Malware is vastly increasing. As much as you want to avoid it, you’ll have to face it one way or another. What more if it’s combined with other types of computer viruses that can completely damage your laptop or PC? This is becoming inescapable for people who don’t know anything about security and computer protection. If you are facing the same situation, don’t worry. There’s still something you can do with or without a budget. You can look for the best firewall software on the internet and install it on your PC. This adds protection to your gadgets so you will never have to stress about malware again.
What is a firewall?
This is not something that protects your house against fire. It’s a different thing. In the online world, a firewall is a system specially made for your PC or laptop so to prevent unauthorized access to your network. A firewall can be software or hardware or both. It gives you security in a way that no other internet users, except those you authorized, can filter into your private networks. Firewalls assess the messages that enter and leaves your intranet. If the messages don’t pass the security criteria, your firewall will block those.
What are the different types of firewalls?
There are different types of firewalls that exist. The first firewall is the one that does packet filtering. This kind assesses every packet that enters or leaves your network. It has the power to receive or reject those packets depending on some user rules. This type is pretty effective but users will find it hard to configure. However, your computer may still not protect you from IP spoofing.
The next type is the one that implements a circuit-level gateway. This is a process wherein a firewall does security mechanisms when a UDP or TCP connection is strongly built. With this connection, packets don’t have to undergo more checking to be able to move through hosts.
The third type of firewall serves as a proxy server. This is a kind that gives you the opportunity to hide your real network address. A proxy server can be connected to the internet and still ask for connections to servers and receive the data in place of the real computer. What’s good about this type is that it can only configure selected types of traffic like HTTP files. But, it has a drawback. It can slow down the performance of your network.
Lastly, you can look for a web application firewall that serves as a combination of hardware and software filters. There are a set of rules being used and these can be personalized in order to detect numerous malware and computer attacks.
Best Free Firewall Software
Now, if you think you have to pay for these firewalls to be installed on your computer, there’s no need. There is free firewall software that you can download online. This is ideal for you if you don’t want to pay for anything and still protect your computer from damages. This is a list of the best free firewall software you can get for free.
1) Avast Free Antivirus
If you would notice, Avast is a big player in terms of antivirus software. The package it offers to users includes firewalls. What the company offers is a free antivirus with free firewalls that can provide your laptop or PC total protection from computer attacks. It can be used on an Android, Windows, or macOS. The software gives you live updates so you would know if there are detected viruses in its database. It also permits the detection of new viruses so you will get a notification if it needs to be removed.
2) Comodo Free Firewall
Want the best firewall for your computer? Get the Comodo Firewall without paying anything! Comodo is known to be an award-winning software in the world of cybersecurity. It features a firewall that can be installed on all Windows versions. This works by blocking new connections, monitoring on-going threats, and updating the database for threats. It also gives you the detected risks you need to watch for real-time. For every software that comes in contact with your computer, this application gives you a Sandbox environment so you can still be protected from hidden viruses.
3) ZoneAlarm Free Firewall
This is one of the oldest software that introduces firewalls to people. The application works by hiding open ports, killing malicious programs, identifying unreliable traffic, and providing real-time security updates. With this free firewall, you can be protected from the threats of using public connections. Whether you are using Windows 7, 8, or 10, you can get this software for free. This is ideal for home wifi networks because it has a stealth mode that can protect the computer from hackers. Give yourself identity protection with this one.
4) Glasswire
Glasswire is another application packed with the benefits of a firewall. The main function of this application is to monitor but it can be a firewall as well. This packages is free and can be downloaded on Windows 7 to 10. If you have a small business network, this is a great choice for you. It blocks incoming connections and gives you a chance to track the usage of your bandwidth. This application’s monitoring feature is always on so it can detect the activities of your computer.
5) Sophos XG Firewall Home Edition
Not but not least is the product of Sophos. This is a leading brand in the cybersecurity industry because of its outstanding software that totally protects computers. It’s available for home use so if you are just trying to add an extra level of protection to your home network, consider this free option. This software gives you all the security and network protections you need at home. It uses its own operating system when you download it. So expect that it will eliminate the current OS you are using. As a user of this firewall, you won’t be able to reinstall the software deleted for it to run.