12 Difference Between Firewall And Antivirus

1. Firewall : Also known as a 'packet filter'. Basically, software which monitors network traffic and connection attempts into and out of a network or computer and determines whether or not to allow it to pass.  2. Implemented in FIREWALL: Both hardware and software ANTIVIRUS: Software only 3. Antivirus (AV) software is a resident detective. AV software finds and neutralizes malicious software on your computer.  4. Antivirus: It detects these kinds of harmful programs that are already installed on your computer or about to be installed. 5. Operations performed: FIREWALL: Monitoring and Filtering (Specifically IP filtering) ANTIVIRUS: Scanning of infected files and software. 6. Most common example of a firewall software is the Windows Firewall in Windows 7. 7. A firewall can be thought of as a screen or sieve that categorically strains out potentially harmful data. 8. Inspection of attack is based on Firewall: Incoming packets Antivirus: Malicious software residing on a computer 9. A Firewall protects infected and malicious software and packets from entering your system. The antivirus is the next-step protection which will remove the infected files and software from your PC and network. 10. Counter attacks: Firewall: IP spoofing and routing attacks. Antivirus: No counter attacks are possible once a malware has removed.