[SOLVED] Help please

[Andy-H]

I am doing an assignment for my National Diploma in IT course (due last year lol), anyhow, the assignment is on hardware and I have been asked to write a detailed comparison with advantages/disadvanteges on windows firewall vs (linux) firestarter. I have been google searching Firestarter vs Windows Firewall for about half an hour with no luck. Can anyone point me in the right direction of where to find advantages / disadvantages of the two.

 

Any help GREATLY appreciated.

[Daniel0]

Aren't you the person who is supposed to be making the comparison based on e.g. what features they provide?

[corbin]

XP style Windows firewall or Vista?  Because a good point to bring up if focusing on the XP version would be that it had no outgoing filters.

[Andy-H]

Thanks And I dont have a clue, in my assignment breif it just says windows firewall.

 

Write a brief description of how a utility differs from a program. Then write a detailed description of the following utilities. You should start with an overview of each utility (for example how does a firewall work?) you then have to give details about each example – highlighting their benefits and disadvantages.   

Firewall

Examples: Firestarter / Windows Firewall

 

[Andy-H]

Firewall

A firewall is a barrier within a network that will only allow packets (data) to pass through that have been authorised; it can be installed by either hardware, software or a combination of both. You can also control which ports you wish to allow data to transfer through. A firewalls main function is to inspect the traffic travelling through a network and deny or permit passage based on a set of rules.

The default firewall used by machines running on a Windows operating system is Windows Firewall, it is a personal firewall included with Windows XP and later versions.

 

Thats what I have so far, chances are most of it is complete bulls**t lol I am not very good at this kind of stuff since my hardware tutor got fired and a new one came in and got fired too lol

[corbin]

Uh, I don't see anywhere in there that you're supposed to compare A to B.

 

 

I would interpret that as meaning that you must give upsides/downsides to A and upsides/downsides to B, which will in essence be a comparison, but not a direct one.

[Andy-H]

Yes, I just assumed comparisons of the two would be most effective as there is nothing to standardise an 'average' firewall by which to decide what would be an advantage or disadvantage of one or the other, if that makes any sense lol

[waynew]

Provide the pros and cons of each one and the reader should be able to make his or her own comparison.

[Andy-H]

ok will do, still not found any really usefull material on this one but nvm. Thanks for the help everyone.

[Andy-H]

Windows Firewall is a firewall utility that comes bundled with Microsoft’s Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista operating systems. It is a personal firewall and as with most Microsoft software, it is not open source and can not be edited. Not only does it take care of filtering incoming data but it also takes care of outgoing data, it works with your router and probes every network data packet deciding weather or not to forward it to it’s destination. Windows firewall protects your computer in the following ways:

• Denying Remote Login.

• Preventing SMTP session hijacking.

• Scanning E-mail bombs that carry viruses and other malware.

• Not allowing suspicious Macros to run on PC.

• Keeping track of Virus, Spam and Trojans.

• Deleting / blocking risk ware.

 

Everyone think that sound's OK?

[.josh]

You also need to include how firewalls will ultimately be mankind's downfall, when we fail to shut down the AI we will eventually spawn, because of a firewall blocking access.

 

Also, include this picture for reference.  It doesn't really have anything to do with AI taking over the world, but it's a damn cool picture.  Bonus points for making an analogy out of it.

 

[Andy-H]

Lol, thanks. I'll draw up a nice little diagram

 

//Edit: Scrap that, I'll nick one and Harvard reference it =P