Firewall

This maybe a bit of a noob question, but do I need to turn on my firewall and if so what rules should should I add? I just bought a new router for Sky and can't remember if the Sky supplied one had firewall enabled or not. I also have an IPv6 hardware firewall in the router too but I think I am still using IPv4.

Routers will normally come with firewall pre-enabled. The use of NAT on most networks adds a level of protection as your devices are not directly accessible from the Internet.

Ensuring the firewall is enabled on the PC can provide a second line of defence.

I usually have Windows firewall running which works pretty well. Using Windows 8.1 on a Virgin connection (Virgin hub 2).

I have turned it on but as I have no rules in place I guess its the same as it being off?
It says this "Allow the packets not specified by any filtering rules to passthrough this device."
There's also a deny option but I'm guessing that would stop all traffic unless I specified what to let through.

I tried "Shields Up" website and everything was stealth, so no open ports or leaking information.

I use it on Windows 7 too (think its default is on anyway) not sure how good it is though.

The default rules are normally to allow anything outgoing but block everything incoming (except where it is in response to an outgoing connection). I suspect this is how yours is actually configured.

Pretty much every consumer router should default to those rules.

Some 3rd party firewalls on PCs will actually block everything both ways and provide a warning when something tries to get through the firewall and provide the user with the option to allow or block.

It's served me pretty well, but I'm not one of these people who worry too much until something bad happens.

Probably not the best way to be, but I like to think I browse safely and don't give away too much for anyone to hack me.

Oh OK that makes sense, so its better to leave it on even with no rules.
Thanks for help.

I used to use Zonealarm years ago, but now just use windows firewall too. I'm not sure how it works though because some things can connect to the internet even if they are not in the list. For example if I check for updates using VLC its connecting to the net, but its not in my windows firewall list at all. Maybe because its a user initiating the outgoing connection.