A couple of questions about networking...

[Soapy5]

First off, Is there any noticeable difference between a 10/100 10/100/1000 ethernet connection for an average person? (ie cable modem --> wireless router --> computer (note, the computer is connected directly to the router) )
also, what about a wireless connection (ie wireless b vs wireless g, and etc).

second, is there anyway to transfer files from a laptop (with a wireless card) the computer connected to the wireless router?

lastly, my motherboard comes with nvidia's active armor firewall. is that any good? because ive been having a lot of problems namely, certain programs such as utorrent not working, and anything with java such as azureus causing my computer to crash. I dont know if its because of the nvidia firewall, but for utorrent, i get a specific message that utorrent wont work because the nvidia firewall is bug-ridden. Maybe they are just taking a cheap shot at nvidia, i dunno.

oh, and if it will help, here a lil diagram of my network:

cablemodem ------ wireless router-------- computer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .laptop

[dbwillis]

Unless your router is 10/100/1000 you wouldnt get a faster connection to the router.

For the other stuff you asked, I dont use the nvarmor stuff, never liked it myself, but for transferring files, youd have to map the C drives from one to the other, theres several how tos on that

[tdg]

Depends on what your doing on your network, large file transfers over your personal network definitely benefit from faster networking, anything over 10/100 won't boost Internet speeds though, as most are < 10 mbit, with a few a bit faster, but still far under 100 mbit.

For what it's worth (these are all theoretical maxes by the way)
10 mbit = ~ 1.25 MB/sec
100 mbit = ~12.5 MB/sec
1000 mbit = ~ 125 MB/sec

802.11b wifi = 11 mbit = ~ 1.37 MB/sec
802.11g wifi = 54 mbit = ~ 6.75 MB/sec

Now your modern PC's can most likely do over 12.5 MB/sec in file transfers, so 100 mbit network would become limiting with wired ethernet, any wifi is going to be limiting in any scenario, so moving to gigE and 802.11g is the fastest you'll get at this time. There are faster wifi products, but none are standardized at this time last I heard.

You can share files on a wireless laptop with wired PC's the same way as shared files over a traditional wired LAN, it's simply a different connection medium.

I've never used nVidias firewall, but haven't heard anything great about it. I'd recommend getting ZoneAlarm and replacing the nVidia firewall with that. It's easy to configure and I've found it pretty effective on customer machines.

[AMD[H]unter]

I would not even use a software FW, I havent used one since I got cable in 2001. You really don't need anything other than the windows firewall, and I actually have it off on my box with no bad things happening.

[Soapy5]

alright thanks for the feedback. just to get things straight on the firewall issue: just sticking with the default windows firewall is ok for normal applications?

[AMD[H]unter]

alright thanks for the feedback. just to get things straight on the firewall issue: just sticking with the default windows firewall is ok for normal applications?

If toy are careful as to what you run and DL, yes it is all you need if you are behind a router and are fully patched with windows updates.

[RavenD]

alright thanks for the feedback. just to get things straight on the firewall issue: just sticking with the default windows firewall is ok for normal applications?
If all ports are closed, its probably ok. If you have ports open for bittorrent or something, I would get download ZoneAlarm.

[-(Xyphox)-]

unter']I would not even use a software FW, I havent used one since I got cable in 2001. You really don't need anything other than the windows firewall, and I actually have it off on my box with no bad things happening.

I second Amd here, at home i dont use hardware or software firewall programs, Windows Firewall, avg, ad-aware, spybot thats all

[Malk-a-mite]

unter']I would not even use a software FW, I havent used one since I got cable in 2001. You really don't need anything other than the windows firewall, and I actually have it off on my box with no bad things happening.

As always I must retort.

AMDHunter feels he/she (sorry, don't know) doesn't need the protection of an outbound connection firewall. This might be completely true. But the blanket statement of "you don't need anything" isn't true for all people.

Windows Firewall only blocks incoming connections, if you have something on your PC attempting an outbound connection that you don't want, your Windows Firewall and your SOHO router will do nothing about it and most likely you won't know it's there. So, if you feel you are very computer savvy, feel free to run without a software firewall, lots of people do. Just be aware that you need to be aware what is running on your PC and how to check for it..

[AMD[H]unter]

As always I must retort.

AMDHunter feels he/she (sorry, don't know) doesn't need the protection of an outbound connection firewall. This might be completely true. But the blanket statement of "you don't need anything" isn't true for all people.

Windows Firewall only blocks incoming connections, if you have something on your PC attempting an outbound connection that you don't want, your Windows Firewall and your SOHO router will do nothing about it and most likely you won't know it's there. So, if you feel you are very computer savvy, feel free to run without a software firewall, lots of people do. Just be aware that you need to be aware what is running on your PC and how to check for it..

I am a he. :p

Notice, I quantified the statement of "you don't need anything" with this:

If you are careful as to what you run and DL, yes it is all you need if you are behind a router and are fully patched with windows updates.

I am very cautious when i download things, and I have never had problems. Some people are just fucking retarded and will run any program they find. Those people are the ones that need a good software firewall. Those types of people are also they type that Windows Firewall would do no good for. I will say this, though, if you surf smart, you don't need a software firewall.

So, in the end, we agree, I think. And, FYI, I do run a software firewall on my Domain Controller just for an added security layer.