- A personal firewall (sometimes called a desktop firewall) is a software
application used to protect a single Internet-connected computer from intruders. Personal firewall protection is especially useful for users with "always-on" connections such as DSL or cable modem. Such connections use a static IP address that makes them especially vulnerable to potential hackers.
Often compared to anti-virus applications, personal firewalls
work in the background at the device (link layer) level to protect the
integrity of the system from malicious computer code by controlling Internet
connections to and from a user's computer, filtering inbound and outbound
traffic, and alerting the user to attempted intrusions.
LAST UPDATED:
11 Mar 2009
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- A personal firewall (sometimes called a desktop firewall) is a software
application used to protect a single Internet-connected computer from intruders. Personal firewall protection is especially useful for users with "always-on" connections such as 
