Do I really need a dedicated firewall for home use

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mikey71497

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
215
I recently found a (brand new) Linksys BEFSX41 firewall router laying around my house that has never been in use. My network as it stands today functions great and my questions is, do I have a use for this device or would I just be adding it for more blinking activity lights..LOL

My home network router is a Netgear WNDR3700 which ties directly to my Comcast CM. LAN port 1 connects to my core switch, which all my nodes hang off of. Do I box this bad boy back up and stick it in the basement, or put it to work?

Thanks
 
mikey71497 said:
I recently found a (brand new) Linksys BEFSX41 firewall router laying around my house that has never been in use. My network as it stands today functions great and my questions is, do I have a use for this device or would I just be adding it for more blinking activity lights..LOL

My home network router is a Netgear WNDR3700 which ties directly to my Comcast CM. LAN port 1 connects to my core switch, which all my nodes hang off of. Do I box this bad boy back up and stick it in the basement, or put it to work?

Thanks
Click to expand...

toss it in the recycle pile :) it's old. BUild a Pfsense or Untangle box :) Install & use OpenDNS servers and poof :)
 
That sounds like too much work. Between a 2 year old, 4 year old, and full time job as MetroE Engineer for Comcast, time to build machines and load software/tweak is far and few between. Thanks for the advice though, and YES the device is crazy old.
 
No use, the WNDR3700 has a built in firewall. It is sufficient for home use.
 
mikey71497 said:
That sounds like too much work. Between a 2 year old, 4 year old, and full time job as MetroE Engineer for Comcast, time to build machines and load software/tweak is far and few between. Thanks for the advice though, and YES the device is crazy old.
Click to expand...

maybe they are a little young, but in the coming years the content filtering that both offer could go a long way.
 
mikey71497 said:
That sounds like too much work. Between a 2 year old, 4 year old, and full time job as MetroE Engineer for Comcast, time to build machines and load software/tweak is far and few between. Thanks for the advice though, and YES the device is crazy old.
Click to expand...

Get rid of the kids, that'll free up lots of time
 
mikey71497 said:
That sounds like too much work. Between a 2 year old, 4 year old, and full time job as MetroE Engineer for Comcast, time to build machines and load software/tweak is far and few between. Thanks for the advice though, and YES the device is crazy old.
Click to expand...

ok, use your existing router, and put in opendns settings :) that will help..
 
mikey71497 said:
I recently found a (brand new) Linksys BEFSX41 firewall router laying around my house that has never been in use. My network as it stands today functions great and my questions is, do I have a use for this device or would I just be adding it for more blinking activity lights..LOL

My home network router is a Netgear WNDR3700 which ties directly to my Comcast CM. LAN port 1 connects to my core switch, which all my nodes hang off of. Do I box this bad boy back up and stick it in the basement, or put it to work?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You already have a firewall...your Netgear. That Linksys model has nothing additional over the Netgear. They both run NAT...and they both have very basic SPI protection. Nothing further. That Linksys model, the befsx41, was better than the common befsR41 because it had more built in VPN features. You could site to site VPN tunnels. The processor was a little faster. Otherwise...it was a great router..back in its day...it's from the Windows 98 days. But it's slow for todays faster internet connections...I think it peaked at 17 megs of throughput. Your current Netgear can run circles around it,...much faster, much higher concurrent session count. Toss the Linksys in the trash...seriously...it's too old and slow....very outdated.
 
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