Originally posted here by avdven


I completely disagree with your last statement. If you don't have a firewall and you're infected with a Trojan (which may, or may not be found by your anti-virus program) or you are "infected" with a number of spyware programs, you'll never know that you're transmitting information, let alone be able to stop it. I agree that many people with PCs (especially if you dial-up) don't need a very advanced firewall for incoming packets, I do believe that they should have a firewall to protect outgoing traffic. Next time you're going to say something like that, back it up. Otherwise you'll start a flame war.

AJ
Adven. I was just getting ramped up to make pretty much the exact same conclusion. Thanks.


I'd like to add that I'm not sure I agree with using the term "firewall" interchangeably with "personal firewall software." I feel that a firewall is a system or device that straddles the connection between two networks and provides some method of access control and/or filtering based on rules and/or connection state. Personal firewall software I see as software running on a PC that monitors inbound and outbound connections. I don't think that firewall software is equivalent to a firewall. I do believe that firewall software is better than nothing. Personally I would recommend a firewall plus firewall software plus virus protection software as the best possible solution.

I know it may just be semantics, but I think there are definitely differences between a firewall and firewall software (which actually bears a lot of resemblance to commercial Host-based IDS software).