Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
August 27, 2006

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Volume 2, Number 11 — Sunday, August 27, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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7.  Why use a router?

Another recent question was a repeat of one I've answered a number of times. The person wanted to know if they should get a router when they get a cable broadband Internet service.

My answer, as always, is &uqot;Yes!"

Your cable company might tell you that you only need a router if you're going to have a home network — or they'll try to sell you on the horrible idea of buying a hub and multiple IP addresses from them — expensive and stupid!.

Remember that these are the same kind of people that used to tell us that we don't need a firewall because they had one.

You DO need a router, even if you only have one computer that you're connecting.

Think of it this way. Do you need a lock on your door?

The router functions to lock the Internet away from your computer. If your computer asks for something from the Internet, it asks the router. The router asks the IP address on the Internet.

The server at the other end can respond, and the router will know to which computer to route the respone. But, no computer on the Internet side can INITIATE communcations with your computer.

Your compute would not have an IP address on the Internet. It's address would be on the local home network (even if that network is nothing but one router and one computer). The WAN port of the router is the only thing that has exposure to the Internet.

So, what's the big protection if you're already running a software firewall? The importance is that you simply are not accessible. Some of the Windows flaws have been such that Windows itself would be subverted before a firewall program ever had a chance to block an incoming connection. So, we prevent that incoming connection...

So, yes, you need a router. It's a security issue.

See also: http://www.terryscomputertips.com/computers/hub-or-router.php

You may also want to read the other networking articles linked from my Computer Tips page at http://www.terryscomputertips.com/computers/computer-tips.php

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8.  Bookmarks and Favorites on Multiple Computers

Reader Marty Kastrin wrote to ask how to copy bookmarks from one computer to another:

I applaud your recommendation of Bookmark Converter as a simple and effective way to synchronize firefox bookmarks and IE favorites. Now that I've got these in sync, I'd like to share them with my 2nd computer at home as well as my computer at work. What software or procedure would you rcommend to accomplish this task?

Thanks, Marty.

I've got a couple articles on backing up Firefox. I think you probably picked up the Bookmark Converter recommendation on my Firefox pages.

One is a really powerful tool — MozBackup. It's freeware and I wrote a review of it in an article called Backing Up Your Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird and Netscape Profiles.

It should be great for copying Firefox (and other Mozilla products) files to other computers, because it handles much more than just the bookmarks.

My An Easier Way to Back Up Firefox Bookmarks article talks about another way, too.

Although the backup process is easy, the importing process is not as obvious. That's because Firefox's Import function will not import from a backup copy or an Export'ed backup.

To import your Firefox bookmarks into a different computer, or to restore them on your current computer, you will have to replace the current Firefox bookmarks.html file with the backed-up version.

You can find your Firefox bookmarks.html file in:

C:\Documents and Settings\[YourUserID]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[RandomlyGeneratedProfileName]

(the above may wrap because of your screen display, but it is all one line, with a space between the words Application and Data).

If you haven't turned off one of the Windows Explorer default settings, Windows hides the file extensions of "known file types" such as ".html"

Of course, depending on your experience, all you really have to do to copy bookmarks from Firefox on one comptuer to another is to copy the bookmarks.html file out of your profile to a flash drive, carry the flash drive to the other computer, and copy it into the appropriate Firefox profile on that computer.

Similarly, you can copy your IE favorites to a flash drive and copy them to the new computer. Just drag and drop the C:\Documents and Settings\[YourUserID]\Favorites folder to your flash drive.

Then, on the other computer, you can drag it the corresponding location — or just drag and drop it onto the desktop to creat an easily-accessable file without affecting the second computer's Favorites.

Another advantage of having the favorites on your flash drive is that you can use them directly off your flash drive. You can take your Bookmarks and Favorites with you when you travel.

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 2, Number 11 — Sunday, August 27, 2006

Copyright © 2006 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.