A firewall is exactly what it sounds like, it's a wall or a barrier, meant to protect agains fires, but I am not talking about fires here. A properly configured firewall helps keeps online predators from accessing your computer and your personal data.

There are two different types of firewalls: hardware firewalls and software firewalls. Here I will briefly discuss how a software firewall can help protect your computer from malicious software and hackers.



What a firewall does

•   A properly configured software firewall helps keeps the 'bad guys' out! How? A good firewall monitors both the inbound and outbound network traffic to/from a computer. Rules, or filters, can be setup to give access to certain applications and processes which legitimately need access to the network. Many of the firewalls found here come with a setup wizard to help you configure the firewall, so don't be intimidated, every computer connect to the internet should be running a firewall, especially if the computer is connected using a highspeed connection such as T1, cable, DSL etc...
   

5 no-cost firewalls

1.   ZoneAlarm
2.   GoldTach Firewall
3.   Omniquad Personal Firewall
4.   Comodo Personal Firewall
5.   Primedius Firewall Lite

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Try Jetico Personal Firewall

How to turn on the Windows XP firewall

• click the Start button
• click Control Panel
• click Window Security Center
• click Windows Firewall
• check either On or Off

1. • click the Start button
   • move your mouse cursor to Connect To until it is highlighted
   • click show all connections
   • right click the internet connection you use,
   • click Properties on the drop down menu
   • click the Advanced tab on the window that appears
   • under the first area called Internet Connection Firewall click on the box next to protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the internet to turn the firewall on
   • to turn it off click on the same box to take the check mark out
   • click Ok
      
     
2. • click Start
   • click Settings
   • click Network Connections
   • right click your internet connection you use to connect to the internet
   • click Properties
   • click the Advancedtab on the window that appears
   • under the first area called Internet Connection Firewall click the box next to protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the internet to turn the firewall on
   • to turn it off click on the same box to take the check mark out
   • click Ok
      
     
3. • click Start
   • click My Network Places
   • on the left-hand side click View Network Connections
   • select your Internet connection
   • right click and choose Properties
   • click on the Advanced tab
   • click on Settings
   • click On (Recommended) if it's not already selected