Former exterminator here. If they are little ants, commonly known as grease ants, sugar ants, pavement ants, etc., they are more of a PITA than anything else. The sugar and boric acid combo will work well. If you have little kids or pets around, I would use a bait station to prevent accidental poisoning. You do NOT want to get an eye or nose full of boric acid. I like the Bayer Maxforce ant bait stations.
For general perimeter insect control, spray the ouside of your foundation with a good liquid insecticide. Someone mentioned Demon or Tempo. Both of those are excellent. Try to not use a straight pyrethrin, as these do not stick around very long. They generally last for a week or two on surfaces, then don't work no mo.
If you have Big Black Ants, aka Carpenter Ants, I recomend you call an exterminator. Trust me, you don't wanna mess around with those. They will literally eat your house out from under you. You can kill them with the bait stations, but I strongly recomend you call in a pro. Doesn't matter what kind of wood is in your house either. I killed a nest inside of a cedar tree, found a BIG one in a pressure treated 8x8 deck footing column. Yes, they found the hard way that they had a carpenter ant nest in their deck, after it collapsed.
