Firewall is a term you hear being thrown around a lot. You always hear that you need a firewall to keep your computer safe, but.. what exactly is a firewall, anyways?
Well, firewall is just the blanket term we apply to a few different security measures. A firewall can be made up of just one, or several different measures. A few of these would be…
Packet filtering- With packet filtering, the firewall will inspect every single packet leaving or entering a network, and it will either accept or reject based on a few user defined rules. While many find packet filter configuring to be a little tricky to get the hang of, it can be an incredibly effective method of keeping viruses and spybots off of your system.
Gateways- There are two types of gateway. Application level, and circuit level gateways.
An application level gateway will apply security mechanisms to certain apps, such as FTP or Telnet servers. An application gateway is a great way to protect yourself, but can eat up RAM and bandwidth and slow your computer down.
A circuit level gateway applies these same measures every time a TCP or UDP connection is established. Once the initial check has been made, packets can move through the network freely with no further checks.
Proxy server- Simply put, a proxy server firewall hides IP addresses while intercepting packets. This means that spyware is going to have a very hard time trying to figure out how to infiltrate your system.
So the short answer to the question is… it depends. Dedicated firewall hardware can be immensely helpful, it can keep your computer safe and clean, but only if you know what you’re doing and can configure it correctly.
The upside of a firewall is that it makes it very hard for anything to infect your computer in the first place. A good virus scanner can kill viruses, but only after they’ve already made their way onto your system.
If you can figure it out, you should definitely put up a firewall as soon as possible. Simply put, it stops spyware dead in its tracks. It’s a bit of a hassle at first, but once it’s all set up, you’ll be glad you did.
Now, on the other hand, if all of the above is Greek to you, ask your twelve year old nephew to show you the ropes of setting up a firewall.
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