>Windows XP firewall is only useful if your laptop is directly   
   >connected to the   
   > internet with out a NAT router in front.  The router provided by your ISP   
   > (which you configure to allow port forwarding) is acting as your firewall.   
   > Because your router is filtering traffic from the internet to your home.   
      
    TM> We are not talking about the Windows firewall though, are we?   
    TM> Aren't we talking about a REAL firewall, the one that is NATing   
    TM> your ports to your computer?    
      
   i would hazard a guess that both are in the mix here... especially if there's   
   one at the perimeter doing NAT... both need to have the ports opened... the   
   perimeter one has the forwards...   
      
    TM> Sorry, I must have misunderstood completely. I have never used the   
    TM> Windows firewall on my BBS boxes, so it didn't even cross my mind   
    TM> thjat this was the issue.   
      
   your internal machines are all connected to the same network and are running   
   naked with no protecting from each other?   
      
   > Now, if you need to open ports 1024 to 65535 for Passive FTP (PASV)   
   > to work,   
   > then I suggest you not run anything else on the laptop except for your BBS.   
   > That way you can minimise what ports are open within Windows XP.   
      
    TM> Lap Top? Are you running your BBS system on a lap top computer? are   
    TM> you seroius?    
      
   what's wrong with that? my laptop is more powerful than any of my workstations   
   and servers... so what... there's nothing wrong there... heck, i know many   
   folks using a laptop as their perimeter firewall because it is low power, has   
   built in battery for power failures, and is fast with plenty of memory for   
   filtering and scanning web pages (squid), email (smtp proxying) and handling   
   their routing needs... again, so what...   
      
    TM> I rest my case. Sorry Rudi....   
      
   the hardware is not the problem... the OS limitations are the problem... at   
   least one problem, anyway...   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
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