I am running a home network consisting of 2 computers sharing a Cable Internet connection. My system is running Windows 2000, and the other system is running Windows XP SP1. We’re using 10/100BaseT NICs, a D-Link DI-704P router, and a (DOCSIS compliant) Linksys Cable modem.
For added security, I am running Zone Alarm on my system and am planning to add Zone Alarm to the XP system. (The XP system has the Firewall feature enabled on it) I try to keep both systems as up to date as possible asfar as patches go, and run Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition on both systems.
My question is, how should I set up the protocols for best speed/most secure connection between computers, and with the internet? Should I only use TCP/IP all the waythrough or only IPX/SPX for LAN connections and only TCP/IP for WAN connections? What would be the best way to set this up?
I’m currently running:
Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks
QoS Packet Scheduler
SAP Agent
TCP/IP
NetBEUI
Network Monitor Driver
NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol
….and a few other protocols.
Which ones should I keep and which ones should I drop? What’d be nice is being able to set it upso that I use TCP/IP to access the WAN and some oddball protocol for my LAN to hopefully make it more secure.
Thanks for your time 🙂