A software firewall performs the same job as a hardware firewall except that it accomplishes this feat through the installation of software onto your computer(s) rather than using a dedicated piece of hardware (a router with a firewall, a dedicated computer, etc.).

Truth be told, the idea of a “hardware firewall” is a bit inexact anyway. There is always some software involved in a hardware firewall. If the hardware firewall is implemented through a dedicated computer then some piece of software that handles the firewall duties still has to be loaded onto the machine. If a network device (such as a router) is placed on the network to act as a firewall, it too must have some level of software to implement the firewall capability, even though this type of software is usually referred to as “firmware.” However, we tend to call any type of firewall that is implemented as software that you load onto your computer (as versus a dedicated computer or a separate network device) a “software” firewall.

Software firewalls are usually bundled with antivirus software, anti-spam software, or some other protective software. There are, however, software package specific to firewall services.

While the Paladin prefers a hardware firewall over a software firewall due to failure modes (see the description of a hardware firewall for details on how each firewall “fails”), the Paladin still maintains a software firewall on some of his computers. This is because a software firewall is much easier to set up to block certain viruses, trojan horse programs, etc. which try to send information about your computer to other users via the internet.

Nowadays, some operating systems (Windows Vista for one) comes complete with a software firewall right out of the box. However, if you do not configure your software firewall correctly (or if it just gets overzealous, as in the case of security in general in Microsoft Windows Vista), it can become more of a pain than a help. Click here for a humorous commercial that pokes fun at Vista’s overly zealous protection.

Installing a software firewall is often easy as far as the installation goes, but configuring it to allow programs to access the internet that SHOULD be able to access the internet (such as your web browser, your email program, etc.) can sometimes be tedious. Fortunately, most of todays more advanced software firewalls will do a lot of this setup for you.

If you are considering getting a software firewall be sure to see if your operating system already comes with one (you may already have a software firewall on your computer but it may just be disabled). You can save yourself some money if you wish the protection of a software firewall by simply enabling the one already supplied in your operating system.

The Paladin provides a list of some protective software packages below, most of which include some sort of software firewall. For convenience, you can order any of these online and have them delivered right to your door. Be sure to click on any of the software products you are interested in to get the details…and be certain that the package works for your computer and operating system.