RE: firewall by ETLCS
ETLCS
Sat Apr 01 19:59:02 CST 2006
Helping to protect your computer with a firewallWhy you need a firewall. A
firewall is a protective boundary between a computer (or a network of
computers) and the outside world, where people or programs might try to
access your computer without invitation. Hackers commonly use software that
scans the Internet looking for computers with unprotected Internet
connections. This software sends a very small message to your computer. If
your computer does not have a firewall, your computer will automatically
answer the message and thus announce that it is unprotected. But if you have
set up a firewall, it will receive such messages and not answer them, so
hackers won't even know that your computer exists.
Firewalls can be either hardware or software. A hardware firewall is a piece
of equipment that you physically connect to your network. It monitors all
aspects of the communications that are sent and received, and inspects the
source and destination address of each message that it handles. This provides
security in helping to prevent intrusions to your computer or network. A
software firewall performs a similar function by using a program inside your
computer instead of an external device.
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) has a software firewall that's
built in and turned on for you. This firewall, called Windows Firewall, is
turned on by default so that a level of protection is in place right away. It
monitors communications in the same way a hardware firewall does. Windows
Firewall restricts information that comes to your computer from other
computers, giving you more control over access to your data, and providing a
line of defense against people or programs that try to access your computer
without invitation. Regardless of whether you choose to take advantage of the
Windows Firewall or another firewall available to you, keeping the firewall
turned on and updated is one of the important keys to helping to protect your
computer's security.
Hardware and software firewalls can be used on the same computer. By
default, Windows Firewall is enabled on all connections.
A firewall blocks ports, from your computer, which can make it immpossiable,
or very hard to crack. It does NOT replace anti-virus tools or automatic
updates.
ETLCS REC.- zonealarm firewall, at zonelabs.com
"spikevermin" wrote:
> How does a firewall work?