I prefer appliances for firewalls because they use less power and are quieter. It would also be more reliable than a recycled computer. My current favorite brand is Fortinet. They make a really nice all-in-wonder security box (firewall, ids, anti-virus, etc.), but it costs more than $100. The Fortigate 60 runs about $1000 when you include the annual maintenance & IPS/AV updates. You can certainly get a Linksys firewall for less than $100. The only question would be whether it could handle your bandwidth requirements.
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I prefer appliances for firewalls because they use less power and are quieter. It would also be more reliable than a recycled computer. My current favorite brand is Fortinet. They make a really nice all-in-wonder security box (firewall, ids, anti-virus, etc.), but it costs more than $100. The Fortigate 60 runs about $1000 when you include the annual maintenance & IPS/AV updates. You can certainly get a Linksys firewall for less than $100. The only question would be whether it could handle your bandwidth requirements.