Understanding How Firewalls Protect Your Computer

Not many of us intentionally leave our cars unlocked or the front of our homes open to strangers.

But we often leave our computers wide open to anyone and everyone that may want to snoop.

To get and keep our computers safe from hackers,or anyone wanting to have a look in our

computers,we need the aid and assistance of something commonly called Firewalls.

A Firewall can be hardware or software that acts as a gatekeeper to your computer.It does this

by monitoring all internet traffic coming in and going out of our computers.

They not only allow the passage of this traffic but inspects all,making sure it is safe and do not

contain viruses,any spyware,or other malicious software.

Firewalls control internet traffic in two methods,Packet filtering and stateful inspection.A Packet is

a chunk of data and it contains the address of the computer it comes from and a destination address.

Ok,so you're wondering what on earth is an IP Address.Well,it is an identifier for your computer

device.The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers

separated by periods.

If the Firewall recognizes the Packet and its IP Address,or its Internet Protocol Address,it allows the

Packet to pass.

The Stateful Inspection method look at the some data in the Packet and compares key chunks of

data to a large area that contains known,trusted information.

to see if it is safe or if your computer is expecting the data.It also allow safe passage of data if all

seems well.The Stateful Inspection method is preferred since it checks the data that have passed

through your computer before.

What About Those Hardware Firewalls

Hardware Firewalls are devices that are designed to run software Firewalls.So why are there hardware

firewalls,you ask.One big advantage of having a Hardware Firewall is that the computer don't have to

do any work.

The hardware running the software does all work,thereby leaving the CPU in the computer free to get

on with other tasks.The CPU,or Central Processing Unit should be free as much as possible to

keep the computer running at peak performance.

Explaining The Software Firewalls

There are many creative ways that people use to access or abuse your computer when its not protected.

Someone is able to connect to your computer and control it in some form.

This can range from being able to view or access your files to actually running programs on your computer.

Some of the software Firewalls protect your computer from are the following.

Email Bombs.Someone sends you the same e-mail hundreds or thousands of times until your e-mail

system cannot accept any more messages. If you spend time on the internet often you will most likely

experience this.

Viruses. This is no doubt the most well known threat.A Virus is a small file which reproduces itself on

other computers.Viruses may be harmless to wiping your hard drive clean.

Firewalls may not protect you from all viruses.It would be worth your while to invest in good anti virus

software as added protection.Once you invest in a Firewall,study its owner's manual to set it up.

Once the Firewall has been installed and setup complete,take a minute to be sure its working.Test the

Firewall by going online and visiting a security site.Go to [http://www.grc.com] and give their free Shields Up

security test a try.

If the Firewall pass,you will have the comfort of knowing your PC will have that added protection from

someone stealing your credit card information or any valuable information.

If you have not invested in a Firewall,won't wait to give one a try.Your critical files and programs will be

much safer and you will have the knowledge of being able to install Firewalls on the PC

of your friends,enemies,and everyone else in between.

Keep your computer safe from hackers and other intruders by fully understanding how firewalls

operate in the background of your computer.

Otis F. Cooper is solely dedicated to boosting the knowledge and confidence of every computer user. Sign up to receive his informative articles every month and learn PC Repair absolutely free.Sign up now and watch detailed, in depth pc repair videos on cdroms and dvds.See sample videos at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com