Linux newbie needs firewall help

I just installed Ubuntu Linux on my machine as dual boot with XP.

I know I need to set up a firewall using iptables but I can't work out how.
Can someone tell me what rules I need to do the following:

No incoming except related etc.
Outgoing for sending/receiving mail (POP/SMTP)
Outgoing for browsing
Outgoing for DNS/DHCP etc
Anything else I have missed


I am on cable broadband connected to eth0 if that makes a difference.

Any help appreciated as I have had to boot back into windows as I just don't
feel safe with Linux yet (sounds crazy I know!)

Cheers

Chris

Christopher Lewis wrote:
> Any help appreciated as I have had to boot back into windows as I just don't
> feel safe with Linux yet (sounds crazy I know!)

Ha ha, that is funny! Even without a firewall your default Ubuntu
install is much safer than whatever you got going in windows. Ubuntu, by
default comes with no services active or ports open.

But you'll probably want to go with firestarter. it's a Gui for
iptables. in a terminal apt-get install firestarter or use synaptic to
install it. then as a normal user in a terminal, gnome-sudo firestarter
and run the firestarter wizard. By default, incoming is blocked except
for related. outbound is allowed, but you can deny outbound, then only
allow out services or ports.


--
Let's not complicate our relationship
by trying to communicate with each other.

johnny bobby bee wrote:

> Christopher Lewis wrote:
>> Any help appreciated as I have had to boot back into windows as I just
>> don't feel safe with Linux yet (sounds crazy I know!)
>
> But you'll probably want to go with firestarter. it's a Gui for
> iptables.
<snip>
seconded. Firestarter is both very competent and very simple - a rare
combination.

It should also setup the firewall to configure automatically at startup.

C.

Are you wanting to learn IP tables or do you just want security? A
long time ago I was interested in making my own but the more I learned
the more I found out its just too big of a project to mess with. You
might want to look at something like
http://www.shorewall.net/

Im not sure how good firestarter will work with it but its worth a shot.