What is a personal firewall?
A personal firewall (sometimes called a desktop firewall) is a software application used to help protect a single Internet-connected computer from intruders. Personal firewall protection is useful for users with “always-on” connections such as DSL, cable modem or dial-up connections. Often compared to anti-virus applications, personal firewalls work in the background, to help protect the integrity of the system from unauthorized access by controlling Internet connections to and from a user’s computer, filtering inbound and outbound traffic, and alerting the user to attempted intrusions.
