I use Linux Mint, which is basically Ubuntu. I don't use a software firewall, but I still use the firewall settings on my router from when I had Windows (I don't dual boot anymore).

Is there any reason I shouldn't just turn it off? Might I get faster speeds out of my ADSL? I use Clam Anti-virus because I know that even tho viruses are not an issue with Linux, I can pass them on to my friends who still use Windows. Should I still be careful and use the firewall on my router?

Keep your h/w router/firewall, and enable the s/w firewall (as double protection) on your Linux system.

I do not have a technical reason for why you should do this, but here's an article that you can peruse in your leisure time. Do you think you have what it takes to administer a s/w firewall?

Your connection speed to the WWW is not likely to increase by any substantial measure if you remove the h/w router. Access to the WWW can be affected by one or more of the following reasons:

1) Your PC lacks sufficient RAM (< 512 MB RAM) or processing power (< 1.4 GHz)

2) Remote server suffers from issue 1), is busy with a lot of traffic, or because it is located half way across the world.

3) You ISP service is not up to par

4) The remote server's ISP is not up to par

Thanks Gumball,

I'm currently re-reading that article for the 3 time. It'll sink in eventually.

Lot of the hardware Firewalls on the market are in basic a small Linux computer running a Linux based firewall.....