Home Hub

Does the BT home Hub have a built in firewall. If it doesnt is the built in
windows firewall man enough?

I ask because I am having lots of problems having to reset the hub all the
time. In fact every time I reboot the pc i have to rebot the router as it
will not work otherwise.

Thanks

"informer" <informer.@plusnet.com.as> wrote in message
news:faajaa$t96$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Does the BT home Hub have a built in firewall. If it doesnt is the built
> in windows firewall man enough?
>
> I ask because I am having lots of problems having to reset the hub all the
> time. In fact every time I reboot the pc i have to rebot the router as it
> will not work otherwise.

Any NAT (Network Address Translation) router such as the Home Hub will act
as an incoming firewall, refusing to pass all traffic that is not in
response to a request that your PC has made (eg "get me this web page",
"read email from this POP mailbox").

As such, you are protected from the outside world simply by virtue of having
a router. A USB modem (or a dial-up one, for that matter!) doesn't have this
firewall.

Any software firewall (eg Windows, Norton, McAfee, ZoneAlarm, AVG) will
provide at least this same level of protection. I'm not sure whether the
Windows firewall gives you anything extra, over and above the router's
firewall.

However most software firewalls (but not the Windows one) also give you
outgoing protection: any software on the PC which wants to access the
Internet has to seek your permission on the first occasion that it tries. If
you say no, that program will not be able to access the Internet. This
protects you from viruses and spyware which get installed without your
realising and then try to "phone home".

I'd suggest that you install software such as ZoneAlarm or AVG for the
outgoing protection.


None of this answers your second point about having to reboot the router
whenever you reboot the PC. It might be worth investigating that a bit more
thoroughly:

When everything is working OK:

1. At the PC, do "Start | Run | cmd" (XP) or type "cmd" in the Search field
on the Start Menu (Vista).

2. In the black window that appears, type "ipconfig" and note the IP address
and gateway address that are given. These will probably be something like
192.168.0.5 (IP) and 192.168.0.1 (gateway).

3. Type "ping 192.168.0.1" (substitute your gateway address if it's
different) and check that you get four replies. This tests that your PC can
talk to your router.

4. Type "ping news.bbc.co.uk". This tests that your PC can access an
external site via the router. Note the IP address of this site - you'll need
it later.



When the router has apparently failed, and before rebooting it, repeat these
tests and compare the results. If Test 4 fails, try pinging the IP address
that you noted down. If this succeeds but pinging news.bbc.co.uk fails, that
points to failure of the Domain Name Service in the router. If (4) fails as
well, the router has lost the ability to route traffic. If (3) fails as
well, your router is no longer talking to your PC.

Note the state of the router's lights in both the good and failed state -
are they the same?

To progress further, you'll need to open up the router's configuration
pages. Instructions vary from one router to another. You might want to get
BT to give you a hand if the router looks to be misbehaving.

It may even be that the router is faulty, in which case it will need to be
replaced.

How do you connect to the router - by Ethernet cable, USB cable or wireless?

"Mortimer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "informer" <informer.@plusnet.com.as> wrote in message
> news:faajaa$t96$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Does the BT home Hub have a built in firewall. If it doesnt is the built
>> in windows firewall man enough?
>>
>> I ask because I am having lots of problems having to reset the hub all
>> the time. In fact every time I reboot the pc i have to rebot the router
>> as it will not work otherwise.
>
> Any NAT (Network Address Translation) router such as the Home Hub will act
> as an incoming firewall, refusing to pass all traffic that is not in
> response to a request that your PC has made (eg "get me this web page",
> "read email from this POP mailbox").
>
> As such, you are protected from the outside world simply by virtue of
> having a router. A USB modem (or a dial-up one, for that matter!) doesn't
> have this firewall.
>
> Any software firewall (eg Windows, Norton, McAfee, ZoneAlarm, AVG) will
> provide at least this same level of protection. I'm not sure whether the
> Windows firewall gives you anything extra, over and above the router's
> firewall.
>
> However most software firewalls (but not the Windows one) also give you
> outgoing protection: any software on the PC which wants to access the
> Internet has to seek your permission on the first occasion that it tries.
> If you say no, that program will not be able to access the Internet. This
> protects you from viruses and spyware which get installed without your
> realising and then try to "phone home".
>
> I'd suggest that you install software such as ZoneAlarm or AVG for the
> outgoing protection.
>
>
> None of this answers your second point about having to reboot the router
> whenever you reboot the PC. It might be worth investigating that a bit
> more thoroughly:
>
> When everything is working OK:
>
> 1. At the PC, do "Start | Run | cmd" (XP) or type "cmd" in the Search
> field on the Start Menu (Vista).
>
> 2. In the black window that appears, type "ipconfig" and note the IP
> address and gateway address that are given. These will probably be
> something like 192.168.0.5 (IP) and 192.168.0.1 (gateway).
>
> 3. Type "ping 192.168.0.1" (substitute your gateway address if it's
> different) and check that you get four replies. This tests that your PC
> can talk to your router.
>
> 4. Type "ping news.bbc.co.uk". This tests that your PC can access an
> external site via the router. Note the IP address of this site - you'll
> need it later.
>
>
>
> When the router has apparently failed, and before rebooting it, repeat
> these tests and compare the results. If Test 4 fails, try pinging the IP
> address that you noted down. If this succeeds but pinging news.bbc.co.uk
> fails, that points to failure of the Domain Name Service in the router. If
> (4) fails as well, the router has lost the ability to route traffic. If
> (3) fails as well, your router is no longer talking to your PC.
>
> Note the state of the router's lights in both the good and failed state -
> are they the same?
>
> To progress further, you'll need to open up the router's configuration
> pages. Instructions vary from one router to another. You might want to get
> BT to give you a hand if the router looks to be misbehaving.
>
> It may even be that the router is faulty, in which case it will need to be
> replaced.
>
> How do you connect to the router - by Ethernet cable, USB cable or
> wireless?
>
>
>

Thanks will try that. I connect via Ethernet.

All the tests BT did couldnt find the router when it goes down. I have to
master reset the hub at least once a day for it to work. I would say 80% of
the time I reboot it doesnt find it, then I reset hub and hey presto it
finds it.

informer.@plusnet.com.as declared for all the world to hear...
> Does the BT home Hub have a built in firewall. If it doesnt is the built in
> windows firewall man enough?
>
> I ask because I am having lots of problems having to reset the hub all the
> time. In fact every time I reboot the pc i have to rebot the router as it
> will not work otherwise.

Are you connecting via USB by any chance? I suggest ethernet. The router
is independent of the PC, you should not have to re-start it every time
you start your PC.

And yes, it does have a firewall.
--
Regards
Jon

informer.@plusnet.com.as declared for all the world to hear...
> All the tests BT did couldnt find the router when it goes down. I have to
> master reset the hub at least once a day for it to work. I would say 80% of
> the time I reboot it doesnt find it, then I reset hub and hey presto it
> finds it.

It's fucked, get it replaced.
--
Regards
Jon

On 20/08/2007 01:16, Mortimer wrote:

> However most software firewalls (but not the Windows one) also give you
> outgoing protection:

hardware ones /can/ offer that too, older ones hae tended not to, no
idea about the homehub.

"Jon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) et...
> informer.@plusnet.com.as declared for all the world to hear...
>> All the tests BT did couldnt find the router when it goes down. I have to
>> master reset the hub at least once a day for it to work. I would say 80%
>> of
>> the time I reboot it doesnt find it, then I reset hub and hey presto it
>> finds it.
>
> It's fucked, get it replaced.

Yes, it sounds to be seriously ill if BT can't see it when it goes down. I'm
curious as to how rebooting the PC can put the router into this state.

Has it always been like this or is it a fault that's developed recently
after it used to work fine?

"Andy Burns" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 20/08/2007 01:16, Mortimer wrote:
>
>> However most software firewalls (but not the Windows one) also give you
>> outgoing protection:
>
> hardware ones /can/ offer that too, older ones hae tended not to, no idea
> about the homehub.

Can they? So how do they seek your permission as to which programmes are
allowed access to the internet? Do you have to program them with a list of
permitted apps?

On 20/08/2007 08:45, Mortimer wrote:

> how do they seek your permission as to which programmes are
> allowed access to the internet?

they don't.

> Do you have to program them with a list of permitted apps?

Yes, except it's not the apps that you grant permissions to, generally
it's the port numbers, e.g minimally you would allow outbound
http/https, smtp, pop/imap, if the router is acting as dns that
shouldn't need to be added.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Mortimer
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>I'd suggest that you install software such as ZoneAlarm

Comodo is better (it's free), will soon incorporate a HIPS, and they
apparently plan to release the vista compatible variant shortly:

http://www.comodo.com

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

http://www.matousec.com/projects/win...ewalls-ratings

Click on the results button at the end of the page for the meat:

http://www.firewallleaktester.com/te...n_overview.php

They also bought out and now give away BO clean, which seems to be
fairly reasonable:

http://www.comodo.com/boclean/boclean.html

I can't say anything about their (also free) beta antivirus package.
Their free software has a development path.

I've got a lifetime licence for Outpost, but I have to admit that it has
problems due to bloating and vulnerabilities. So I don't use it right
now:

http://www.matousec.com/info/advisor..._hdr-mutex.php
--
Huss

Why so large a cost, having so short a lease, does thou upon your fading
mansion spend?

William Shakespeare