IMHO, all consumer network access should be behind NAT. However, the real solutions is (and unfortunately to the detriment of many 3rd party software companies) for operating system companies such as Microsoft to realize a system level firewall is no longer something to be "added on" or configured later. Systems need to be shipped completely locked down (incoming *and* outgoing IP ports), and there should be an API for applications to request permission to access a particular port or listen on a particular port (invoking a user dialog). As for plug-in "workgroup" networking (the main reason why everything is open by default), when you create a Workgroup, it should require a key for that workgroup and enable shared-key IPSEC. Currently Windows 2000 can be configured to be extremely secure without any additional software. Unfortunately you must have a *lot* of clue to configure the Machine and IP security policies it provides. Adam