question-why u need a firewall ?

[etch]

i always asked myself .."why should someone use a firewall ?"
u always hear about firewall, when u r at home and use internet for some long time , and especially when u work for some large company u always hear about firewall. You often hear people in companies say things like, "I can't use that site because they won't let it through the firewall."

Breifly, u can use a firewall to protect your home network and family from offensive Web sites and potential hackers.

but "what is a firewall ?"
Basically, a firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your property. In fact, that's why its called a firewall. Its job is similar to a physical firewall that keeps a fire from spreading from one area to the next.

anyways , if somebody got some more infos about what's a firewall and how it works , please reply to this thread , thx

[yserfriendly]

Has any one used comodo firewall? Or have an suggestion for free ones?

[etch]

actually i use zone alarm for myself , never used comodo firewall before ..

[wige]

I use Comodo currently. It seems to be a bit more comprehensive than Zone Alarm, but it requires more user interaction because in addition to simply monitoring network activity it also looks at registry edits and file changes. The result is that Comodo generates a lot more warning dialogs than Zone Alarm free seemed to.

[yserfriendly]

Originally Posted by etch

actually i use zone alarm for myself , never used comodo firewall before ..

I used that back in the day, it really annoys me when it flags every movement. But i'm sure people will love that about it as it makes them feel more secure

[etch]

actually yea , every now and on while i surf the internet , yeai feel more secured - more annoyed also :@ - when i see those sudden messages interrupting me ... but i got used to it anyways ...

[uzumakiluffy]

It increased security that your PC and contents are being protected.

[mikmik]

Software or hardware?

[bobitza]

Think of a firewall as a gatekeeper. Nothing happens or gets in or gets out without its permission. I find that very useful because:

1. It blocks the "bad" requests from accessing my computer's ports, etc.
2. Even if it gets in, most of the spyware, malware tries to track your surfing habits, passwords, etc. ... but at one point it needs to communicate that to an external server. At that point the firewall should intercept the attempt and block it.

Now, if you get a firewall pop-up saying "The IamGonnaStealYourPassword.exe program tries to connect to stealpassword.com . Allow / Block?" ... and you hit Allow ... sorry, a firewall can not beat human stupidity.

[coolman009]

I am using a McAfee firewall and found it the best for my PC...i have used Zonealarm,Norton firewalls...they were good but not that qualitative for me....took more space then McAfee...and according to me in today's time if u want to get rid of attacks u should go for a firewall...

[edhan]

Currently I am happy using ZoneAlarm as my firewall. At the same time, I am having a good anti-virus to protect against viruses, spyware and malware. You can never be sure unless you get the right protection. Some people say they don't need all these sort of protection but when the system under attack, it will be too late to regret.

[anarchy666]

i am running three firewalls that once tho it was tricky to get them all working.

[iPhone Fan]

There are several types of firewall techniques:

Packet filter: Looks at each packet entering or leaving the network and accepts or rejects it based on user-defined rules. Packet filtering is fairly effective and transparent to users, but it is difficult to configure. In addition, it is susceptible to IP spoofing.

Application gateway: Applies security mechanisms to specific applications, such as FTP and Telnet servers. This is very effective, but can impose a performance degradation.

Circuit-level gateway: Applies security mechanisms when a TCP or UDP connection is established. Once the connection has been made, packets can flow between the hosts without further checking.

Proxy server: Intercepts all messages entering and leaving the network. The proxy server effectively hides the true network addresses.

[stocks3win]

please explain more