NAT setting in DSL modem ?

Hi, can you stand yet another newbie question? I have my DSL line for a little over a month, and an now trying to decide what AV and Firewall to use.

I am an ex-Norton/Symantec AV 2005 user, and after much looking am about to decide on nod32 after trying kav 6.0, bitdefender.

I was also a loyal ZAPro user for 2 yrs, but am not happy with way things have been going over there, and a few days ago installed the Trial of Outpost Pro.

I must say... Outpost Pro is much 'faster' than ZAPro and was not that hard to set up.

With either firewall then I go to shieldsup and test my ports all show 'closed' instead of stealth. I'm told its because my modem has 'NAT' and its only testing the modem. I can accept this, but it now begs the question, what is prefered? Do I dare turn off the NAT in the modem? I just found that I could access the modem and there in an option to turn it off, but I'm bit worried I might break my Internet connection.

If I turn off NAT would the firewall now show up as 'stealth' ?

You know the old saying 'Inquiring minds' ...

Thanks in advance
Jim

 

Which modem? It may have a firewall built in that allows you to stealth the ports (or the firmware may be from your ISP that eliminates that ability).

No matter, from a security standpoint closed or stealth is the same for you - either way it will keep out those pesky scans to your PC and as a layered approach you shouldn't turn off NAT at that point but attempt to turn on stealth if the modem/router has it.

 

Thanks for the reply. Its a modem that I got with the DSL service from Sprint, now Embarc. Its a 660 series modem SP-660 ADSL.

From what I've been able to dig up on the net, which is very little so far, and I did not get a manual. I don't think the modem has a 'firewall' just NAT.

Thanks again for the info.

 

I'll hunt around a little on yours but maybe someone else has some experience with it. On my DSL line I have a Westell 6100 - the retail version has a firewall but it was supplied by my ISP which has specific firmware (and hardware modifications apparently) that eliminates the firewall so I understand your situation.

You may want to check this forum - http://www.dslreports.com/forum/clec,sprn it has some mention of the 660.

edit: and it appears that modem is a special version of the ZyXEL 660: http://www.zyxel.com/web/product_fa...yGroupNo=B22BBE52-F3D8-4CFA-86F5-98E545733ECD

 

I have a Westell 6100 as well, and I can tell you. The firewall is bugged. Drops connections every few mins when torrenting, so I dont even bother turning it on.

As for the original question, I believe your computer is safe. Your router/modem combo is the only thing attracting scans, if at all. So long as you leave a firewall on, NAT by itself should keep your computer safe. In most cases that is.

And turning off NAT shouldn't break your connection. Pretty sure the only thing it does is assign a static ip address instead of a bunch of dynamic ones. One of the experts should confirm this before you try it though.

NAT is always safer than no NAT. That's how I look at things.