firewall ?

I just installed one of these onto a friends XP e-machine (PC).
One LAN lead goes to the above and one LAN lead goes to her older W98
PC
Now, I had sort of gathered that a hardware firewall is supposed to be
better than a software firewall ! ...?

Well, why is that when visiting http://www.grc.com "Shields up" both
machines
"Fail" Steve Gibsons security test. The big screen full of little
green squares
that I get on my own Norton software firewalled PC is nearly all blue
squares
on both my friends' PC's that are connected to this router/modem.

Is this to be ignored.

regards, Richard


Model 5554 X5 ETHERNET/USB ADSL Modem
External ADSL Modem/Router/Gateway/Firewall/4-port Switch with
Ethernet and USB Interfaces

a.. Full-rate adaptive ADSL Annex A modem
b.. Built-in router provides shared Internet access for a maximum of
253 concurrent users
c.. Built-in 10/100 four-port Ethernet switch
d.. Allows concurrent use of Ethernet and USB ports for Internet
sharing
e.. NAT firewall
f.. Security features include user authentication, PAP, CHAP, and
password-protected system management
g.. Logs and controls all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic
h.. Works with most computer operating systems, including Windows,
Macintosh, Linux
Model 5554 Datasheet (.pdf file)






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"RJK" wrote in message
...
I just installed one of these onto a friends XP e-machine (PC).
One LAN lead goes to the above and one LAN lead goes to her older W98
PC
Now, I had sort of gathered that a hardware firewall is supposed to
be
better than a software firewall ! ...?

Well, why is that when visiting http://www.grc.com "Shields up" both
machines
"Fail" Steve Gibsons security test. The big screen full of little
green squares
that I get on my own Norton software firewalled PC is nearly all blue
squares
on both my friends' PC's that are connected to this router/modem.

Is this to be ignored.

regards, Richard


Model 5554 X5 ETHERNET/USB ADSL Modem
External ADSL Modem/Router/Gateway/Firewall/4-port Switch with
Ethernet and USB Interfaces

a.. Full-rate adaptive ADSL Annex A modem
b.. Built-in router provides shared Internet access for a maximum
of
253 concurrent users
c.. Built-in 10/100 four-port Ethernet switch
d.. Allows concurrent use of Ethernet and USB ports for Internet
sharing
e.. NAT firewall
f.. Security features include user authentication, PAP, CHAP, and
password-protected system management
g.. Logs and controls all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic
h.. Works with most computer operating systems, including Windows,
Macintosh, Linux
Model 5554 Datasheet (.pdf file)


hardware is preferable....did you actually go into the setup of the router
and enable the firewall ?

The X5 firewall is enabled but, it seems that one has to do some tweaking -
to do with IP addresses.
Steve Young in NG microsoft.public.windowsxp.general answered my post,
(similar to this one - ...forgot to cross post ....thank goodness there was
a connection to W98se i.e. the lady's PC system I attended had XP Home ed.
on her new machine and W98se on her slightly older machine...i.e/i.e ...the
finest micro minds are to be found in here ! ... should I have worded that
differently ? !!

.....Steve Young posted,
"You didn't mention which ports, but my choice is to stealth them all and
work backwards. I'm using the Zoom 5554 X5 and what I did is check the
DMZ in the modem setup and then set it's address to something outside the
local address range used. 10.0.0.25 might be a safe bet, if you're running
defaults. Doing this, everything comes up green Don't forget, this
only protects you from the outside, trojans can run free as a bird. My
new modem is the Zoom 5565 X5v which includes a stateful firewall and
VoIP. A very good value and excellent product IMHO."

Pressed for time, and being unfamiliar with hardware firewalls - I accepted
most of the deafults. The X5 has a NAT ...or was it NAP .....firewall -
whatever that is.

I was disappointed, (when I visited grc.com/ShieldsUp), to discover that
most of the first 1056 ports' status's was blue ! i.e. they were closed
but, obvously so ! ...to passing port scans, if u c wot i mean.

Wot's "DMZ" I thought !?

regards, Richard


"Haggis" wrote in message
...

"RJK" wrote in message
...
I just installed one of these onto a friends XP e-machine (PC).
One LAN lead goes to the above and one LAN lead goes to her older
W98
PC
Now, I had sort of gathered that a hardware firewall is supposed to
be
better than a software firewall ! ...?

Well, why is that when visiting http://www.grc.com "Shields up" both
machines
"Fail" Steve Gibsons security test. The big screen full of little
green squares
that I get on my own Norton software firewalled PC is nearly all
blue
squares
on both my friends' PC's that are connected to this router/modem.

Is this to be ignored.

regards, Richard


Model 5554 X5 ETHERNET/USB ADSL Modem
External ADSL Modem/Router/Gateway/Firewall/4-port Switch with
Ethernet and USB Interfaces

a.. Full-rate adaptive ADSL Annex A modem
b.. Built-in router provides shared Internet access for a maximum
of
253 concurrent users
c.. Built-in 10/100 four-port Ethernet switch
d.. Allows concurrent use of Ethernet and USB ports for Internet
sharing
e.. NAT firewall
f.. Security features include user authentication, PAP, CHAP, and
password-protected system management
g.. Logs and controls all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic
h.. Works with most computer operating systems, including Windows,
Macintosh, Linux
Model 5554 Datasheet (.pdf file)


hardware is preferable....did you actually go into the setup of the router
and enable the firewall ?