Firewalls (see Disclaimer
Notice)
A firewall is a program that monitors information being transferred around
a network. The network could be a home or company network
or it could be the Internet. If you get infected
and the virus program wants to access the Internet the firewall
will alert you and ask if you want it to allow it to or
not. You can stop it, permanently, from accessing the Internet.
Anyone trying to gain access to your computer (easier now
with Broadband always on) will also be stopped from getting
in by the firewall.
Windows XP has a firewall built in but it is very basic
and only checks data coming into the computer. To check
requests going out you will need to get a better one and
install it. A good free firewall is Zonealarm although
the Pro version (with extra functionality) can be purchased.
If you have a Broadband router
then you may already have a firewall built into that but
again it usually only blocks unsolicited data coming
in.
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