Jenn wrote:
> I have a linksys wireless network setup for 3 laptops and 1 desktop. The
> desktop has a Linksys wireless adapter on it. Currently, they are all set up
> to be on the network without firewalls (horrible, I know). Way back when we
> started a wireless network 2 years ago, an IT guy told us that we could not
> have firewalls up because you would not be able to share files. I am pretty
> certain that Windows added something in SP2 to fix this issue,but agian I am
> not sure.
>
> So 1st, I need to set up my network with firewalls, I think...but I don't
> know how to do this.
>
> 2nd, I need to enable the desktop to be a "server" so to speak for 1
> software application. I know that I need to configure that computer to have
> a designated IP address in order to do this, but I am not sure how to do this
> either.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jenn
First of all, your Linksys wireless router provides you with firewall (or at
least firewall-like) protection from the Internet. Although there certainly is
no consensus in these newsgroups, there are more than a few experienced folks who
take the position that you don't really need an additional software firewall if
you are behind such a router. On the other hand, there are those who would
strongly disagree with that position.
In SP2, Win XP added the Windows Firewall (and more importantly, turned it on by
default). WinXP sp1 had the "Windows Internet Connection Firewall," but it was
turned off by default. Thus, you may actually be running with the firewall
turned on. The major difference between Windows Firewall and commercial (if
free) firewalls like ZoneAlarm is that WF only looks at traffic coming in to your
system, rather than traffic going both in and out. The reason why some -- but
not all -- folks think outbound firewall checking is necessary is to deal with
the case where you may have installed a trojan horse or other malware, which is
not recognized by your antivirus or anti-spyware apps, and which "phones home,"
possibly sending who knows what of your private information to who knows who.
Take a look here for more info about "Understanding Windows Firewall"
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...2_wfintro.mspx
If you want to be able to share files among the computers on your LAN, you will
have to check the "File and printer sharing" exception on WF on all of them.
There are various other "Permissions" that you will also have to set, depending
on whether you have XP Home or XP Pro. See
http://www.ezlan.net/wshare.html and
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...ilesharing.htm [XPHome Simple
File Sharing]
Finally, I think that actually running an application that is installed on
another computer on your network involves more than setting a static IP for that
computer. A friend of mine does this regularly using Windows Remote Desktop. If
you do set a static IP, make sure that it is (a) in the same subnet as the IP
addresses assigned by your router, and (b) outside the range of addresses
assigned. If I remember correctly, the default for Linksys wireless routers is
192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.150. Same subnet means use a fixed IP address of
the form 192.168.1.xxx. Outside the range means pick a number greater than 150
and less than 255.
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