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I just got Rogers Extreme (5000/800) and I'm thinking I might need a firewall now that my computer is always on the net. Am I being paranoid? If not, what's a good firewall program?

Having at least a hardware firewall is a good idea.  Especially when you consider the reasonably recent outbreaks of worms that basically allowed people to stick a virus in your Windows XP/2000 Computer *by simply being connected to the net*.

Now I could say that updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com plugged any and all vulnerabilities that may cause that to happen again.   Unfortunately, I don't know for certain that is the case.   So having a firewall to block unused ports is generally a good policy even though it may be a PITA when you're trying ot get certain games to run over the net.

Get ZoneAlarm if you need software protection.  It is a solid piece of work, gets updated regularly, has a nice and easy to understand interface, and best of all, its FREE.

We use the Linksys Cable/DSL Firewall Router (5 port). Any vendor cable/dsl firewall would probably do fine though. All your internal machines run on NAT so your machine itself doesn't have an IP address on the internet (a good thing if you ask me). It also has a DMZ port which you can plug into and it lets you bypass the firewall (for any direct connect games).

All MMO's work through it, Warcraft III style play works through it, C&C something or other direct connect didn't work through it (didn't try the DMZ port). BitTorrent works through it. Web, shoutcast, streaming video, all work fine through it.

I use Norton Systemworks (or whatever the hell it is called). It has a anti-virus program and a configurable software firewall. Works like a charm for me, and you can get it at Costco for ~$40 or so.

Is a hardware firewall worth it? I did a virus scan and came up with like 25 infected files (3 weren't a worm.) I wasn't too happy :(

I have a linksys wrt54g wireless router.  Firewall turned on, no problems with virus or worms.

Hardware firewall plus software firewall equals belt plus suspenders. If one fails, the other might save you.

If you're on Windows XP, you've got a software firewall on the box already, you just need to enable it. Start button, help, search on "enable firewall", follow the directions.

If you go with hardware, make sure you change the admin password.

If you go with hardware that includes wireless, find out about securing the wireless from neighbors and/or drivebys.

--> Uses Zonealarm free. VERY happy with it, and it's easy to use.

The XP firewall, is crap, from all that I have heard.

Another benefit of including a NAT device such as a (linksys, d-link, or other brand) router (with or without built-in WAP) is that it will let you transparently use multiple computers with your single network connection.  

The windows XP firewall is only slightly better than building a structural brick wall out of bricks of jell-o, but it's still better than connecting the computer completely unprotected.  There are a fair number of software firewalls, many of them are free, and some are more effective than others.   Software firewalls can also cause issues with networked games.

A hardware firewall is absolutely worth it for computers that are permanently connected via broadband: the firewall and NAT translation will protect your machine from worms and hackers systematically attacking every IP address in your range.

But it won't give you any protection whatsoever against virii, and if you download something infected with a virus or trojan the firewall won't bat an eye.  Don't neglect your antivirus software.

My machine is patched up to date and not running a firewall, and online 24/7, no issues at all here. Considering that the trend is going to reverse engineer patches Microsoft tosses out of their build labs, since it's easier, you should be relatively safe if you patch within the time a patch is released and the script kiddies managed to derive an exploit.

I use Sygate Personal Firewell Pro, PeerGuardian and a crappy hardware firewall in my router. It makes me feel safe enough.

Never could stand Zonealarm or Nortorn Personal Firewall. Norton didn't catch shit when I used it ( Got alot of angry E-mails from my ISP that someone was using my IP to do nasty shit and if "I" didn't stop they would unplug me ). Zonealarm had a terrible interface.

Oddly enough I find the zone alarm interface to be increadibly easy to deal with and Uninstalled the Norton Firewall after only 2 days of use because I absolutely hated the UI.  Oh well, different strokes for different folks i guess.

Kerio makes a pretty damn good personal firewall regular users can get for free.

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

Their old version, 2.1.x is far superior IMO since it's incredibly small and easy to use, but the new one works.

Get a cheap box (128 megs of ram, 2 gig HD, 2 network cards, cheapest proc you can find, no monitor or anything - except for initial install, which you can pull off your main box most likely).

Then install Smoothie (http://www.smoothwall.org), and get a cheap hub for the internal card.  More effort, but if you want protection, cheap, and effective.  Besides, "personal" firewalls just eat ram anyway (http://www.samspade.org/d/persfire.html).  And are only usefull if you are dumb enough to get a virus and want to stop it from spreading off your computer.

Sygate eats 2 meg of ram for me, not a whole lot when you consider I have 1024 of them to spend.

I use Norton Internet Securities. Its $70 a yeah, and includes Norton Anti-Virus. It works GREAT. More expensive than free, but still a great deal for what you get, and very easy to figure out for the firewall newbs.

I highly recomend it. You can also get a free 15 day trialware from the Symantic website. But you kind of have to dig for it.

Hacking 101: there are two main, very broad, ways that people can break your system.  One, you have open ports on your PC that people can exploit (such as a lot of the Windows exploits, or ports opened by viruses), or by downloading a virus (trojan/etc).  

On the first, you only really need one solution.  The catch is that if there's a known exploit in that solution, they could hack your firewall, but really any cheap-o firewall will close off open ports.  I use a Linksys router, works fine, and is my preference because it keeps the processing off my PC.  That should be enough for you, unless you're out pissing off hackers.

On the second - best defense is to educate yourself.  Never, ever, ever download anything off the net to be safe.  If you are literate in the basics of hacking, you won't need antivirus applications, but the people that are are a minority.  Problem with anti-virus is that it'll chew up the processing on your machine, a downside if you're a gamer.  

Oh, and if you're a windows user (you are, right?) run updates often.  Go here->   http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/   about once a week, or maybe every other week.  Keeping patched will stop a high percent of Windows viruses.

Hardware router running NAT + Zonealarm (Pro, even, because I feel they deserve someone to pay to cover you zillion freeloaders :)). I also have norton antivirus installed, but not running all the time, only to check downloads and stuff, and the occasional system check.

It's pretty important to properly set up your OS on installation, too. Close down all those pesky services hogging your resources and opening holes.