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What is a firewall and why do I need one?Simply put a firewall is a buffer between your computer and the outside world. The firewall's basic task is to control the data traffic that comes in and out of your computer. It does this by applying zones of trust. For instance the Internet is a zone with no trust, and as such, the firewall will provide controlled interfaces between the Internet zone and ones of differing trust levels.
The problem with a firewall is how to set it up to ensure it works as intended. For a mis-configured firewall can be seen as worthless as an online security tool. For this reason we are going to stick to personal firewalls and the applicable software.
Personal firewalls are different from what we would deem a conventional commercial firewall. Personal firewalls are designed with the end-user in mind and they offer ease of use and easy end-application of the software or hardware.
The standard personal firewall will deliver a number of things to the computer user. For instance the personal firewall will help alert the user to any outgoing (data leaving your computer) connections, while monitoring the software applications running on your computer for any suspicious incoming connections. A software firewall installed on your computer can even give you information about the destination server with which an application may be attempting to make contact with. This way you can either deny or allow certain types of connections.
There are many different types of personal firewalls on the market today. One of the better-known ones, and one of the first to cater to personal users is Zone Alarm. As well, many anti-virus programs come bundled with a firewall.