- A firewall regulates the flow of traffic allowed in and out of the network or device. It only allows the authenticated traffic to enter your network.
- Windows firewall protects your system against malicious viruses or worms(trojan horse for example) from incoming network traffic.
- Some antivirus might not work with the windows firewall and vice-versa, thereby forcing you to disable the windows firewall. Windows firewall can sometimes lead to connectivity issues pushing you to disable the firewall.
- This article will demonstrate how you can enable or disable a firewall in Windows 11.
What is a Firewall and how does it works?
The ports are what we call the pathways through which the traffic comes in and flows out of our network. The firewall controls the incoming and outgoing traffic in our network or device. We can also take an analogy of a firewall as a security guard standing at the gate, verifying the identity of those who try to enter or leave.
Firewall should allow little to no inbound traffic to your network, especially laptops and PCs. It is very difficult for any device to enter your home network or device without your authorization.
Firewall & Network Protection in Windows Security allows you to view the status and network protection of the Windows Defender Firewall, as well as see which networks your device is connected to.
A web server might accept request for content it is supposed to serve but it might not allow traffic from remote control applications. Your personal computer might not host any public or private services, in such case your firewall should allow few to no inbound traffic.
You can turn on/off your Windows Defender firewall. Advanced Windows Defender Firewall options are available for the following network types.
- Networks for the domain (workplace)
- Private (discoverable) networks
- Public (non-discoverable) networks
Types of Firewalls
Firewalls may be software- or hardware-based. Most likely, you are protected by both.
A hardware firewall is a router, also known as a modem. It connects your internet provider to your home and office. Main purpose of router is to run complex algorithms and determine the safest path for your network traffic to reach its destination and restrict the malicious inbound traffic on your network.
A software firewall is mostly integrated in your operating system regulates the network traffic in your device. Hardware and software firewall does basically the same things.
How do I disable or enable the Windows firewall?
Follow these steps to enable or disable Windows firewall:
1. Select the Start button
2. Then go to Settings
3. Now, click on Privacy & Security
4. Click on Windows Security
5. Then click on Firewall & network protection
6. Select an active network profile.
7. Switch the setting to On under Microsoft Defender Firewall. These steps may not work if your device is connected via a network
- Switch the setting to Off to turn it off. Your device and network is more susceptible to unauthorized access if Microsoft Defender Firewall is turned off. You can turn the Firewall off if you have an app that you are unable to access.
Conclusion
Worm is a malicious program that enters through your network connections. Once it enters your network, it replicates itself, the fascinating part is that these subsequent copies of these malicious programs replicates itself further and spreads rapidly throughout the network and tries to infect the whole network system and brings it down.
Ways these worms enters your network connections :-
- Through emails
- Access to unsecured websites.
- Downloads through unverified source.
- Often Hidden in networks.
In order to protect your PC or laptops against these malicious programs you should have a
- Firewall, which is inbuilt into your PC.
- Best antivirus software.
- A quality cyber security is provided, known as software as a service. Software monitors the network in real time. It collects the real data of the emerging threats and upgrade itself in real time. However, it is big companies use it in order to protect their networks and data.
