Super Rubber

Firewalls are MOST important. I'm not talking about virus protection, and I'm damn sure not talking about that lame firewall shit that comes with Windows. I'm talking about real major protection...among other things. Configuration protection is easier than you might think.

For all you folks out there who don't want to donate your old obsolete PC to a Church, etc., and want a real Linux Firewall / Router, but don't want to, or can't write the scripts...here's my recommendation.

Tom Eastep dreams in binary, and provides this for free. Shorewall is free but if you try it and find it useful, please consider making a donation to the Alzheimer's Association or to the Starlight Children's Foundation. You can find the links on his site. I don't know him, and I'm not plugging him, except for...he can write some top-of-the-line scripts.

Anyway, a properly configured Linux Firewall is like the Energizer Bunny...it just keeps running and running and running. Mine has been running since 1999 without an involuntary reboot, and I don't run Shorewall. That's what I would call "running underwater."

Rule of thumb...only allow inbound traffic from an established or related outbound connection. Turn EVERYTHING off, including Ping. Look at the logs...you will be amazed at how many attempts are made to hack your system. Amazed.

Also, turn that Windows auto-update shit OFF.

I'm just sayin'