Do you have to pay for a firewall?

You may have heard of firewalls already, but we will have a fast review of their meaning and functions. Then we will become familiar with its advantages and understand what it is used for. After that, we will see if using a firewall is for free or we need to pay for it. And if it is premium, what limitation does its free version have.

What is a firewall?

A firewall is a barrier whose primary function is to protect your computer, tablet, or smartphone from the dangers of data-based malware on the Internet. In using computers and applications based on it, data is always exchanged between your computer and cyberspace servers and routers, and the firewall always monitors this data exchange. The data is always exchanged as a packet between the source and the destination, and the firewall checks that these packets comply with predefined rules. Data packets are accepted or rejected under these rules. Every operating system on desktops or smartphones includes a default firewall. Still, if you care about your security and privacy, we suggest that you use a dedicated firewall application on your PC or smartphone. Of course, setting up the default operating system firewall also has a huge impact on its efficiency; however, this requires special skills in setting up the firewall. Firewall applications in security packages include automated tools that control and manage the receipt or rejection of data by any application on the operating system; this is something that most users may not want to do manually and deposit it to their firewall and antivirus program.

Therefore, using a firewall in computers and smartphones can be a smart and appropriate. Now, if you still have doubts about using a firewall on your computer, we will try to convince you with these five reasons:

Five reasons to use a firewall

1. The firewall protects your computer from unauthorized and remote access

One of the dangers that always threatens your computer or smartphone is remote access by unauthorized people. You may be using the computer and moving the mouse over different parts without being aware of unauthorized access by malicious people. Suppose the firewall is configured to access computers (on a modern operating system, of course). In that case, it will be possible to completely disable remote access, so hackers can not enter in any way. Note that the firewall does not disable Windows support for your applications. These activities are browser-based, and since the browser has access to data exchange, the computer can not be considered completely secure and away from any Internet risk. So you still have to be careful.

Illegal copies of Windows on torrent networks and download websites usually contain various malware such as trojans installed on the image file by default. Even if you have one of these versions installed, it will not protect you from such risks.

2. Firewalls can block messages linked to unwanted content

Some users are still using Windows XP; unfortunately, most people are using their computer while the operating system default firewall is not enabled by default. There are many spy data and malware on the Internet lurking in unprotected computers to do the most damage. Although your ISP's job is to protect you from these threats, this section does not have enough security and does not perform well in some situations.

Eleven percent of the world's computers run Windows XP - perhaps as a peripheral. So you should know that as of March 2016, Microsoft has no responsibility for your security and privacy, so either upgrade your operating system or enable a firewall on your computers.

3. Online gaming experience with firewalls is more secure

Online gaming is undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in computer games in history, but unfortunately, the security risks of this method are much higher than offline gaming. Various malware is designed to damage the online gaming system and is located on the game server. Although the developers of games always attach great importance to the security of their servers, we recommend that you enable the firewall before running these games. This will block any action by the hacker to damage your system in this way, and the system will eventually stay safe.

In most cases, the computer firewall automatically configures itself to suit the needs of each game, so online games can not bypass this configuration. Note that security packages come with a Gaming Mod mode that you should take full advantage of, especially if you are very interested in online gaming. Finally, if you still have a problem, be sure to contact the game developer to fix it.

4. It is possible to block inappropriate and immoral content with the help of a firewall

So far, we've talked a lot about blocking hackers and remote access to Internet malware, but firewalls have more capabilities on PCs and smartphones. In addition to protecting specific directories from anonymous malware, computer firewalls can block certain online addresses permanently. This method is used more for blocking and controlling children's activities by their parents, and most parental control applications support it. However, firewalls on PCs and smartphones also include such an option.

5. Firewalls can be hardware or software

With the specifications and descriptions above, you might think that a firewall is necessarily a piece of software on a computer. However, this is not true, and hardware firewalls can be found in routers. These firewalls are also accessible by the main user of each system.

Do we need to pay for a firewall?

Like every security application, a firewall also has premium versions that allow you to use all its facilities and have no limitations. But it has some free versions that you can use to protect your data with no payments needed. We will introduce some free firewall apps that you can use in the following.

- ZoneAlarm

It is one of the oldest firewalls available, which provides many features to users. This firewall has two versions, free and premium; you can expect more features in the premium version. Of course, the long history of this program and its many free features are also associated with weaknesses. For example, there is a malfunction of this program and other antiviruses in some cases. It also does not support HIPS. HIPS can detect malware based on its behavior.

- Comodo

This is one of the best firewalls on this list that gives you full features and supports HIPS. There's also a great user interface for the app. You can use the Memory Firewall feature and check the network for different basics.

- PeerBlock

If you are one of the users who use torrents or are sharing files in any way, this firewall is for you. In this program, you can control the types of input and output ports, and if necessary, you can add the IP of some devices to the program blacklist so that they can not communicate with you. The latest version of this program is stable, and its updates are done automatically.

- Tiny wall

Tiny wall  is the smallest firewall on this list, which will take up only 1 MB of your space. This firewall is designed for users to make them able to use it with a Windows firewall. Unlike other firewalls on this list, this program will not expose you to annoying pop-ups.

- GlassWire

One of the newest firewalls available that you can download directly or through 360 Security Antivirus. This program displays the traffic and consumption of your data, and you can use it to know the consumption of your various programs. The disadvantage of this program is that it can not properly provide security for your system despite its modern user interface. Despite its white list and blacklist, it can not observe all security issues.

- Windows Firewall

After the long history that Microsoft has gained from XP so far, the main Windows firewall has been upgraded and can block many security issues. This program is optimized by different tests and will not declare anything. Various threats can not be hidden from this firewall, and the Windows Firewall interface is very simple.