Firewalls and Anti-Virus

I've been talking to people with PCs and internet connections recently and I'm quite surprised that many people who go online these days only install an anti-virus software on their PC. No firewall at all.

First thing I tell them is "A firewall is more important than an anti-virus". Yep, these days anti-virus software is not really effective in protecting you. Why? Simply because the danger comes from "zero day attacks", meaning worms, trojans and viruses that are newly created and being spread, before companies like Symantec can get a copy of it, create a signature and then create an update. And then the user needs to download the update. This is easily a 2 week to several month window in which the attack would have made its rounds manyfold.

The firewall on the other hand, blocks activity without the need for any signature. As long as the traffic doesn't appear to be a normal activity of the PC, it will block it and thereby prevent attacks from occurring. In fact, these days worms like MyDoom and Blaster are still circulating. Check ur firewall logs, port scans are a daily occurrence.

However, in the end you still need a smart user behind that monitor. No use having a powerful firewall when you the dumb user allows everything to pass through. If in doubt ask or check a search engine.

Nice firewalls you can download for free include Sygate Personal Firewall and Zone Alarm. Windows XP SP2 comes with a firewall. Good luck folks!