It's a shame they did not mention Firestarter which I found to be an absolute dodle and much easier to set-up than Guarddog. I do not know if it means that it is less functional or reliable.... hah: Maybe I should give lokkit a go and see. I find GuargdDog a maze....
Firestarter is for the GNOME interface so I have it installed on my Ubuntu computer. It's pretty good but it's also a little basic I use Guarddog on my Kubuntu box, but like you say, it is a little more complicated. I'll have to read the manual
Might be, but it works swell with KDE. I would whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who is not completely clued up on firewalls under Linux and finds the subject a bit daunting... I got to know Firestarter when I first installed Ubuntu. When I moved on to Mandriva, as I did not like Shorewall particularly (AT also suggested it was naff which swang it for me.... ), I instaled Firestarter. Then when I installed Kubuntu and Xubuntu I still used Firestarter.
That all depends on the overall security of the box. If you never update your system, have lots of running services on your box and weak passwords, it's a pretty bad idea to be without a firewall. But if you use best practices where security is concerned, it's a very secure platform so the firewall can safely be considered optional.
thanks AT, if using Mandriva (like you didn't know) with a hardware firewall built into my router, do you think i could use a software firewall ? (security is set to high)
