How to Make Your Computer Secure: The Importance of Installing a Firewall

Now that you have updated your computer, installed an antivirus remover and installed a spyware remover, your security checklist is not yet complete, here comes tip no. 4.

Tip no. 4 - Install a firewall.

First of all let us define what a firewall is. A firewall in computer parlance is not a device used to protect people from fire. A firewall is secure and trusted machine or software that sits between a private network and a public network. The firewall can be configured with a set of rules that determine which network traffic will be allowed to pass and which will be blocked or refused. To put it simply a firewall acts like a gate keeper that blocks traffic that he thinks should not be allowed to pass, and allows traffic that are appropriate to pass.

Firewall allows you to define which traffic should be allowed or not. It is important to install a firewall because it will protect open ports that may be accessed by hackers to invade your system. This may be a bit technical for some people. But the best way to have a firewall without necessarily knowing the nuts and bolts about it is to get one. Although Windows XP has a built in firewall it is still not sufficient enough to give you enough protection. Microsoft themselves said that "It is not the firewall's place to stop malicious code from sending outbound packets--Microsoft contends that companies should use perimeter technologies to examine outbound traffic." In other words they encourage putting another firewall aside from the Windows XP firewall technology. Some of the best 3^rd party firewalls are Zone Alarm, PC-cillin internet security, Norton and McAfee personal firewalls. One of the best firewalls today is an open source firewall, meaning it's free. If you have an old PC just lying around and doing nothing and you have the time and the interest to experiment with that old PC you can install Smoothwall, dubbed to be the world's favorite personal firewall. Even though you do not understand or may not understand anything about firewalls, it is important that you have one though.

Tip no. 5 - Be wary of email attachments

In today's modern computing age, files can easily be sent across great distances through the power of electronic mails. A picture, electronic files, music or just about anything can be attached to an email. (Something similar to sending an actual mail and attaching something to it only in this case you attach it electronically) Because of this there are more avenues for viruses to spread. Although most email service providers run an antivirus on their servers and each email is checked if it contains a virus or not, it is still for your own safety that you do not open email attachments unless you know where the email comes from and that the sender has explicitly stated in his email that he is sending you an important file. Before you open an email you should make sure also that you have an updated antivirus running and doing a real time, on access scan. Most viruses are spread through email. Being infected with a virus may be prevented if these simple precautions are being observed.