Firewalls general info

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert Crouser
  • Start date Start date
R

Robert Crouser

Hello

Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What exactly does a firewall
do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc? Are there any
drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and how do I install it?
How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software and so little talk
about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.

Robert
 
Hi,

A firewall blocks incoming and outgoing traffic on your internet connection,
regardless of whether or not you have a home network. You should use one to
block others from accessing your machine remotely (it's really very easy,
and any 12 year old can learn how to do it). A firewall essentially makes
you invisible to those looking for unprotected machines.

WinXP has a simple firewall, all you need to do is enable it on the advanced
tab of your network properties. Or, you can install one of these commonly
used programs:

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
http://www.tinysoftware.com/home/tiny2?la=EN

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
A firewall is a software program, or it can be built in as part of a
hardware router, that monitors your computer's internet traffic. Some, like
XP's built in firewall only monitor incoming traffic, to prevent your
computer from being attacked from the outside. Others like Zone Alarm,
monitor all traffic, in and out, and will allow you to customize what
applications you want to allow to send data and what traffic you want to
allow to come in from the outside.

XP's firewall is built in, and you can find information on how to enable it
in Help and Support. Others are usually a single file download and install
themselves. Some come with a default "setting" that is pretty permissive,
some are pretty restrictive, and some will ask you every time a program
tries to access the internet. These usually have an "always allow" option,
so you don't always have to answer.

http://www.zonelabs.com is where you can get Zone Alarm. There are other
free firewall programs out there as well, and I'm sure you'll get references
to them.
 
A firewall will note when YOU send a request (to the
Internet) and wait a certain amount of time for a reply to
the request. If the reply comes back promptly the firewall
recognizes it as something you asked for and want. It is
passed on to the computer.

There are hardware firewalls, often as part of a router,
which work outside the computer and hide the computer(s)
behind the firewall from the Internet. They will NAT
(network address translation) .

A software firewall monitors traffic and locks out
unrequested packets. A software firewall can also monitor
your software and if a rouge program is installed (Trojan)
it will inform you that a program is trying to access the
Internet, Zone Alarm (free version from
www.zonelabs.com ) does this very well.

I have run both ZA and McAfee firewalls at same time and it
seems to work OK, but I just use ZA now.

When I set up a network I'll use a router and a software
firewall.


| ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
| together even though they say you can't. Works fine on my
| unit.
| >-----Original Message-----
| >Hello
| >
| >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
| exactly does a firewall
| >do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc?
| Are there any
| >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and
| how do I install it?
| >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software
| and so little talk
| >about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.
| >
| >Robert
| >
| >
| >.
| >
 
Not much, it is just a gate keeper. It doesn't process the
data, it just verifies that it is a valid packet. A virus
scanner does slow processing down because it has to perform
a process.

But without a firewall you will be exposed to worms such as
Blaster and that will slow your computer, perhaps to a stop.


| So does this slow the computer down?
|
in message
| | > A firewall will note when YOU send a request (to the
| > Internet) and wait a certain amount of time for a reply
to
| > the request. If the reply comes back promptly the
firewall
| > recognizes it as something you asked for and want. It
is
| > passed on to the computer.
| >
| > There are hardware firewalls, often as part of a router,
| > which work outside the computer and hide the computer(s)
| > behind the firewall from the Internet. They will NAT
| > (network address translation) .
| >
| > A software firewall monitors traffic and locks out
| > unrequested packets. A software firewall can also
monitor
| > your software and if a rouge program is installed
(Trojan)
| > it will inform you that a program is trying to access
the
| > Internet, Zone Alarm (free version from
| > www.zonelabs.com ) does this very well.
| >
| > I have run both ZA and McAfee firewalls at same time and
it
| > seems to work OK, but I just use ZA now.
| >
| > When I set up a network I'll use a router and a software
| > firewall.
| >
| >
| > | > | ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
| > | together even though they say you can't. Works fine on
my
| > | unit.
| > | >-----Original Message-----
| > | >Hello
| > | >
| > | >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
| > | exactly does a firewall
| > | >do and why would I want one on my network-less home
pc?
| > | Are there any
| > | >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall
and
| > | how do I install it?
| > | >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus
software
| > | and so little talk
| > | >about firewall software? Any info would be
appreciated.
| > | >
| > | >Robert
| > | >
| > | >
| > | >.
| > | >
| >
| >
|
|
 
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