Hardware firewalls can be purchased as a stand-alone product but more recently, hardware firewalls are typically found in broadband routers and should be considered an important part of your system and network set-up, especially for anyone on a broadband connection. Generally, these options are overlooked by amateurs. Hardware firewalls can be effective with little or no configuration, and they can protect every system on a local network. Most hardware firewalls will have a minimum of four network ports to connect other computers, but for larger networks, wireless and business networking firewall solutions are available.
Software Firewalls
For individual home users, the most popular firewall choice is a software firewall. Software firewalls are installed on your computer (like any software) and you can customize it, allowing you some control over its function and protection features. A software firewall will protect your computer from outside attempts to control or gain access your computer, and, depending on your choice of software firewall, it could also provide protection against the most common Trojan programs or e-mail worms. Many software firewalls have user-defined controls for setting up safe file and printer sharing and to block unsafe applications from running on your system. Additionally, software firewalls may also incorporate privacy controls, web filtering and more. The downside to software firewalls is that they will only protect the computer they are installed on, not a network, so each computer will need to have a software firewall installed on it.