I was browsing some settings and then clicked on the firewall tab, are my current default settings good enough or should I change anything?
Here are my settings: IDK if it was set up like this from beginning or I made some changes in past. Either way it works with no problems.
AFAIK personal computers usually are not. I've read some news about online gamers being targeted but not regular users browsing net, reading mail and similar.
A bad guy would have to have a personal vendetta against you specifically for them to direct all the compromised zombies in their bot army to target you. And what would that get them? Nothing unless you are somebody famous or extremely important in some organization. Remember, the way a DDoS attack works is the bad guy instructs 1000s of infected computers to try to access your network. They do this typically just gain street cred from their fellow hackers. So they hit major organizations so the attack will make it on the evening news. For the record, I left my Netgear router in the defaults (except for changing the password and wireless passphrase, of course) and I've had no problems. I also limit the number of connections to 15 as that will take care of my 5 computers, Roku, AiO printer, 2 smart TVs, 2 smart Blu-ray players, tablet, and cell phone, which leaves 2 free for guests. It is highly unlikely all those devices will connect at the same time but I can easily bump that up if need be.
Yes. Of course, this assumes you have changed the default admin password and wifi passphrase. And you should still use a software based firewall on each connected computer and the one built into Windows (Windows Firewall) is just fine for that. And you still need an effective anti-malware solution and I use the built-in Windows Defender on all my systems. The rest is up to you, the user, and ALWAYS the weakest link in security. You need to keep Windows and your apps, especially your security apps current, and you must not be "click-happy" on unsolicited links, popups, downloads, and attachments.
Hmmm, just checking my Netgear router, I see that by default, "DoS Protection" is "enabled". And "Respond to Ping on Internet Port" is "disabled". Neither really offers any greater "security" - that is disabling or enabling either option will not make it easier for a hacker to gain access. There is some debate over DoS protection actually degrading your router's performance, however.
My ZyXEL router has 4 modes for the firewall. Off, Low, Medium, and High. I leave the settings alone but set it to high. It doesn't seem to interfere with anything that I can see.
