Where’s The Fire: Understanding Firewall Limitations
October 1, 2008 by Antivirus Ware.comWhat is a firewall? What does it protect and how? Do you understand the limitations of it? When should a firewall be down and why? All of the answers to these questions form a solid foundation for understanding your firewall’s abilities and limitations. If you have a firewall through your job, these answers are subject to the guidelines established by your employer rather than what would be default settings of the firewall on your own computer.
A Firewall is usually a part of your systems virus protection software and provides a computerized wall of protection for your files and software. The limitations of a firewall are defined by the strength of the virus program and the settings programmed by you, the user. There are very few occasions when a firewall should be “down” or turned off because it offers no protection unless it is armed. One example of when you need to turn a firewall off is when installing certain kinds of software or doing particular kinds of computer configurations. If you are unsure about turning your firewall off, follow the directions for installation as described. Your computer will tell you whether or not the firewall needs to be turned off to continue.
Seldom should there be an occasion when a firewall needs to keep your computer from releasing harm to other computers but if such an occasion does arise, a firewall can also contain malicious contents on your computer in quarantine and keep you from unknowingly contaminating other computers.
