What is a firewall and do I need it if I have Norton Anti-Virus? And, where do I get one for free.?

Answer 1

A firewall blocks access to your computer from outside sources. If you have Windows XP, you can go to the control panel and turn on Windows Firewall. The previous answer suggested zonealarms which is also good.

Answer 2

To be honest, I wouldn't touch Norton. Norton was a great AV in the late 90s but since Symantec bought them out, Norton has become unreliable, conflicts with other software and doesn't have as good a detection rate. Recent versions of Norton software have damaged PCs and I couldn't get rid of many files until a total reformat of my HDD. McCaffee is not much better. However, a Firewall is important and XP has a Firewall built in but I wouldn't recommend it, yet! A "Firewall" is a barrier between your computer and others. It can be configured so that you have to give programs permission to access the Internet and any unauthorised computers will be blocked from accessing your computer. Without a Firewall, your computer is vulnerable to Hack attacks as well as remote virus' etc. I would say that the Firewall is as much important as Anti Virus software. One big advantage is that you can surf the Internet in stealth mode thus making your computer invisible to hackers etc. ZoneAlarm is one of the best around and is free but I would recommend paying for an upgrade to ZoneAlarm Pro as it has more controls. All the popular download sites have ZoneAlarm. You could also consider "Spybot Search and Destroy" and "Ad-Aware", which are also free, to keep your PC free of Adware, Spyware etc. There are no conflicts between ZoneAlarm, Ad-Aware and Spybot but Norton may cause conflicts. Norton is also resource hungry. Try the site below for all your free software, including AVG Anti Virus as an alternative to Norton.

Answer 3

A firewall is always needed. What a firewall will do is close all the ports that your computer is not using to communicate with whatever you are doing online. If all those ports were left open, any script kiddy or Joe Schmoe wanna be hacker can get into your system. Windows firewall works well enough for me, but go with the one suggested in the first two answers.

Answer 4

If you have Windows XP, Home or Professional, you have a built-in firewall that's as good as any other you can get. So, if you do, click on Start, Settings, Control Panel and find Windows Firewall and turn it on. And yes, you need a firewall even though you have an antivirus program.

Answer 5

Everybody needs a firewall. the peiople who answered the question before me gave you what it was.....now i am going to give you what the best one is(for free)
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
here is the review(it is beat every single other firewall, even the pay to get ones!) her is the review!
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;159719021
if you have XP switch now cause you will have the bet software firewall in the market(for free) no demos no nothing all features for free!

Answer 6

There is always windows firewall.

Answer 7

u need one...try zonealarm at zonelabs.com

against hackers etc