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Old 25th May 2008
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jggimi jggimi is offline
More noise than signal
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: USA
Posts: 7,977
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A little level-setting is in order. "Security" is an overused word, meaningless without context. In your case, you are interested in one context only:

The Internet and attempts to break into your computers:

The easiest way to protect your computers from the evil people of the Internet is to not give them direct access to them. The way most accomplish this, worldwide, is the same:
Place your computers on a private network, and carefully control access from and to the Internet for your private network.
This controlled access to and from your private network is done through something called a firewall. Note that this is not firewall software running on a workstation, this is a computer on your private network that manages and controls traffic being sent in and out, between the Internet and your computers.

There are many types of firewalls, with many different types of capabilities. For example: you could acquire a device called a "Small Office / Home Office" (SOHO) router from your local office supply store which has some firewall capability, as well as providing some level of small network infrastructure. Depending on how your connectivity to the Internet is configured, and your use of the Internet, this may suffice.

OpenBSD is widely used in network management: it has advanced firewall and routing capabilities that turn-key solutions such as the simple SOHO routers I mentioned do not. But you may not need or desire such features, and the management and administration of such features require technical knowledge and understanding of network protocols and their use by your applications, which it seems you do not yet have.
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