A firewall works as a security guard on your computer to stop your computer picking up nasty viruses, spyware and to stop hackers from accessing your system. This is really important because these viruses can slow down your computer and steal personal information from you. You shouldn’t just rely on a firewall on it’s own you’d also need to use an antivirus program like Norton. The anti-spyware tools and anti-virus program will work together and keep you safe from almost all threats.

A firewall is very important for any computer system. It is especially important for big computer networks where lots of people are accessing information. If a computer does not have protection it can end up getting infected really quickly with spyware and/or viruses. The bigger the network is, the higher the chances that it will be targeted. This is because hackers often target bigger networks in mainstream companies – the more users there are the more likely somebody is to make a mistake.

Spyware programs and hackers want to steal your personal information for lots of reasons. The type of information that they can take is credit card details, bank details, passwords etc. If your computer isn’t protected you’re just painting a nice big bullseye on it for hackers.

Most people don’t think that the information on their computer is of any value to anyone except themselves. However, when the information is stolen from them they suddenly realise how important computer security really is but of course then it’s too late. Hackers can even take over your computer and launch an attack on someone else through your computer which could result in you being in court defending yourself for a crime you had nothing to do with.

All this is why a good firewall is so important because it keeps your information safe. Every bit of information that goes through your computer has to pass through the firewall so it is sometimes called the bridge, or choke-point. This can stop the worst types of attacks on your computer and your files.

The firewall also stops it looking like your computer is connected to the Internet. By doing this it stops the programs that look for computers that are online to attack which can happen in just a few minutes of unprotected Internet connectivity.

You can install either a software or hardware firewall – it all depends on how much protection you need. A hardware firewall is usually only installed by large companies whereas a software firewall is enough for 99% of home computer users.

Some firewalls are made for big businesses and provide some tools very handy for businesses. These features include intrusion detection, antivirus, content filtering and spam filtering capabilities. Normally you would have all these functions on different pieces of hardware. When they are on lots of different pieces of hardware they can take up a lot of space on the server and can be difficult to maintain.

The good news is that once your software firewall is installed and configured properly it will work away quietly in the background keeping your and your data safe while you’re online.