What’s the difference between a firewall and an antivirus?
What’s the difference between a firewall and an antivirus?
752
22-Jan-2021
Updated on 11-Jan-2025
Khushi Singh
11-Jan-2025The major dissimilarity between the two is in their functions and ways of operations within the system.
A firewall in general is a wall between an internal network which includes your computers and other networks that are external and include the internet. They also regulate the flow of traffic both inbound and outbound in accordance with predefined security parameters, it denies access to your system or networks by unauthorized persons. Firewalls are protective tools for controlling and managing the security of networks and prosecuting attacks.
An antivirus, on the other hand, guards your system from malicious software (virus, worm, Trojan etc.) that is already present in your computer. The programs run through a list of known viruses, deletes it from your files/programs and protect the system from a possible future virus scan.
In other words, firewalls are aimed at preventing unauthorized access to your network traffic, while antivirus is aimed at preventing bad files already on your system or trying to get to it from doing harm. Both support each other to give overall security.