Do You Need a Firewall If You Have Installed Antivirus Software

Firewalls and antivirus software can be installed independently although they come often together in the same software package. A number of years ago, most anti virus tools do not include the firewall as a standard option but nowadays the firewall and the anti virus protection goes hand-in-hand. Most of us would not imagine having just a anti virus software without a firewall, however they are users whom are asking why they must still install the firewall even though they already have an antivirus software which regularly scans for any suspicious process running on their system. Their common concern is the increase of system resources being used and also the inconveniences that the firewall can create whenever they are installing new software that assesses the Internet.

The firewall performs a very different function versus the antivirus software suite. You could say that the antivirus is the vacuum cleaner in the house while the firewall is the main door. You as the owner of the system owns the key to the main door and chooses which software or processes can send or receive data from the external world.
Without the firewall, a computer system with only an antivirus software installed, would not be able to block strange traffic coming through its numerous ports. The antivirus would be required to constantly detect and delete viruses. Whereas using a firewall, much of the unwanted traffic would be blocked and there would be lesser need for the antivirus software to wake and destroy the virus or Trojans. This in turn reduces the overhead of system resources as well.

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