A good security suite will actively scan every web page you visit and every file that comes down the line, to ensure that attacks are spotted and intercepted before they can do any harm – although this has an inevitable impact on performance. What’s harder to defend against is when a legitimate site is hacked, and starts serving up “drive-by downloads” to visitors. Your security suite might well include a browser plugin that automatically blacklists such sites, so you can’t end up downloading something nasty by accident. Some sites are deliberately designed to spread malware disguised as desirable downloads – so-called trojan attacks. One of the easiest ways to get infected by malware is to inadvertently visit a dodgy website. Nowadays, Windows comes with a very capable firewall of its own, and it’s quite common for the developers of security suites to leave this in place, rather than providing their own.Īdvanced users, who feel at home customising network rules, may prefer a bespoke firewall – but unless you fall into that category we’d suggest that the Windows firewall is likely to provide all the protection you need.ĭo I need protection while I’m browsing the web? It used to be the case that every security suite worth its salt would include a firewall, to keep out intruders, and to identify and block dodgy software that tries to “phone home”.