At Starbucks the other day (no Airport at this one), a friend of a friend was finishing up his homework assignment on computer security. I asked him his opinion on whether a software firewall is preferable or not to a router. His answer intrigued me and left me with more unanswered questions than I had time to ask. Some day I might be able to look at his set up and clarify my questions, but he's a PC user and I'm not sure if his generalizations apply to macs.
Getting to my point: He said that the only decent router would be thousands of dollars in cost. He suggested that most firewalls were only good to a very limited degree and asserted that any good hacker can bypass them. What intrigued me was this; He said the best way to set up a secure home network was to use a computer as server and then connect all other ubits to the server. OK, I was intrigued but it got over my head quickly. It made sense on first listening, before I forgot the details. Now i remember seeing a tangerine iBook on eBay billed as being a bargain because it's screen was displaying a red hue which compromised its use for many applications. The seller suggested using it for a server. Provided one has a spare Tangerine iBook around (when not used for faxing), is this relatively easy to do? He implied that the server computer protected any other unit from receiving unsolicited pings or whatever...what I don't get is how one could still use the internet on the non-server computers. Does anyone out there do this? Could I use a 366 or 300 iBook as a server and connect my Pismo and iMac to it as a way of setting up an impenetrable network. Mind you, I'm not dealing in state secrets... Does one need special Apple server software to do this? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks, Donald -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
