It's easy to get discouraged when searching for the best personal firewall. You know you need one, but weeding through all the confusing information can be, well...confusing. This article will help you discover which firewall is best for you.
Evaluate your "surfing" style
When you surf the net, are you all over the place or do you stick to sites that you know are reputable? Do you click on e-mail links to your bank or credit card accounts? Do you download every free program that is offered to you? Do you open e-mails from unfamiliar senders out of curiosity?
If you answered, "Yes" to these questions, your best bet is to get a full-service firewall system. The best personal firewall for you will be one that has protection against viruses, badware, or spam. Free firewalls most likely won't provide enough protection for you.
If you answered, "No" to these questions, you are a safe surfer and free firewalls like Avira, Microsoft Windows Defender, and Spamfighter Standard should be all the protection you need.
Evaluate your computer
Mac computers are much less likely to become infected by viruses; however, they can still transmit the viruses to other computers so keep this in mind. If you own an Apple computer, it's great that you are relatively safe, but you don't want to pass viruses on to friends, family, and business associates.
Windows Vista comes with Windows Defender which is a top-notch anti-badware program, but people who run Vista can still become infected.
The best personal firewall you can own is one that protects against viruses, badware, and spam. If you qualified as a "safe surfer" you can download separate programs that are free and will cover each of these areas. Before you take this step, evaluate your computer to see if it can handle these programs or if it will slow it down to a crawl.
If your computer has less than a gigabyte of memory, the free programs may be too much for your computer to handle and it would be better for you to invest in a paid firewall that will handle all three areas for you at once.
When searching for the best personal firewall for your computer, think about your surfing style and how much memory your computer has before you spend any money.
