Hi Jenny
Some firewall does interrupt outgoing connections...for example zonealarm, when ever a connection is going out, it will ask if you want to allow this program to go out. So if you click yes and yes...you will have no problem.
Will having a firewall interupt my napster connection?
Yes, depending on the setting...for example, if you set a simple firewall that only blocks incoming connections...like a router that acts like a firewall, you have nothing to fear. but whenever a connection from outside coming in, it will block...you have to open up that port via router, or configiration in the software.
Will it have an affect when I upload my website?
When you upload files to your website that a connection going out...so if you allow it to connect outside you have no problem.
Will it interupt icq (chat programs)?
ICQ, depend what you are doing, sending a file, you need to let it use outgoing connection. But when someone send a message to you, you first have to connection to icq server, so the connection is made, therefore it will not affect you.
Does it take up a lot of space?
Zonealarm doesn't that much space, router firewall (hardware) doesn't take any space and other like cisco pix firewall.
Zonealarm is really good, and it's free for personal use...just make sure you set the configuration correctly.
There is also something call a Proxy Server...which is something liek a firewall too, this acts to check if you have more than one computer going out to use the internet connection. What a proxy server does is that it logs which computer is trying to access which site. It can also filter out sites, which prevent people from access sites that are prohibited by you. A router firewall only allows incoming connection to be blocked. Where as Pix firewall is similar to proxy but it does check at the ip stage where it checks every bit of information coming through.
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask
hui