Personal Firewall

Willamette provides a campus firewall that protects all computers on the campus network from most kinds of Internet attacks and scans. However, we provide no protection between individual computers within the campus network.

Installing a personal firewall is one way to protect your computer from other Willamette users or from hostile applications. Microsoft Windows XP and Apple Macintosh OS X both have built-in firewalls that are easy to use.

There is also third-party firewall software available, such as ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm Basic, free for personal use. Third-party products are more sophisticated than the firewalls found natively in Windows XP and Mac OS X. It is recommended that you have a moderate understanding of computer networks in order to use third-party firewall software effectively.

If you choose to run a personal firewall, you should be aware that some applications will not function properly, especially those applications that share information over a network.

The WITS Help Desk can provide some help with activating or deactivating the firewalls that are built into Windows XP and Mac OS X. We are unable to offer any support for third-party firewalls, or for configuring a firewall to work properly with a particular application. If you need assistance getting an application to work with your firewall, you should contact the vendor of the application you are having problems with.