Since there are a wide variety of firewalls available, including those from major corporations such as Microsoft, you first need to determine what kind of firewall your PC requires. It is likely that your firewall will already be set up and ready to use if your computer came with the Microsoft XP or Vista operating system installed. You must check that it is turned on and working properly.



You need to purchase your own software if you do not have one of these later operating systems. Even with Microsoft XP, you may still want to purchase separate firewall software since the XP version doesn't get great reviews.

The many products available, include Norton, AVG, and McAfee and can be purchased in store or downloaded from the internet. Even from the leading companies, there are plenty of low cost versions available, with prices varying according to the sophistication of the software.

Once in hand and prior to installing your firewall, you need to take a few things into consideration. The functions that you need, such as file and printing sharing, must not be blocked by the program. Settings can be configured during installation or at a later date using the documentation provided.

Access to certain parts of the Internet is limited by a firewall. It is important that you are familiar with how you connect because this can happen if you use a local area network or a router. It is difficult to access secured networks when you have installed a firewall.

You should liaise with a company's IT department before installing a firewall to a pc linked to their network as they may give you a specific settings configuration to allow you to connect to them.