Thanks. To clarify I have an agrement with one of my neighbors (who has 
a fair quality firewall on it from my experience with "Shields UP") that 
I can use his wireless network that has cox behind for a a very 
reasonible fee. I do expect any security on my connection to the 
internet, however I do expect that all of the machines withen my network 
would be pretty safe.

KevinO wrote:
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> Rob Wultsch wrote:
> 
>>2. In terms of security could I not just have one computer that act as a
>>server (with firewall) to the other computers through a switch, without
>>have a terrible security problems?
>>
> 
> This is a good way to go but I wouldn't recommend using a Winders box for your
> firewall. A small distribution like Smoothwall or IPCop on a Pentium 100 or
> 150 would be ideal, and pretty easy to set up.
> 
> If you decide that you want to add a WAP be very carefull that you don't
> create an opening into your LAN with it. Even using 128 bit WEP will not keep
> someone out, only slow them down on getting in. Keep in mind that using a USB
> based network interface of any kind will probably yield poor performance.
> 
> If you choose to get a WAP use it for that purpose only and not as a firewall,
> even if it has routing capabilities and then only when you need it. Unplug it
> when you are not using it to help keep your network secure. There are PCI
> cards that can be used as wireless access points but I don't know how easy it
> would be to get that to work the way you'd want it to if it was installed in
> your firewall box.
> 
> Stuff to read:
> 
> http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Networking-Overview-HOWTO.html
> http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Wireless-HOWTO.html
> http://www.smoothwall.org/
> 
> - --
> KevinO
> 
> Hickory Dickory Dock, The mice ran up the clock, The clock struck one, The
> others escaped with minor injuries.
> 
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