default iptables rules

[Jimmy Wu]

Hi all,

I am relatively new to both Ubuntu and Linux, and I'm trying to figure out
how to secure my computer with a firewall.
My previous attempt with Firestarter was rather miserable, since it screwed
up my home network.
I've reinstalled my system, and this time I want to just use iptables,
without firestarter.

Situation:
I am a pretty average user, and need little more than http, https, and
possibly ftp.  I probably won't need to have ssh open or anything else like
that.  My computer is connected to a home network via an ethernet router,
along with two other computers running Windows XP.  I don't want to lose
connection to those -ie I want to be able to view shares.
I've read a bit about iptables, and know how to add rules.  The only thing
is, I'm not sure what rules to add.
So, my question is, does anyone have a script or a set of rules for a setup
similar to mine that they'd be willing to share?
Also, if I'm not mistaken, iptables rules added at the command line are not
saved by default.  I seem to remember to ways of saving them: (please
correct any errors/fill in any gaps)
using iptables-save and -restore lines to save and load rules from a file in
/etc/network/interfaces
writing a bash script and putting it somewhere (I remember there was an
initrc file or directory, but I forget the exact location) so that it runs
on boot

Thanks in advance!

Jimmy

PS - my current iptables set up is accept all: not very secure

Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 2504 packets, 1703K bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 2599 packets, 520K bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20070913/cd7e7bef/attachment.html>