A firewall is "Border Control" for your Home Business Computer

If you are a small/home business computer user, then using a firewall is the most effective and important step you can take to protect your computer.

A good firewall can be either hardware or software. All networks/computers have ports (entrance points) that allow traffic in and out (like emails). Put simply the firewall will block and inspect traffic that is coming through your internet connection.

So essentially the firewall helps screen out hackers, viruses and worms that try to reach your computer over the internet. Rather like the old fashioned border control. 

 No matter how you are connected to the internet – with a dial up modern, cable modern, or digital subscriber line (DSL or ADSL), ensure you are using a firewall.

My advice I received from my Computer Repair man is to turn on your firewall and antivirus software before you connect to the internet.

You can check whether your firewall is switched on by;

• Click start, and the Control Panel.
• Click Security Center, and then Firewall.

You can also check the manuals of your home network devices, such as wireless access points or broadband routers, to determine if they include in-built hardware firewalls.

If you don’t know if a software firewall is even on your computer, you can check in the All Programs. Look for a firewall program.

Thank Heavens, there is always your Computer Repair man to advise you and assist  if you find this difficult or confusing.  

If you have more than one computer in your home or small business you will need to check that each is covered. So turning on the firewall on every connection will help prevent the spread of a virus from one computer to another if one does unfortunately become infected.

If you are using  Open Source Software (OOS) check that you are properly set up even though (OOS)  has a reputation of being attacked less by hackers etc, it would be better to be safe than sorry as they say!

A word of warning - no firewall (or virus software) can stop some malicious code if you accept it, for example, if you click “yes” to install antivirus software when you already have some or when it is something that you have never heard of.

A Firewall will not make your computer completely safe you will still need antivirus software and antispyware software.

So go to it!