Computer Firewall Protection

Firewalls are Necessary for a Layered Defense

Computer firewall protection can be either a software application running on your local computer or a hardware device located between your computer and the internet, or both.

Hardware firewalls have the advantage of not using any of your computers’ processing power, RAM memory or hard disk space. One hardware firewall can provide firewall protection for all computers located on your local area network.

A firewall can check inbound and/or outbound traffic for authorization. The typical Router/Firewall for DSL or Cable broadband access provides a hardware firewall that protects your computer from unauthorized inbound internet access to your computer. This is one level of firewall defense.

Windows XP w/SP2 firewall also authenticates inbound traffic to your computer. The settings are critical! The default setting for the Windows XP firewall is to allow traffic from you own local area network. When you install a software firewall you have to specify what your local area network is and set it as a Trusted Network. If you don’t, the software firewall will shut down your LAN and block all access to your computer preventing others on your network from sharing files and printers from you computer.

Using an incoming firewall, whether your router or your operating system is one layer of defense. We recommend a second layer checking both inbound and outbound traffic.

For a firewall to be really effective you need it to check Inbound and Outbound traffic. Windows XP w/SP2 only checks inbound traffic while Windows Vista, Zone Alarm, Symantec Internet Security and other firewall software checks both Inbound and Outbound traffic. This feature of checking outbound traffic has the big advantage of preventing already infected/installed mal-ware from requesting information from the internet to your system. An example of this is unwanted pop-ups.

Hardware Firewalls that check for outgoing requests are usually very expensive, and only very large company systems use the. Luckily, the software versions work well.

Your computer firewall protection is often neglected and not that difficult to cover! Here are some suggestions for firewall software to use.

Return from Computer Firewall Protection to RevelsNet Home