Thanks but there are just too many things I would need to do and get. I don't have a router, never been online with FSX or PD3 and really would rather not install a large invasive virus program. 

 

If I do this why do I need a router just to connect to the internet in a shared cockpit? If you could choose only one thing to do or change before doing a shared cockpit what would it be?

 

My firewall is ZoneAlarm and has been for as long as I can remember. 

Hey Paul, nice to hear back from you.

 

Actually, I believe the security recommendations in the guide are what 's needed to even venture online, let alone fly shared cockpit. Steve Gibson of Gibson Research (the man who made your software firewall Zone Alarm) agrees.

 

Hardware and software firewalls provide similar protection in different ways, thus they protect you from different and compound threats that we see infiltraring home computers and networks every day. I simply would not consider venturing online without both as well as a very good Security Suite, let alone shared cockpit. This is not paranoyia, and it's actually pretty standard advice.

 

If by invasive you mean performance impact, Bit Defender, Nortons Security Suite and Karpersky are the best computer security suites I can recommend, and run very, very smoothly (I don't notice any performance dings from them). There is a guy in our group runing Comodo Freeware Security Suite (not the absolute best but overall very good protection) under a dual core processor while using FSX and he doesn't have any performance issues with the security suite.

 

I've been doing desktop support for FSX and Shared Cockpit for about 9 years now and in that time I have learned that most people do not run any level of computer security, and that's not only scary it's frightening from a Shared Cockpit perspective. Pandora's box to be sure.

 

Incidently, many ISPs offer a Modem/Wireless Router combination for the same cost as just a modem. I'm writing this for others who may read this thread when I say that I've lost count of the number of people who didn't realize they already had a Router (thus a hardware firewall) built intp the modem installed by their Internet Service Provider. The router firewall used to e provisioned turned off, but today they are usually provisioned turned on.

 

Anyway Paul, it was nice to hear back from you, and I truly hope you find this information to be helpful!