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As people become more accustomed to the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), they want better performance from their connection to the WWW. Just as they want a bigger television screen, they want faster access speed on the WWW.
One way to get this faster speed is to use either a DSL line or a Cable Modem. With either of these methods, you are connected to the Internet ALL THE TIME. This would be similar to leaving your front door unlocked ALL THE TIME. Anyone could freely access your house by going thru the unlocked front door. In a similar fashion, people could ACCESS INFORMATION you have stored on the hard drives of your computer if you are connected to the Internet via a DSL or a Cable Modem connection.
We need to find some way to LOCK this front door. We need to put up a MOAT around your house and place a DRAW BRIDGE that allows you to control entry into your house.
One way of doing this is to use something called a FIREWALL. A FIREWALL is either a computer software application or another computer hooked up between your home computer and the Internet. A firewall restricts information BOTH WAYS. It controls information coming INTO your computer and it controls information GOING out onto the Internet. You might want to restrict what your children do on the Internet when you are not around to supervise them. You could set up the firewall to only allow Email to be sent and received. No SURFING of the WWW would be allowed.
For home use, several companies that produce VIRUS protection software, have also come up with FIREWALLS. You might look at McAfee or Norton Utilities. I have used a product called ZONE ALARM. They have a free version available for personal use and can be found at http://www.zonelabs.com.
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