Hi i have problem I have linksys router and i want to do some port blocking and allow only port 25, 110, and 8080 to pass through is that posible? and also i try to activate the firewall on my router but everything stops even browsing how can i go about this? is there a way that i can make my router more secure to any treats is there a site that can teach me how to creat a secure networking environment. any help would be apreciated thanks!!!

I think you might want to do some more research first. Yousay that you want to block all ports except 25, 110 & 8080. Then you state that when you turn on the firewall you can't browse. Well, if you were to block all ports except those above then you wouldn't be able to browse either. The "web" runs primarily on port 80! I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish anyway. The ports are already "blocked". When you point your browser to a particular web address a request is first made to the router. The router then makes the actual request to the web server. When the page comes back the router sees that it was a request from your computer and then directs the response back to your browser. Port blocking on a router would prevent you from using those ports. The ports are already blocked from outside by the router. Because if traffic was to come in to the router on say port 1234, the router would not know what to do with the request if it was not requested by a computer on the internal LAN. If you need to allow incomming traffic on a specific port you would have to configure the router to always forward that port to a specific computer on your network. Michael J

thanks for the info! I still need to do more reading... what i was trying to atchieve is to block unnecessary port that a virus can pass through i was wondering if i can use port blocking but right now its not working out it is now getting more cmplicated thnks fr the advice if you know a site that can explain or learn it more pls post it. thanks for the help

As far as incomming virusii, you are safe from "unsolicited" attacks because of the router. But you are responsible for not downloading anythingthing through websites, email, etc. that might be a virus. A good Anti-Virus app if a necessity, but doesn't take away your responsibility for not doing dumb things. Port blocking would only help you in the event that your machine is already infected. It would prevent trojans from sending information out to somewhere on the internet. But, the virusii are just as likely to use a standard port that you use everyday (e.g. web, ftp, email). Plus, you may have several legitimate applications that would need other ports. In this case a good firewall that also checks outboud traffic would be the best choice. The Windows XP firewall does not do this. Michael J