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There are 65,535 possible doors
(called ports) into your network. A firewall
protects your computer and network against unwanted
intrusions through the 65,535 possible ports. It
controls which ports are allowed to be open and which
are closed. A firewall can either be a hardware device, like a router or
wireless router or software like, Norton Antivirus or Windows firewall.
In today's world of identity theft and fraud a firewall
for your computer is a must!
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If you have more than one computer connected to the internet in your
home or office then you probably have a hardware router.
A router allows more than one computer to connect to the
internet at the same time and also doubles as a
firewall.
Various companies make routers and wireless routers for home use, such as
Linksys,
Netgear,
Belkin,
Airlink,
2wire
and Dlink. For businesses we recommend Sonicwall or
Cisco routers.
For homes we're recommending
Netgear Rangemax routers.
If you have a dial-up connection or an internet connection with only one computer directly attached to it then you
probably don’t have a hardware router firewall. Don’t panic, you may have a software firewall. Some of the antivirus programs that
include software firewalls are
Norton Antivirus
McAfee,
AOL Security Center(which is based on McAfee) and
Zone Alarm. Most antivirus software for homes
come with a built in firewall. Windows XP and Vista also have a built-in firewall.
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We recommend at least one software firewall and one
hardware firewall. If you have two software firewalls it’s
probable that you will run into firewall conflicts. For
example, Norton firewall will try to block a port while
Windows firewall will allow the port causing a conflict.
In the end the program that you’re trying
to use that needs the port to be open will not work at all.
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Make sure you only have one software firewall installed and running on your computer.
Turn off or uninstall the others. For example, McAfee and Norton Antivirus will not work on the
same computer, they’ll conflict and leave you less secure. Go to Add/remove programs
and remove one of them.
We’re recommending Norton Antivirus
for firewall/antivirus protection. Symantec just came out
with Norton Antivirus 2008
which we're now testing in our lab.
One reason we recommend Norton over McAfee and Zone Alarm is that it doesn’t ask you a lot of questions.
It’s confusing when your firewall software constantly POPS UP questions about which port to allow or deny.
It’s easy to make a mistake and allow a virus through or block legitimate software.
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Use the Windows firewall. Although we've had mixed results with the reliability of Windows Firewall,
we still recommend it over no software firewall at all. The Windows firewall installed in Vista
protects against both access into your computer from outside sources and access out of your computer to the internet.
This is more reliable than the Windows XP firewall that only protects access into your computer from the outside.
Antivirus programs such as NOD32 and
AVG and anti-sypware programs such as
Ad-Aware and Spy Sweeper all don't install software firewalls.
If you install these programs in addition to another antivirus software with a firewall, you'll probably
wind up with security overkill and software conflicts.
If you're unsure if your antivirus software has a built-in firewall go to their website to find out
or give us a call :-)
Learn how to configure the XP Pro Firewall in our Tech Tips section here
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- Steve Fink, MCSE, A+, Network+, Witzend Computing -
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