The firewall should by default allow traffic to ssh, smtp, pop, http, https, named, CWP, and CWP-ssl,etc. I'd caution you about this: "I don't want to spend hours and hours reading up on this ..." Linux gives you plenty of rope to hang yourself with. It's super flexible, super powerful, and not knowing what you're doing and not wanting to know is risky at best. Think of it like this, Linux is like the Hole Hog drill. The Hole Hog is basically a powerful motor with a drill bit attached to it and a pipe for a handle. It will go through just about anything. If the bit binds it can literally throw the operator, it's that strong. If you don't want to learn how to operated it safely you might be better off with a cordless drill.