router help

[wilson44512]

ever since i got vista. i have been having trouble with some online games i play. in one game when im playing i get a T and a R flashing in the upper left corner. when i went to the game site. it says that means im not transmitting and receiving the game play good enough. and they said it mite be the fire wall doing this. so a friend of mine said get a router. and it will have a better firewall settings in it. can any one tell me if this is true? if it is which one of these would you pick?


http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Link...36450/catOid/-12980/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/D-Li...50777/catOid/-12980/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01029&id=1077624215034

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

What firewall are you currently using?
Are your hardware specs high enough to run Vista well? The "average" for XP for moderate use was 512 megs...with bloated Vista..the equivelant is 2 gigs..just for "average" use.

 

[teststrips]

It sounds like you're not using a router at all right now? Is that true?

If this is the case, adding a router certainly won't fix your problem - it'll only complicate matters.

When hooked up directly to your internet connection, you'll only have a software router... it sounds like that is what is causing your problem. Go into vista's firewall + create a firewall exception for whatever program you're having trouble with (or an excepton for the ports it uses). If you've loaded an alternative firewall to vista's built-in one, you need to do the above in that (some antivirus programs come with a firewall, or you could have installed a dedicated firewall such as zonealarm)

A router is useful for connecting multiple PC's to one internet connection - if you don't need to hook up more than one PC, I'd suggest against purchasing one.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I will not use, or support, any computers that aren't behind a router. The router gives you hardware firewall protection with its NAT. Doesn't interfere with playing the majority of online games as a client. Much better protection and performance than software firewalls. Even if just a single PC.

 

[teststrips]

but buying a router was the suggestion for fixing his problem - if his software firewall is already blocking his game, adding a 2nd firewall certainly won't be a solution.

I've also had a lot of luck with software firewalls - as long as they are set up properly, they work extremely well.

 

[munkle]

I will not use, or support, any computers that aren't behind a router. The router gives you hardware firewall protection with its NAT. Doesn't interfere with playing the majority of online games as a client. Much better protection and performance than software firewalls. Even if just a single PC.

What firewall are you currently using?
Are your hardware specs high enough to run Vista well? The "average" for XP for moderate use was 512 megs...with bloated Vista..the equivelant is 2 gigs..just for "average" use.

WoW... Biased much? 512mb is not equivalent to 2gb in Vista, more like 1gb. Routers interfere quite a bit with online games if they aren't setup correctly and adding one when there was already a problem is just going to make it worse like teststrips said.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

IMO for equiv performance....2 gigs is the sweet spot for Vista.

I'm HUUUUUGE into online gaming...never..ever...had issues stemming from a router for many years, and I've probably gone through 25-30 or so routers in a few years just in testing and opportunities. If you host a game server that you wish to make available to the public so others across the internet can join your server...you need to open/forward the ports on your NAT....but that's easy, it's not an issue, and if you run some software firewall..you'd still need to do that. But home grade NAT routers do not block outbound connections, so even less hassle than bloated performing killing software firewalls.

 

[wilson44512]

as in my specs below. i have 2GB of ram. and theres already a firewall exception. for the game. but it just dont seem like its working right. how good is zone alarm? would it be better to get the full ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite. or just the firewall. some one told me that when i play on line games to turn off my firewall and anti virus. but by doing that wouldn't that leave me open for attack.
the reason i was thinking of getting a router. with the fire wall. is so i can have more control of the settings in the firewall..