Computer Security
 

Dumb question of the day!

If you have a PC behind a router (in this case a Linksys WAG54GS), is there any benifit to having a software firewall installed? The SPI Firewall Protection is enabled.

Re: Computer Security
 

Yes, as the router will control inbound, but not outbound traffic. A software firewall does control outbound traffic.

Re: Computer Security
 

But if my PC is initiating the connection by my action then I should be in control of where the browser is going?

Re: Computer Security
 

True, which is why you would set your firewall to allow the browser access to the web. If however, you were to catch some nasty, and that tries to access the web (i.e. not by your action), your firewall will alert you to that, and you can block/remove the nasty. A router does not do this.

Re: Computer Security
 

As above, a software firewall is excellent at bringing connection attempts to your attention that you may not be aware of otherwise. Routers are great at controlling inbound connection attempts but a software firewall is invaluable if you ever get caught out by a trojan/ virus/ spyware infection.

Re: Computer Security
 

Yep, hardware routers aren't application-aware so will allow any traffic through a port that you've permitted access... whereas a software firewall is able to determine whether traffic being pushed on port 80 is coming from your browser or not, as an example.

Pretty much what daniel and paul already said, really :)