Security Questions From A Noob

Hi
I have installed 10.2 with it's default security and all available patches. I have two security questions.

1. I understand a firewall is automatically installed. Is that a good firewall (IE does it block all ports and not answer incoming pings)

2. Is antivirus neccessary. I realize AV is absolutely neccessary under Micro$oft products but not sure about Suse. Surely there must be some nasties out there just for us. Any recomendations? Free ones?

I have an ethernet based network through a Netgear router, fed by cable modem.

Thanks in advance
-Steve

Yes it's a good firewall. Your router may in fact be running embedded Linux.

I've never bothered with AV, but if you have Windows machines on your network and you receive files or mail for them, you may want to consider installing something like clamav. I can also recommend Grisoft's AV for the Windows machine itself.