tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968135.post-109271229527205792004-08-16T20:10:00.000-07:002004-08-16T20:11:35.273-07:00If you spend a lot of time on the internet and you are not behind a firewall, then you are living on borrowed time. Putting some protection between you and the internet is probably the third most important thing that you can do. <br />As you see, someone on the internet can attack the computer system easily as the DSL modem provides no protection (some DSL modems have built-in firewalls). An attacker can get through any type of modem - DSL, cable, 56K, 28.8 or whatever. If the device gets you on the internet, you are vulnerable. <br />For those with a DSL, cable modem or other "always-on" connection, you MUST get a firewall. This is critical, as your machine is always live and it most likely has a fixed IP address. This makes it easier for your system to be "found" and attacked. <br />What a personal firewall does is isolate your computer from the rest of the internet. It does this by inspecting each packet of data to determine if it should be allowed to get to (and in some cases from your machine.) The best protection completely hides your computer - this is called stealth mode. <br />You have the option of installing a software firewall or a hardware firewall. <br />Software Firewall - A software firewall runs on your computer system in the background. It intercepts each network request and determines if the request is valid or not. Software firewalls offer the following advantages: <br />They are generally very inexpensive <br />They are very easy to configure <br />They have the following disadvantages: <br />Since they run on your computer they require resources (CPU, memory and disk space) from your system. <br />They can introduce incompatibilities into your operating system. <br />You must install exactly the correct version for your operating system. <br />You must purchase one copy for each system on your home network. <br />Hardware Firewall - A hardware firewall is generally a small box which sits between your computer and your modem. In general, hardware firewalls have the following advantages: <br />They tend to provide more complete protection than software firewalls <br />A hardware firewall can protect more than one system at a time <br />They do not affect system performance since they do not run on your system. <br />They are independent of your operating system and applications. <br />firewall softwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11056230181044279673noreply@blogger.com