Firewall/Router

Ok, you now have the outside world ready to connect to your site but before going any further you want to make sure you DON'T have unwanted traffic.

Depending on what you intend to setup you have a number of options. If you are just going to run one machine then a software firewall probably all you require however a hardware firewall/router is still ideal. Reason? Software firewalls stops unwanted traffic already on your pc and usually does a good enough job before it gets to your applications etc. Hardware firewalls stops the unwanted traffic before it gets to your PC. They are not that hard to setup and most these days have a web browser interface of ease of use.

If you intend to have two PC's sharing the Internet you may wish to use a hardware firewall/router for more protection and have the ability to expand at anytime.

There are a number of both software and hardware available and it is really your preference to what you need. Software firewalls can be shareware or free, hardware firewalls vary from an average of around $200-300 upwards depending where you buy and what you want.