I sware to freakin god McAfee sucks totally. They have all of the updates, except for the latest virus update I need. I was supposed to get free Virus updates until next May, now look. They no longer support my version, well I'd be dam**d. Really, who agrees with me that this sucks. Basically, it tells me I have to pay $70 for a whole new copy of Internet Security Suite 2005. I could just cry, literally :sad:
If you are on a home network/system with no services, no firewall is required or even recommended.
Firewalls have two uses:
1. Filtering ports, either by packet type or data content.
2. Segregating network traffic.
I believe you have no need for #1 if you are not running any services and your network topography doesn't call for #2, running a firewall is not only unneeded, but to do so would be a poor choice. By adding a firewall in this environment you actually decrease the security of your system by increasing its complexity (reduced assurances, and just another application that needs to be trusted and kept current) and surface area. For example a number of personal firewalls had/have issues of being broken by my particularly agressive nmap scans.
It is important to only add counter measures in response to threats that justify them.
