RE: Need firewall protection,

I appreciate all of the responses!

The main thrust I am picking up about the hardware firewall is that
uninvited "guests" are effectively turned away.  I imagine this is true
because my PC has an IP address given by the router, a 192.168.n.n, which is
"untouchable" from the outside.  Meanwhile, the router, having the address
given by my ISP, *somehow* knows which traffic coming in is legit, and which
is not.

It is that last part I'm unclear on.  Also fuzzy is the part where I have
more than one PC communicating on the internet simultaneously through this
router; how does the router know which PC to route the legit traffic to?

The other thing that I'm learning here is that the firewall/router only
protects against incoming baddies, and does nothing to stop baddies that
somehow make it onto my PC and "phone home".  I mentioned my paranoia
yesterday about keyloggers.  David, I guess I'm surprised that you don't run
a software firewall as well.  What protection do you have against the "phone
home" baddies?

db