daskel

yea you are on the ball... pretty much exactly what I'm saying. So where do I start?

XP, Leopard... xbox360. I have 3 Computers hooked up through a wireless router. My ISP is through quest and I have the modem going to my router. I use the 360 as a media center, and the laptops for various stuffs. I have my main desktop jacked into the router... everything else is wireless. My main desktop has all my stuff on it (movies, music, ect.) I use that as a kind of server I guess... The thing is I download a lot of stuff... probably too much. At any rate I want to make my home network as secure as possible. I have a cheap Dlink wireless router (WBR-2310). My ISP is through Quest, Fiber Optic DSL, (only thing going in my neighborhood) I got a Quest M1000 Modem. I guess I'm worried about what I download, who can see it, and whats stored on my hard drives... Thats about it... any ideas?

I'm trying to figure out the best way to secure my home network. Can anyone point me in the right direction or provide some tips on what to buy or how to approach this. A work buddy advised me to buy a hardware firewall. Is this the way to go, or is there a cheaper alternative. Thanks... by the way I'm a noob.