Eh? Security?

I know nothing about firewalls, except that the Windows XP SP2 installed one by default and turned everything off and made life miserable for me for a short time.
Are we talking about a separate linux based PC that sits between our internet connection and our ethernet switch? I've never worked with Linux or anything like that.
As far as the wireless hotspot goes, I knew I had to limit access only to the internet, but again, I'm not very familiar with security issues.
I am hoping that QuickBooks Pro 2005 is OK. I found
this table that details the improvements this time around, and as far as I can tell it solves QB Pro 6 users' complaints.