Recently, most PC owners have finally realized that even on a home computer, antivirus is vital. Unfortunately, many still do not know that the modern user needs a firewall. By the way, what is a firewall?
To answer this question, you need to become a firefighter for a couple of moments. In their terminology, the so-called reception is called when a similar one is launched towards the approaching wall of fire: two fiery streams at a meeting effectively and quickly extinguish each other. In addition, this is the name of the special wall that is being erected on the path of an approaching fire.
And now back to our computer affairs. What is the connection between fire and PC, and what is Firewall in the understanding of IT-specialists? Everything is simple: instead of a fire, viruses are here, and the function of the wall is performed by a special program that resists their attempts to penetrate your computer. However, it protects not only from viruses, but also from many other threats that can also damage or destroy valuable information.
How does the firewall (this is one of the program names) work on your computer? The scope of his activity is extremely wide! First of all, the Firewall monitors all running programs. The application monitors their attempts to access the network and transmit any information. In case of detection of suspicious activity or when trying to send sensitive data, the firewall blocks the connection and informs the user about it.
In addition, all open ports in the system are also controlled by a firewall. This ensures the safety of “surfing” the Internet, as many of the inactive ports can be used by cybercriminals or malware to gain access to your computer. In case of detection of an attempt of such penetration, he again notifies the user and requests his permission to block the connection (however, in most cases, all these actions are performed automatically).
Discussing what Firewall is, one cannot fail to mention that all normal applications of this kind not only monitor the activity of all running programs on the computer, but also constantly monitor their status. In case of changes that occurred in their program code (when the update was launched or the virus was introduced), a more detailed analysis of the changed application is made, and a decision is made on further actions.
It is worth noting that firewalls are different. Among them there are paid, but a lot of high-quality free analogues. Some of them are perfect for beginners, while others are sure to appeal to experienced users. Just note that for beginners it is advisable to use intelligent firewalls that will not ask an inexperienced user about simple and obvious things. Many of these programs work according to predefined rules and practically do not require complicated settings.
So we figured out what Firewall is. We hope that this knowledge will be useful to you.