Firewall is a means of preventing intruders onto a computer or into a network. It is a primary method to block traffic into and out of a computer system or private network. Firewalls on a personal computer are known as personal firewalls while those protecting the private network from intrusions from the internet are known as internet firewalls.
A firewall can be a combination of hardware and software. It can also be software only. When installed on a private network it is usually done on the router. A router may be a hardware device which has some intrusion detection and prevention software installed on it. It can also be software run on a computer that acts as the Private Network's gateway to the internet.
Windows firewall keeps a check on spy ware activities on your Personal Computer. You can get a firewall appliance that can filter out unwanted packets coming into your network. Many techniques are used in fire walling these include Stateful inspection of inbound packets to identify whether the inbound packets are requested by a user. Network Address translation where only one IP address is provided to interface to the world outside and this translates and controls the other computers on the Network. This is part of Windows Internet connection Sharing. Packet filtering and Proxy server are other techniques used.
A firewall can be a combination of hardware and software. It can also be software only. When installed on a private network it is usually done on the router. A router may be a hardware device which has some intrusion detection and prevention software installed on it. It can also be software run on a computer that acts as the Private Network's gateway to the internet.
Windows firewall keeps a check on spy ware activities on your Personal Computer. You can get a firewall appliance that can filter out unwanted packets coming into your network. Many techniques are used in fire walling these include Stateful inspection of inbound packets to identify whether the inbound packets are requested by a user. Network Address translation where only one IP address is provided to interface to the world outside and this translates and controls the other computers on the Network. This is part of Windows Internet connection Sharing. Packet filtering and Proxy server are other techniques used.