Firewalls
Why do we need a firewall ?
As we are on a permanent connection, we are more likely to get attacked by hackers, warez sites looking for storage, and kids with toys. Some of these attacks are harmless but others can be nasty, if someone can get access to your PC they can do all sorts of things, from just looking around your files to copying them and actually destroying files.
Another common thing is to use your high speed connection for
their own gain i.e. download stuff onto their PC using your bandwidth therefore
increasing your netstats.
They can also load files/programs onto your PC using it as storage for Pirate
software.
There are many other reason's for using a firewall which you can read about in the more detailed section.
A simple description of how a firewall work's is it basically blocks all incoming traffic to your PC and will only allow traffic that you specify i.e. mail, net browsing, ICQ, MSN etc.
There are many different Firewalls available to suit individual
needs and I have listed a few below. Some are free, some you can try before you
buy and some you just buy.
They are not listed in any order, but I recommend you read a little bit on each
one before deciding, you can also ask in the newsgroups which one's are best
suited for certain needs.
ZoneAlarm Tiny Personal Firewall Blackice
Sygate Personal Firewall Check Point Firewall-1
For Linux based Firewalls.
For a more detailed explanation of firewalls go here.
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