If I have a firewall in my router do I need one installed in Windows 7?

[musman]

Hello my peeps!

I have a Netgear WNDR3400 WiFi router. This router has a SPI and NAT firewall. I am also using the firewall built into Windows 7. Do I need the Windows firewall? Is there ANY security issues or performance issues (more concerned about security than performance) by running both?

I have read many things online about this subject and found it impossible to get a decisive answer.

Thank You

[Redeemed]

Well, this is kinda' like asking your mechanic "Ford or Chevy?"

Me? I'd just use both. Unless you experience any problems, then what is the harm in running both? It's an added layer of security and if it doesn't hurt performance in any way that you could notice- what's to lose?

[musman]

Originally Posted by Redeemed

Well, this is kinda' like asking your mechanic "Ford or Chevy?"

Me? I'd just use both. Unless you experience any problems, then what is the harm in running both? It's an added layer of security and if it doesn't hurt performance in any way that you could notice- what's to lose?

Ok thank you Redeemed! I don't know much about firewalls so that's why I am asking the professionals here. I have not noticed any issues running both that I know of. Also, i have never tried using just my router firewall.

Just read that my router has "Denial-of-service (DoS) attack prevention" too. Don't know what that is but I will look it up.

Thanks again.

[TheTaz]

What Redeemed said. It really isn't a performance hit on modern machines.

Plus... if someone jumps on your wi-fi or plugs into your router, and is infected with something that spreads... your router firewall isn't going to protect you because it only looks at traffic to and from the Internet.

I'm not saying firewalls do all that great of a job with malware protection... but it is better than nothing. If you don't want to pay for an AV product... you should be running Microsoft Security Essentials, as well... it is free and one of the better "free AV" products out there... and it doesn't impact performance much either. It also works in conjunction with the Windows Firewall for some Intrusion Prevention behavioral detection.

[musman]

Originally Posted by TheTaz

What Redeemed said. It really isn't a performance hit on modern machines.

Plus... if someone jumps on your wi-fi or plugs into your router, and is infected with something that spreads... your router firewall isn't going to protect you because it only looks at traffic to and from the Internet.

I'm not saying firewalls do all that great of a job with malware protection... but it is better than nothing. If you don't want to pay for an AV product... you should be running Microsoft Security Essentials, as well... it is free and one of the better "free AV" products out there... and it doesn't impact performance much either. It also works in conjunction with the Windows Firewall for some Intrusion Prevention behavioral detection.

Excellent point!
I do run Security Essentials. Not that I don't want to pay for one, it's just small and it stays out of the way for the most part. Appreciate you guys on here!

Thank You

[TheTaz]

No Prob.

If you are already running security essentials, then you definitely want to keep the windows firewall on for the intrusion prevention aspects.

Intrusion Prevention doesn't use signatures like AV. It looks at bad behavior on the network level and the process level. This is to try to catch "Zero Day" stuff that AV products don't have a definition for yet.

So, for example, some packets come in that want to start a process that is going to write something to your "run" registry key, the Intrusion Prevention mechanism would try to block that activity at the firewall level and stop the behavior before more bad things come.

So with Security Essentials, you really want the Windows Firewall on... otherwise you are crippling some of what Security Essentials can do.

[musman]

Originally Posted by TheTaz

No Prob.

If you are already running security essentials, then you definitely want to keep the windows firewall on for the intrusion prevention aspects.

Intrusion Prevention doesn't use signatures like AV. It looks at bad behavior on the network level and the process level. This is to try to catch "Zero Day" stuff that AV products don't have a definition for yet.

So, for example, some packets come in that want to start a process that is going to write something to your "run" registry key, the Intrusion Prevention mechanism would try to block that activity at the firewall level and stop the behavior before more bad things come.

So with Security Essentials, you really want the Windows Firewall on... otherwise you are crippling some of what Security Essentials can do.

Thank you for making this all clear. Makes a lot of sense to me now. i really do appreciate the info!