comment on this topic I left out of an earlier post above: since she won't be behind the family router when gone, she'll have to activate the OS firewall. Given that this might easily be forgotten, hers is a circumstance that resembles that of many travelers, and one that warrants to have the OS firewall switched ON by default, even at home behind the router. As long as that doesn't noticeably interfere with her regular computing activities (default settings), there's no problem with that. Should she need custom configurations at a later date, it's important to take the presence of a double firewall into account to avoid problems. We'll see to that if and when it happens. cool


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
plantsower #24992 02/12/13 06:09 AM
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Just to shed some light (or maybe further cloud) the ideas here:

A firewall prevents a program running on your computer from receiving connections from the outside world. In essence, if a program on your computer starts listening for someone to connect from the outside, the firewall will prevent any connection from being made from someone else's computer somewhere on the Internet.

Routers use something called "NAT". It stands for "Network Address Translation." It means that your computer is given an IP address that is not accessible from the Internet (for example, 192.168.1.100), which is different from the IP address that your Internet service provider gives you. This is done so that your ISP can give you just one IP address (for example, 71.56.138.45), and many computers in your home can share that single IP address. Each computer in your home gets a different IP address (192.168.1.100, 192.168.1.101, 192.168.1.102, and so on), and the router "routes" all of them to share the IP address your ISP gave you.

A side effect of this is that outsiders can't see your computers. An outsider who tries to connect to the IP address that your ISP gave you--say, 71.56.138.45--but can't "see" past the router, because your computers are using private IP addresses.

A "software firewall" is a computer program that runs on your computer and blocks other programs from accessing the Internet without permission.

There are a couple of gotchas with hardware and software firewalls.

Hardware firewalls and software firewalls can conflict with each other if you WANT to allow people to access your computer. For example, say you are running a Web server on your computer. If you're running a hardware and a software firewall, you would have to configure BOTH of them to allow other people to access your Web server. If you didn't, you could spend hours tearing your hair out trying to figure out why it isn't working.

Many modern routers for home use have a feature called "universal plug and play," or "UPnP". This is designed to make it easier to deliberately let other people use your computer. If a program starts running on your computer that "listens" for an outside connection, the router says "Hey, this computer is listening for a connection! It must be a server. I will automatically open a hole in my firewall to allow connections through." This is a good thing if you are running a server (like a Web server) on your computer or if you're hosting a game server or something like that. It's a really bad thing if your computer is infected with malware. Flawed UPnP implementations on home networked devices like media servers, networked hard drives (NAS devices), and the like can also open these devices to attack from the outside, at least in theory. If your router supports UPnP and you're not running a server on your computer, it's probably a good idea to turn it off.


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
tacit #25008 02/13/13 04:52 PM
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along this line, is there a standard name for a tool that works in the opposite direction, blocking or identifying traffic leaving the computer? Like little snitch does?


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Re: ENCRYPTION???
Virtual1 #25013 02/13/13 07:32 PM
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A firewall can filter inbound traffic, outbound traffic, or both; I'm not aware of a naming distinction between inbound and outbound firewalls.


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