Patent ID: 7418486

Claim:
A method of securing a local computer network with respect to a wide area computer network, the method comprising: employing a connection wizard to dynamically select between configuring a software or hardware firewall solution to secure the local computer network; automatically configuring the selected solution in a seamless manner; dynamically detecting whether a usable hardware gateway device is installed between the local computer network and the wide area computer network; prompting a user to indicate if the installed usable hardware should be employed; if it is determined that a usable hardware gateway device should be employed, communicating with the hardware gateway device over the local network to retrieve description information regarding the device, presenting configuration options based on the retrieved information to a user via the connection wizard, receiving a user selection to configure the device, and automatically configuring the device in accordance with the user selection; if it is determined that a useable hardware gateway device should not be employed, dynamically detecting whether a usable software firewall is installed between the local computer network and the wide area computer network, and if a usable software firewall is installed, gathering description information regarding the firewall, presenting configuration options based on the gathered information to the user via the connection wizard, receiving a user selection to configure the firewall, and automatically configuring the firewall in accordance with the user selection; periodically assessing a configuration of one or more known devices to detect a change in configuration that endangers the security of the local computer network; and reconfiguring the one or more known devices to a user selected configuration if the change is detected.