Firewall Hardware & Software Solutions

A firewall is a hardware or software solution to enforce security on home and small business computers, laptops, and network servers and workstations. In the physical security analogy, a firewall is equivalent to a door lock on a perimeter door or on a door to a room inside of the building - it permits only authorized users such as those with a key or access card to enter. A firewall has built-in filters that can disallow unauthorized or potentially dangerous material from entering the system. It can also log attempted intrusions.

For home, and small business users, free software firewall's are good, but will not give you full control of security features and the set up of the firewall as a "paid for" software firewall. With purchased software firewall's you get much more advanced features and total control of the firewall, this is good for seeing what information and programs are allowed and disallowed from entering and leaving your computer system.

Do we need a firewall?

We suggest you have a firewall installed. This will help in protecting your privacy and data on your system. Home users that only use the internet for sending and receiving emails and generally browsing the internet only really need to use a software based firewall. If you have a broadband connection, or are thinking of getting one we suggest you purchase a modem/router with an internal firewall and also use a software based firewall as this will give you more protection. Home and small business users with a broadband connection that is connected to your computer through a USB port will not have a hardware firewall in the modem. To find out a bit more about firewall's read here