The Port Forward website is your friend. >
http://portforward.com/
A great resource on the aforementioned port forwarding, firewalls, etc. and it should have instructions for specific routers and operating systems. Speaking from just my personal experience, I found that when I set a static IP address on my computer first and then dealt with the router, everything fell into place.
If I've presumed anything or this stuff is old news to you guys, my apologies.
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