What's a proxy and what's a firewall?

Answer 1

Not sure about a proxy, but a firewall is a program designed to prevent hackers from hijacking your PC. They usually come with a good anti-virus package, but Windows XP SP2 has a built-in one.

Answer 2

A proxy is a computer or server u dial into rather than connecting to the Internet or a network. A firewall is a piece of software that stops unauthorised access to your computer. Also a firewall could in fact be an actual wall of fire that chases badgers!

Answer 3

Proxy -

A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server.

Firewal -

(fīr´wâl) (n.) A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

Have fun but be safe!

Answer 4

A firewall blocks attacks on your computer from malicious people called hackers.

A proxy is a place that you can connect to which then connects you to somewhere else. It's kind of like having a middleman, instead of getting the pages directly. Proxies are usually used because they are somewhat more secure, and can be used to bypass internet regulation software like St. Bernard.

Answer 5

Not sure about a proxy, but a firewall only lets through machines whose identities are known.
e.g. You can tell your firewall to allow certain IP adresses access to your box, it would not allow any others.

Answer 6

a proxy is like a middleman and a firewall is there to protect you from viruses etc as long as you've set it up properly

Answer 7

Ok, a firewall stops internet incoming snooping. Like you having a bouncer on the door, given a list of who comes in. If your not on the list, your not coming in.
A proxy...connect your pc to mine. "we" go on the net, its my pc they see. My ip address, my mac codes, my identity...your doing it through me.
However, as your hidden to outsiders, your proxy sees everything you see. It goes through my pc first. I see what you see...first, and pass it onto you.