Routers as an additional layer of protection

[dragon wench]

I have heard that routers can provide an additional layer of protection against viruses and other malaware. Does anyone know if this is true?

The reason I ask is that until this morning we had our phone service through Vonage which is a Voice Over IP system. When we subscribed to them they sent us a router to be used in our setup. We have just switched over to digital phone which is supplied by our cable company, but, for the moment, the router is still in place. I am wondering if I should send the thing back to Vonage or just keep it where it is...

Note: In addition I do have AV, anti-spyware etc., and the firewall that comes pre-installed with XP.

[DaemonJ]

Routers can indeed offer an additional layer of protection by providing firewalls, access limiters, blocking anonymous requests, NAT, and a variety of other features.

The catch part is that any or all of the features usually require setup and are typically not enabled by default. Therefore just plugging the router in and powering it up doesn't provide anything until the setup menu is accessed and the features are enabled.

[dj_venom]

The main thought behind it is, that all the hardware associated with the internet has inbuilt firewalls. They aren't fantastic, but they can do a bit. By having two lots of hardware firewalls, you do stop more than just having one.