Undoubtedly the answer to this is going to be yes – everyone needs a computer firewall. But before we look into this more fully, it will be good to understand what a firewall is.

A firewall is either a software program or a hardware device that is installed to help to protect your computer or network from any malicious intruders, hackers or unwanted codes.   Imagine someone being on duty 24/7 to check everything that comes into or goes out of your computer – this is essentially what a firewall is.  They are designed to filter any traffic to your computer or your network via an internet connection. If you do not have any firewall then your computer is going to become a very easy target for hackers and malicious software. Having a firewall installed will offer you extra security.

As you can see a firewall is indeed essential to any standalone computer or laptop and for any networked computers.

There are various choices for the home pc user, and some of these are:-

Microsoft Windows – has it built in firewall and you should make sure that this is left on until such time as you instal a third party firewall.

Internet Security Software – these will often provide a firewall as part of their overall package which will generally include anti-virus, anti-spyware and much more besides.  One very popular program is Zone Alarm, more details can be found here.

Hardware Firewalls – this is generally going to be a small box that is placed between your computer or network and your modem. When you instal a router either wired or wireless this will often have its own default firewall installed. The good thing about hardware firewalls is that you can use these alongside any software firewall that has been installed on your computer.

Any firewall that you install is going to need to be set up with instructions from you. It will need to know which particular ip addresses are safe and that it can allow access to your machine or network. These can be listed by you, or you can configure your firewall to ask you what to do when a computer is trying to access yours. You will also be able to set any ftp permissions through your firewall which can limit who can upload information.

Firewalls really do form an important part of your computer system security and should not be overlooked.