several security concerns

hi
i have several questions and i really cant classify them to post them in the right sub forum... here they are


1) does setting a password on the BIOS access prevent malware form writing themselves to the BIOS memory

2) my mobo doesnt have a physical jumper to prevent flashing to the BIOS, but there is an option in Advanced BIOS settings title "No execute memory

protection".. its description is " when disabled, it forces NX feature flag to always return 0

if i disable it , will this prevent ANY writing/altering to the BIOS by MALWARES or even flashing the bios for upgrade


3)is it possible to restrict the launch of a certain program on the computer to a hardware device.. i think its called a dongle..... how to do so ? how secure is it , ie et can the dongle encryption mhod be cracked?

4) i have just found out i have a modem+router device that has no hardware firewall.... i wasn't the one who made the setup so.. anyway, my current router is a repotec RP-IP1800 (i am not sure if it has a hardware firewall or not but i read on a forum that i can add SPI firewall by a certain firmware update)

i would like to know how secure it to use that router, is it safe to use it for internet access when i will be doing online banking and other sensitive uses
if so how to configure it for maximum security

n.b i checked and it has NATP enabled, is this enough

5) i use a network setup where several computers share the same internet connection but we don't allow file sharing or any type of sharing but internet connection.. my question is how secure my pc is in that setup since i don't have control over the other pc and i strongly doubt that there are secure enough as their users dont take online security seriously..

6) how can a router+adsl modem be a source of malware infection, can it be infected it self , how it is used by malwares to harm users --- i have just realized that routers+modem are security related, i always thought they are just dumb devices that allow net access and thats it


thanks