best firewall-router

my on line bill pay has been fraud two times-they were caught but I am using
the windows XP fire wall-- I was thinking of using a better firewall--my
neighbor suggested getting a router...
opinion on a router
and what is the bet firewall.,

thanks

"M.Balarama" <mbalar.DeleteThis@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:0DW8j.53637$eY.46893@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net...
> my on line bill pay has been fraud two times-they were caught but I am
> using the windows XP fire wall-- I was thinking of using a better
> firewall--my neighbor suggested getting a router...
> opinion on a router
> and what is the bet firewall.,

It's up to the Web site to stop the fraud and protect against it on their
end. No firewall of any type hardware, XP's FW or any 3rd party personal
firewall is going to protect in this situation on your end, because it's
happening at the Web site the bill pay's Web site on their end.

The only way you can be attacked with your computer in this type of
situation is if you clicked on something a dubious Web link that
downloaded/installed software so that one could see your activities while
using the computer, which can also be done with an email sent to you. They
other way would be if you went to a dubious Web site, the Web site asked you
about your on-line bill payer information, and you gave it up.

If your account gets compromised with the on-line bill payer, you had
involvement with it in someway, and that's what should be worried about. It
just doesn't happen by itself on some type of identify theft is what it
really comes down to. You had involvement in your own compromise.

The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to practice safe hex
computing practices as much as possible.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2132447,00.asp
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html

The other thing would be is not depend upon detection software to tell you
what is happening on the computer, because it can all be circumvented and
defeated if the conditions are right. You should look for yourself from time
to time to see what is happening and what is running on your computer with
the proper tools.

<http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Hidden_Backdoors_Trojan_Horses_and_Rootkit_Tools_in_a_Windows_Environment.html>

Lastly, if using the XP O/S, then you should harden it to attack as much as
possible.

http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/winxpsecuritychecklist.htm

No router FW, XP's FW or a 3rd party FW is going to protect you in this
situation. You have to protect yourself and your behavior while on the
Internet.