From: Mike '/m' 

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 08:55:41 -0400, "Geo"  wrote:

>"Mike '/m'"  wrote in message
>news:8rkpi11rf4t8745im6e28druah0turq6df{at}4ax.com...
>
>> One of the main reasons why I am looking elsewhere for the OS on my PC
>> is the exact reason that with Windows I feel less and less in control of
>> my PERSONAL computer with each new visit to Windows Update.
>
>I thought your idea of running the firewall on a device separate from the PC
>was a great idea to solve this problem. The only difference between you and
>me on that part is you use BSD, and I want a PIX box. 

Originally, it started out that way, i.e., just having a separate box for
the firewall of my Windows desktop when I hooked up to the DSL stuff.  But
it has grown to now being the firewall for my entire home network.

OpenBSD is a good choice for me for this application.  It's very flexible,
has a lot of good features, and runs on the 233MHz Pentium II box that I
have left over.  I may be hooking into my company's VPN at some point. 
OpenBSD also has load balancing and redundancy with the firewall, having
the ability to maintain the state table across multiple systems.  Not sure
if I'll ever need that stuff on my home network, though.  ;-)


Aside: remember I was planning to switch ISP's?  Well, the local ISP for
DSL I was switching to, decided to charge my credit card $250 and then go
silent.  American Express reversed the charge.   I'm with Comcast as
a result.  The service is OK.  I see download speeds of 200 to 800
kBytes/sec depending upon how many others are online in the area.
Reliability has been very good so far.  My IP address hasn't changed for
weeks, even though it is a dynamic address.

  /m

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5