What is a hardware firewall as opposed to a software firewall?

Question

I'm cconfused, I'm 62 (Viet Nam Vet), new to computing (3 years), and trying to figure it all out. About the time I think I've got it figured out, I run across another term or piece of information that makes me wonder. I can't imagine tho, with the possibility that some jerk could bring the internet down, there by causing panick, anarchism, the collapse of banking and military and the affect and effect on our natiional security, why the government hasn't imposed severe sanctions, even capitol ones, for those who would disrupt our way of life. It seems like the bad guy is the only one granted protection under the law, the rest of us are thrown to the wolves and left to our own devices. It seems to me that more time should be spent getting rid of (permantly) those miscreants, and there-by having to spend less time and money protecting ourselves. Anyway, after all my rantings if anyone can remember my question, I'm very interested in the difference. Have a good and safe day!

Answer 1

A software firewall uses...well...software. For example, Windows Firewall, Zone Alarm, or the firewalls that come with most anti-virus programs.



A hardware firewall is a physical firewall such as created by a router. The router "hides" the rest of your network from the internet by presenting one IP address to the rest of the world, then routing any incoming traffic to your pc using an internal IP address.



Part of the reason the government hasn't been more proactive about prosecuting these people is because it's hard to catch the right person and many of them are overseas and therefore out of US jurisdiction. Even if they are here in the US, hackers aren't stupid. They will jump through open ports in unsecured computers through so many steps that it's tough to track where they are from. So some poor shmuck who doesn't know to secure his machine may be unwittingly being used by the hacker and scared out of his wits when the black helicopters come to get him because the attack is coming from his machine and he doesn't even know it.



Hacking sucks. Spammers suck. But I'd rather deal with them than the government trying to regulate the internet. Currently it's free and available to everyone....do you want the internet to be taxed to support bureaucracy?

Answer 2

A hardware firewall is something outside of the computer that blocks incoming and some outgoing traffic. IE. a Router is the most common. A router can be used for a bunch of different reasons (hooking up more than one computer is the most common reason for a router)... It provides reasonable protection from some hackers, etc.



A software firewall is a program on your computer that watches everything that goes on with the connection as far as what programs, etc are using the internet. An example would be Zone Alarm.

Answer 3

Hardware Firewall is a device that you connect to your system, software firewall is a program that acts like firewall. They do the same. Make a safe environment for your computer against hackers.

Answer 4

you kind of answered your own question. Hardware=machine and software=computer program



a hardware firewall is better because it's a physical machine and not just a program as a layer of protection. but as a regular old joe computer user, i wouldn't worry about these kind of fearmongering things.



have fun and use your computer for things BESIDES fixing your computer and figuring out how computers work. if you want to know how stuff in there works, read up at wikipedia

Answer 5

hardware firewalls are actual physical objects. Network devices like routers are what is usually a hardware firewall. They block traffic by "hiding" the computers connected to it. Software firewall are programs you install on YOUR computer and close ports and check traffic coming in and out of YOUR pc. Hardware firewall checks traffic for ALL pcs connected to it, while software checks traffic only for YOUR connection.

Answer 6

hardware firewalls are firewalls that are, for lack or a better term, embedded in the hardware... for instance, some modem's and routers have hardware firewalls.. you didn't install the firewall there, but they're there... and they behave in conjunction with the hardware's firmware...(meaning you can't uninstall a router's hardware firewall and transfer it to a modem... in simple terms)



software firewall on the other hand, is the one's we're more familiar with... norton, mcafee... etc... we install them, then our computers crash... we purchase new computers, and we reinstall our firewall... so there

Answer 7

hardware frewall is a router with a builtin firewall. two-way software firewall is like zonealarm

Answer 8

Here's a good info site: http://www.howstuffworks.com/ Just typ what you want to know in the search bar