Solved Win 7 Auto setup internet, is it secure?

[Trapper]

Hi.
I recently installed Win 7 64bit, and the OS seems to have installed my internet connection which is obviously working fine.
Going through the Control Center I found the Network and Sharing Center and looked check my Internet security. I have a Belkin Router and under XP set this up with passwords and other information to make sure my connection was as secure as I could make it.

Using Belkin I was able to view my own and local networks.

Now I have no information at all as to the security of my connections .

Do I have a secure setup and where I can I check this? Or should I install the Belkin program and use this instead?

 

[Roderunner]

Hi Trapper,

Your internet connection is only as secure as your settings. If your Belkin has NAT, you will be OK with Windows Firewall, if not, install a software FW.

 

[alphanumeric]

Is your PC using a wired or wireless connection? By passwords do you mean the admin password for the router login or wireless network password or both? Once you set the router up you shouldn't have to do it again unless you forget or want to change your passwords. If a PC is using a wired connection it doesn't need any password to connect to your network and the Internet. If you are using a wireless connection you do need to enter the SSID (network name) and password (if you set one) to connect to your network.

 

[Trapper]

Thank you for your replies.
I have a wired connection from the router to this PC but we have another PC and Laptop connected wireless, both of those have the Belkin software installed with encrypted password and the following:
Firewall - enabled
Security - WPA/WPA2-Personal (PSK)
UPnP - Enabled
WPS - Enabled
Remote - disabled.

On this PC, the one I am concerned about, I have 'PC Tools Firewall +' and I believe a BT Firewall as well as I use their BB Connection. Is this a satisfactory safety level or should/how can I increase this? I have not installed the Belkin software.

If the Password for the Belkin router is changed will this mean this wired PC will still connect?

I have seen a post where the writer has advised against using PC Tools FW as it causes problems with W7. Has anyone else come across this? If so would MS Defender be a better option?

 

[alphanumeric]

To the best of my knowledge running more than one software firewall is not a good idea. Like Anti virus software, if you run more than one they will just interfere with each other. The router provides you a hardware firewall so I only use the built in Windows firewall. I never use the setup software supplied with a router, I log on manually though the routers web interface. Changing the routers login password will not affect the ability of any computers, wired or wireless to connect to the router or Internet. If you change your wireless password you will have to change it on every PC that connects wirelessly.

 

[Trapper]

I would not use two firewalls, that is a route to problems. I was just wondering if the Windows Defender 'would be a better option' than the PC Tools version. I would remove the PC Tools version if this was the general advice.

If, having the wired router, is as secure as the wireless with the wireless passwords then that will be fine for me. I was just concerned I had left the internet door open so to speak.

 

[alphanumeric]

Personally I'm more worried about someone getting unauthorized access by hacking my wireless than breaking in from the Internet WAN side of my router. Thats why I run a software firewall on every PC despite the fact that my router already has a firewall built in. I also use WPA2 and a very strong password. All my PC's run windows 7, use the built in windows firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials. Use whatever makes you feel comfortable, just don't overload your system with too much or it will end up being counter productive in the end. Your routers firewall is totally independent of what ever firewall you run on your PC(s) and won't interfere with it. As far as I know anyway, I'm no expert but I don't consider myself a noob either.

 

[alphanumeric]

I would not use two firewalls, that is a route to problems. I was just wondering if the Windows Defender 'would be a better option' than the PC Tools version. I would remove the PC Tools version if this was the general advice.

If, having the wired router, is as secure as the wireless with the wireless passwords then that will be fine for me. I was just concerned I had left the internet door open so to speak.

Ignoring wireless PC's for the moment, in order for someone to gain access to your LAN they would have to have physical access to the router. They would have to plug a cable into one of the LAN jacks on the router. If the router is setup correctly, no access can be gained from the WAN (Internet) side. That is why there is no password for a wired PC. Its plug and play. Now if you router also has wireless then by default its wide open, anybody in range could connect. Thats why you enable encryption and set a password in the router. You also want to set the logon password so if someone does actually get on your LAN they can't log into the router and change any settings. Its just further protection against someone tampering with things. You definitely want to set the admin password if you let guests connect to your LAN. There are other things you can do to add extra security to your network. MAC filtering, using a hidden SSID etc. Some will tell you you are wasting your time and just complicating things. I've done it in the past with no ill effects but YMMV. If you are interested just google it, and then decide if you want to tackle it. There are probably some tutorials on this subject but I don't have time to hunt them up at the moment. Real life always seems to interfere with fun for some reason.

 

[Trapper]

alphanumeric wrote

Thats why you enable encryption and set a password in the router. You also want to set the logon password so if someone does actually get on your LAN they can't log into the router and change any settings.

By 'set the logon password' I assume you are referring to the Windows logon screen, or maybe not?

I don't know if I can get access to my router setup without installing the Belkin software

My router has 'ssid' password and a 'Pre-shared key (PSK)' not exactly sure what this means but it seems to work!

 

[alphanumeric]

No, I'm referring to a password on the router that allows access to its settings, not your windows logon password. When I want to change any settings on my router I open internet explorer and type http://192.168.0.10/ into the address bar. 192.168.0.10 is my routers IP address. That will display its logon screen and ask for the password. Most routers by default will have no password or it will be something like "admin". The manual will tell what IP address to use and what the default password is. You should change it so that only you know what it is. If you open a command prompt window and run ipconfig/all, what is listed as Default Gateway will be your routers IP address, usually its something like 192.168.0.1. If you use the setup software that came with it, it will help you log in and make changes to the settings. I don't use the setup software so I can't tell you exactly what comes up on screen. You likely already set it the first time you ran it. You really only need to run it once from one PC and record what you set for passwords so you don't forget what they are.

 

[alphanumeric]

This may be worth a look:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105015-wireless-security-how-protect-your-network.html?filter

 

[Trapper]

Of course! I completely forgot about using my http://192.etc address in Explorer which shows my complete Belkin setup.

I will check out your link later and see if I can improve my security.

Many thanks for your help

Trapper

 

[alphanumeric]

Yeah, I imagine there are a lot more settings there than what the setup software shows or goes though. On my D-Link you can save your configuration to a file and save it to your PC. Its handy if you want to try some things, but mess it up and have to reset it to defaults because you locked yourself out somehow. Then instead of starting over from scratch you just import the file and its all back the way it was before you started. That reminds me, I should go and make a new backup config file.