Various newbie router questions

[Ruahrc]

I am kinda new to the whole home-networking thing so I had a few questions about routers and security.

First of all I tried to send a file to my friend via AIM the other day- and it wouldn't work. But then I remembered that there was some stuff about port forwarding through the firewall, so I enabled it on my router and the file transfer worked. But is it safe to have it forwarding all the time? I disabled it after the file was sent- but it could become a hassle if I had to do this everytime I wanted to use AIM to xfer files.

Second- Can I use my router's site-blocking filter to prevent pop-ups? I checked the logs and saw that some ad sites were being allowed, so I added them to a block list. Does this work? I thought it was working until one day a popup came on but instead of an image there was some text saying "Blocked by Netgear Router". So popups will still "pop-up" but just not have an ad in them?

Also- Is there a site where I can go to visit that has information on how to secure a wireless network? Right now we have a 128-bit WEP key, but that is all.

Thanks

Ruahrc

[CMonster]

But is it safe to have it forwarding all the time?

-nothing is guaranteed safe, there are new exploits every day. In fact just viewing web pages presents a danger if you have active-X enabled with I.E. browser

Second- Can I use my router's site-blocking filter to prevent pop-ups?

-this is not necessary (and probably a bad idea), however, you can use Mozilla or Opera browsers that have built in popup blocking.

Also- Is there a site where I can go to visit that has information on how to secure a wireless network? Right now we have a 128-bit WEP key, but that is all.

You can get some basic security info at GRC -also I think a unique SSID and 128-bit WEP key are pretty decent security.

Consider also your location and who might be able to snoop in on you - in my case I live in a single family residential area without much traffic, I know my neighbors well, and the signal outside my house is so bad there's hardly a connection past 25 feet.

[John Prophet]

A couple of security sites. I just ran across these..I am sure there are many many more

http://www.atstake.com/index.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/

I like to read the stuff, even though its a bit over my head, lol.

JP

[John Prophet]

Wireless security policy part one http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1732

part two http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1735