Firewalls general info

ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
together even though they say you can't. Works fine on my
unit.
>-----Original Message-----
>Hello
>
>Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
exactly does a firewall
>do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc?
Are there any
>drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and
how do I install it?
>How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software
and so little talk
>about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.
>
>Robert
>
>
>.
>

[Jim Macklin]

A firewall will note when YOU send a request (to the
Internet) and wait a certain amount of time for a reply to
the request. If the reply comes back promptly the firewall
recognizes it as something you asked for and want. It is
passed on to the computer.

There are hardware firewalls, often as part of a router,
which work outside the computer and hide the computer(s)
behind the firewall from the Internet. They will NAT
(network address translation) .

A software firewall monitors traffic and locks out
unrequested packets. A software firewall can also monitor
your software and if a rouge program is installed (Trojan)
it will inform you that a program is trying to access the
Internet, Zone Alarm (free version from
www.zonelabs.com ) does this very well.

I have run both ZA and McAfee firewalls at same time and it
seems to work OK, but I just use ZA now.

When I set up a network I'll use a router and a software
firewall.


> wrote in message
...
| ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
| together even though they say you can't. Works fine on my
| unit.
| >-----Original Message-----
| >Hello
| >
| >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
| exactly does a firewall
| >do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc?
| Are there any
| >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and
| how do I install it?
| >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software
| and so little talk
| >about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.
| >
| >Robert
| >
| >
| >.
| >

[Robert Crouser]

So does this slow the computer down?

"Jim Macklin" > wrote in message
...
> A firewall will note when YOU send a request (to the
> Internet) and wait a certain amount of time for a reply to
> the request. If the reply comes back promptly the firewall
> recognizes it as something you asked for and want. It is
> passed on to the computer.
>
> There are hardware firewalls, often as part of a router,
> which work outside the computer and hide the computer(s)
> behind the firewall from the Internet. They will NAT
> (network address translation) .
>
> A software firewall monitors traffic and locks out
> unrequested packets. A software firewall can also monitor
> your software and if a rouge program is installed (Trojan)
> it will inform you that a program is trying to access the
> Internet, Zone Alarm (free version from
> www.zonelabs.com ) does this very well.
>
> I have run both ZA and McAfee firewalls at same time and it
> seems to work OK, but I just use ZA now.
>
> When I set up a network I'll use a router and a software
> firewall.
>
>
> > wrote in message
> ...
> | ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
> | together even though they say you can't. Works fine on my
> | unit.
> | >-----Original Message-----
> | >Hello
> | >
> | >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
> | exactly does a firewall
> | >do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc?
> | Are there any
> | >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and
> | how do I install it?
> | >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software
> | and so little talk
> | >about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.
> | >
> | >Robert
> | >
> | >
> | >.
> | >
>
>

[Robert Crouser]

Okay, thanks for letting me know.

> wrote in message
...
> ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
> together even though they say you can't. Works fine on my
> unit.
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Hello
> >
> >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
> exactly does a firewall
> >do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc?
> Are there any
> >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and
> how do I install it?
> >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software
> and so little talk
> >about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.
> >
> >Robert
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[Jim Macklin]

Not much, it is just a gate keeper. It doesn't process the
data, it just verifies that it is a valid packet. A virus
scanner does slow processing down because it has to perform
a process.

But without a firewall you will be exposed to worms such as
Blaster and that will slow your computer, perhaps to a stop.


"Robert Crouser" > wrote in message
...
| So does this slow the computer down?
|
| "Jim Macklin" > wrote
in message
| ...
| > A firewall will note when YOU send a request (to the
| > Internet) and wait a certain amount of time for a reply
to
| > the request. If the reply comes back promptly the
firewall
| > recognizes it as something you asked for and want. It
is
| > passed on to the computer.
| >
| > There are hardware firewalls, often as part of a router,
| > which work outside the computer and hide the computer(s)
| > behind the firewall from the Internet. They will NAT
| > (network address translation) .
| >
| > A software firewall monitors traffic and locks out
| > unrequested packets. A software firewall can also
monitor
| > your software and if a rouge program is installed
(Trojan)
| > it will inform you that a program is trying to access
the
| > Internet, Zone Alarm (free version from
| > www.zonelabs.com ) does this very well.
| >
| > I have run both ZA and McAfee firewalls at same time and
it
| > seems to work OK, but I just use ZA now.
| >
| > When I set up a network I'll use a router and a software
| > firewall.
| >
| >
| > > wrote in message
| > ...
| > | ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
| > | together even though they say you can't. Works fine on
my
| > | unit.
| > | >-----Original Message-----
| > | >Hello
| > | >
| > | >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
| > | exactly does a firewall
| > | >do and why would I want one on my network-less home
pc?
| > | Are there any
| > | >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall
and
| > | how do I install it?
| > | >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus
software
| > | and so little talk
| > | >about firewall software? Any info would be
appreciated.
| > | >
| > | >Robert
| > | >
| > | >
| > | >.
| > | >
| >
| >
|
|

[Ken Blake]

In ,
Robert Crouser > typed:

> So does this slow the computer down?


Any extra software you run uses CPU cycles and therefore slows
the computer down. However, the slowing with the firewall is
slight enough to be unnoticeable.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup


>
> "Jim Macklin" > wrote in
message
> ...
>> A firewall will note when YOU send a request (to the
>> Internet) and wait a certain amount of time for a reply to
>> the request. If the reply comes back promptly the firewall
>> recognizes it as something you asked for and want. It is
>> passed on to the computer.
>>
>> There are hardware firewalls, often as part of a router,
>> which work outside the computer and hide the computer(s)
>> behind the firewall from the Internet. They will NAT
>> (network address translation) .
>>
>> A software firewall monitors traffic and locks out
>> unrequested packets. A software firewall can also monitor
>> your software and if a rouge program is installed (Trojan)
>> it will inform you that a program is trying to access the
>> Internet, Zone Alarm (free version from
>> www.zonelabs.com ) does this very well.
>>
>> I have run both ZA and McAfee firewalls at same time and it
>> seems to work OK, but I just use ZA now.
>>
>> When I set up a network I'll use a router and a software
>> firewall.
>>
>>
>> > wrote in message
>> ...
>> | ROBERT, you can run your XP and a McAfee firewalls
>> | together even though they say you can't. Works fine on my
>> | unit.
>> | >-----Original Message-----
>> | >Hello
>> | >
>> | >Can somebody give me the lowdown on firewalls? What
>> | exactly does a firewall
>> | >do and why would I want one on my network-less home pc?
>> | Are there any
>> | >drawbacks to a firewall? Where do I get a firewall and
>> | how do I install it?
>> | >How come I hear so much talk about anti-virus software
>> | and so little talk
>> | >about firewall software? Any info would be appreciated.
>> | >
>> | >Robert
>> | >
>> | >
>> | >.