photon - 1:35 pm on Oct 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

I'm with willybfriendly: go ahead and get a wireless router. It's not much more expensive than one without, and you'll be prepared to go wireless when you're ready. I initially went the wired route, and was very happy to cut the cord when I replaced my laptop with a wireless one.

You can get by without a router as long as you have set up a firewall on your computer. I went without a router for years with ZoneAlarm installed on my PC desktop. The main advantage to a router is being able to share your internet connection with more than one computer.

If you want to test your internet security, a good tool is the free Shields UP! at Gibson Research [grc.com]. It will let you know where you might be vunerable to attack.