Free Firewalls

A firewall offers important security protection, but only if it's configured properly and used appropriately. Any decent firewall should offer basic NAT protection. Beyond that, mileage may vary. For example, a permission-based firewall that gives carte blanche to Internet connecting applications will not be as effective as a firewall that seeks permission each time. However, inexperienced users who may not understand firewall alerts may need to sacrifice a bit of security in exchange for ease of use. To help decide, here's a list of the best free firewall apps for Windows.