What's a Firewall and How Much Firewall Do You Need?

A firewall is a security device that blocks Internet traffic coming in or out of a computer or network. This can be accomplished by a software firewall or it can be done using a hardware firewall.

Everyone needs a firewall to prevent malicious hackers from wiping out their valuable data. The question is how much firewall does one need?

Not as much as one might expect.

Windows has a built-in firewall. In many cases, the Windows firewall is sufficient for a busy agent.

I don't like to brag (except maybe a little), but the firewall at my work is pretty tight. If you are plugging your laptop into a port at one of our offices, you don't need anything more than anti-virus and the Windows Firewall running. If we have a firewall and you use your firewall, you will notice slow browsing and internet application performance. It's kind of like wearing 2 raincoats. One really is enough. If you notice sluggishness in the office, turn off your firewall.

At your home, you need to consult with your isp (internet service provider) to see that they are providing some type of firewall protection to you. If they are, then maybe you should reconsider your current firewall protection plan. With most home ISPs, you'll usually use equipment like a modem or router that has built in firewall protection. This is a hardware firewall.

The alternative is a software firewall. Whichever one you choose, what you need to know is, how to allow exceptions to your firewall. An exception is an internet address that you want to allow through a "hole" in your firewall or one that you wish to block such as an entire domain, like limewire.com. Any objectionable website can be blocked by domain name or by IP address.

With a software firewall such as the one that comes installed with Windows, you can set alerts that will notify you when online if you navigate to what it considers a suspicious site. You would notice messages popping up asking to ALLOW or BLOCK. You must evaluate each message and determine if it's a legitimate security risk or not. 95% of the time, problems connecting to a wireless is due to a 3rd party firewall objecting to it (especially Norton 360 and Trend Micro). Turn them off (or better yet uninstall) and the wireless magically starts to work!