What is a "FIREWALL"?

Question

I keep on hearing about firewalls.....i feel stupid for not knowing but yea i dont know wat they are.....are they bad for the computer??

Answer 1

Basically, a firewall is a computer program that stops intruders (like hackers and some types of Internet worms) to take control of a computer through a network connection (like Internet). For more details, follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_%28networking%29

Answer 2

A firewall is a computer program like an antivirus client that sits betn ur computer and the network connection, blocking any unwanted access being given to outsiders. For example it can give you download access while restricting files to be uploaded. This is why some P2P clients do not work on firewalled networks.

Answer 3

A Firewall is a system which serve to SHOW who's connected or connecting to your computer. And then it has the ability OR capacity to block or allow program/s to your computer.

They are good, in a first place when you are on LAN or connected to the Internet, so you may know connected/connecting with you. It is not necessary if your computer is "lonely" (not connected to LAN/Internet).

A very simple example is your Windows Firewall (Windows XP). By default, it will not allow a program to go out or go in. But you can put exemptions so that program can interact...

Answer 4

A firewall is like it sounds, its a wall of fire that you can't pass thru...

actually in computers its a virtual wall that attackers and probes can't pass thru. It closes ports in your network connection that you or your program configurations can open and close.
(for example when you open a internet web page it opens port 80, to allow info to transmit in/out)

Answer 5

firewalls are a security application for computers that stops ID theft, hacking your pc by hackers, and does many other things
to download free for personal use firewalls go here
http://freewww.uv.ro/security/security.html

Answer 6

Fire wall is a (Hardware or Software) that protects your computer from unauthorized access and makes your computer secure. They can also be used to protect the system from internal network access also. For more details you can visit to :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(networking)
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/f/firewall.html

Answer 7

A thing that blocks people(real people) to hack into ur computer.Thats many ways to hack into ur computer like downloading something got spyware