Noob to Networking...

Hi all, a couple of noob questions for you....

I recently set up two machines in my house to use my cable modem through a D-Link DI-604 router. Everything was straight forward, hooked up both machines and I have internet access at both machines and I can get both computers to see each other, share files, even do the 'remote desktop' thingy...however for some reason I can't seem to connect to my personal e-mail server, while I have no problem connecting to my work e-mail server...I didn't change any settings as far as the e-mail is concerned...this is the error message that I get: The server could not be found.(Account: 'shawmail',POP3 server:'shawmail', Error number 0x800ccc0d).

I'm thinking firewall???? maybe????

Anyways, both machines are running XP Pro with all updates.

A second question is about the firewall itself...how effective are these 'hardware' firewalls anyways?? I've run some tests (symantec.com, grc.com) and it doesn't appear as good as Zone Alarm which I have been using for a couple of years prior to my router...do I still need both Zone Alarm and the Router Firewall or can I configure the hardware one to do the same job as Zone Alarm???

use both, hardware firewalls usually block TCP ports whilest software firewalls (Like zone alarm) usually block programs... It will also give you 2 levels of protection, if the first failes you still have the second.

Second can you ping your mail server, if so does your firewall automatically block port TCP port 25???

With 100 Million neurons in the brain vouching for it, it can't be wrong...

Thanks, guys

I had to change my e-mail server name as it was previously set as an 'alais' which my router wouldn't recognize...had to go to my ISP's help and find out what the 'real' name of the mail server was.... works fine now.