Is a software firewall less secure than a separate hardware firewall?
A software firewall usually provides better security than a hardware firewall and usually costs less. The primary advantage software firewalls have is that they have specific knowledge of how you’re using your system and can tune their behavior to better meet your needs. For example, software firewalls can filter communications on a per application basis (like allowing Internet Explorer access to the Internet but not Outlook). Hardware firewalls do not have this capability.
