What is firewall?

Firewall is a software program or appliance that filters both incoming and outgoing traffic from a network or a single computer.

Many businesses and large corporations use hardware firewalls located at network gateways to control Internet traffic. For example, an administrator can set firewalls rules that would filter out any P2P traffic or prevent downloads of files. On the other hand, filtering incoming Internet connections can prevent hacker intrusions and other Internet attacks.

Nowadays personal PCs also use firewalls in form of a tiny software program that can be easily configured to either pass or block specific Internet connections in order to protect users against spying software, bots, and intrusion attacks.

Some features of firewalls include blocking malicious traffic, event logging, automatic notification in an event of an attack and other features.

Per default, all Windows XP SP1 and higher systems include generic Microsoft Windows Firewall. However, for more granularity, control and increased protection an installation of commercial firewall software is advised. Norton Internet Security and Norton 360 already include the Norton Personal Firewall, that can replace your generic Windows Firewall.