If you purchased a furnace filter that promised to trap all dust and other pollutants forever, would you trust that product?  Hopefully, you would have some healthy doubts about that claim.  After time, you wouldn't expect a filter to trap pollutants as efficiently.  In fact, you'd probably follow the recommendations and replace your filter on a regular basis to get the best protection.  The same applies for Internet firewall protection.  While most firewalls are adept at blocking ordinary spam and viruses, those bugs find a way of changing and improving to the point that they can
easily shimmy past your firewall.

So, are firewalls all they're talked up to be?  Yes, firewalls offer a protection that you certainly don't want to be without.  After all, would you be so foolish as to run
through a wild storm without protection?  Hopefully, you know better.  You don't want so much debris hitting your computer that it can't recover or ends up stealing your
private information.  Firewalls offer the kind of protection that you need to ward off these mutating infiltrators. However, you have to make a conscious effort to upgrade your firewall frequently since it too must upgrade itself.

The best way to protect your computer from infiltrators is to build several tough layers between your system and the invader.  A firewall works in several layers arranged like a maze to throw off invaders and tear them apart.  These layers and tunnels work similar to how a sound wave is broken apart by loosing momentum and speed.  As viruses change after learning the language of a firewall, the firewall has to work even harder to keep up with these changes.  That is why upgrades are so essential to your system's protection.

Operating a computer that's connecting to another system and the Internet runs the risk of coming across encrypted messages with harmful or intrusive intentions.  The thought of not having a firewall on your computer is similar to the action of running through a front line battle without armor - You just don't want to partake in that kind of foolish risk.  A savvy Internet user relies on a firewall that has several protective layers:  packet filtering, circuit relay and application gateway.  Basically what this boils down to is prior to whatever wants to comes in must first go through a firewall and then whatever wants to go out must again first pass through a firewall.  If information or systems operate separate of a firewall, the data and program is
fully exposed to whatever elements come its way.  To learn more about firewall layers, visit www.pc-help.org.

Nearly all window operations use Windows Firewall by Microsoft with automatic updates.  This multi layered firewall automatically blocks any unsolicited messages and provides you with an alert every time the firewall does its job.  According to PC World online, the top firewalls for your computer at home or business are:

Sygate Personal Firewall, Norton Internet Security (for Macintosh), BlackIce PC Protection, VisNetic Firewall, ZoneAlarm Free, Tiny Personal Firewall, Kerio Personal
Firewall, and McAfee Personal Firewall Plus.

Most people do not have to buy firewalls; most firewalls come free or as a shareware.  Since today's threats of viruses and other intruders wanting to sneak into our systems and track our movement, ruin our information or steal our identity is very real, you should always hit those beasts with your best shot by taking the time upgrade your firewall.


Copyright 2005 Stacey Misope. All rights reserved.
Stacey Misope is the webmaster and operator for Firewall Club which is a leading on-line resource for the latest firewall information on the internet. For further information visit her archive of articles: http://www.firewallclub.com/