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FirewallsWhat is a Firewall?In simple terms a firewall is a hardware device or a software program that protects your computer from intruder access. A firewall acts as a barrier between the computer or computer network and exterior networks. In the case of a standalone PC connected to the internet, a firewall protects the PC from any unauthorized access from other internet hosts. A firewall provides protection by monitoring any incoming traffic and in some cases the outgoing traffic and stopping suspicious and unauthorized traffic in the process. Nearly every firewall is customizable and the user can modify existing rules or add new rules to the firewall configuration. In this way the firewall can be compared to a guard that only lets authorized people to enter or exit an establishment. Leaving your computer or network unprotected without a firewall can have some serious consequences especially if your computer or network is always connected to the internet. Leaving you computers unprotected might lead to your computers being broken into or hacked. In certain cases a firewall can even protect you from viruses, worms, spyware and other malicious program. There are two main types of firewalls: hardware firewalls and software firewalls, better known as personal firewalls. Hardware firewalls are usually used to protect a whole computer network. A personal firewall on the other hand is usually used to protect a single PC which is connected to the internet or any other network. Free Personal FirewallsFree personal firewalls are usually enough for most users. Windows XP Service Pack 1 (and later service pack versions) and Windows Vista contain inbuilt firewall software that provides adequate protection in most cases. Still though it does not provide enough features as other free firewall software. Some good free firewall software that I recommend is the following: ZoneAlarm
Paid Personal FirewallsIt is recommended to investing in a personal firewall if your computer is connected to the internet all the time, if you use your computer for business purposes or if the data on your computer is of utmost importance to you. Some award winning personal firewalls are the following: ZoneAlarm ProAgnitum Outpost Firewall Pro Norton Internet Security 2007 Protecting Computer NetworksIf you are trying to protect a network of say more than 4 computers than it makes sense to invest in a hardware firewall or a more robust software firewall solution. Which firewall to use depends mainly on the features that you are looking for and on the size of the network that you are trying to protect. For smaller and medium sized networks of up a few hundred PCs I recommend Mikrotik's RouterBOARD. I have very good experience with Mikrotik and I use it at my place of work of about 150 PCs. As a start you can downlod the free Mikrotik software and install it on an old or lower specs PC. If you are looking to protect a larger network of many hundreds of PCs than then it makes sense to invest in a Cisco Pix Firewall or Checkpoint Firewall. Defragmenters Backup Programs Registry Cleaners Antivirus Programs Antispyware Programs
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