This is a bit of a remnant from the avast! 4.8 where Network Shield task was TCP/IP level filtering for exploits.
Today, it does the same thing and also filters all connections (on IP and URL level).
You don’t have to be on a local network (LAN) for this to work. It works even if you’re connected directly to the internet.
My question was a serious one - I wanted and expected a serious answer. If a term used in the functional description and the user documentation of a commercial product cannot be simply defined in response to a request for its meaning, then something is badly amiss.
That’s about as helpful as the silly faces.
That makes more sense, although I can’t say that I’m totally happy.
However, I do now suspect that the answer merely hinges on sloppy and careless language in the product descriptions and help files.
But if the obvious and definite separation of the terms “internet” and “network” in the following statements is intentional, and not just badly written documentation, I ask, again, what exactly - in this context - is “the network”?
“Web shield - protects your computer from viruses while using the internet…”,
“Network shield - monitors all network activity and blocks any threats that are detected on the network…”
Meanwhile, I shall leave that shield uninstalled as a possibly supernumerary component, with no sensible definition of purpose.
Network = ANY network, does not matter whether LAN or WAN. Leaving it uninstalled seriously lowers your level of protection, that shield is scanning things all the time, incl. DNS traffic etc.
lol … but well done, if sarcasm intended …anyway, I’m learning here that the Internet is no network or that it’s questionable >>> thanks for the heads up ;D
“if sarcasm intended…”
Nothing so mean as sarcasm (and I hope it wasn’t taken as such) - gentle irony, perhaps…
Other than that, I learned a long time ago that if you are not afraid to ask the stupid question that seems to have obvious answers, then dozens of others (in this case, perhaps hundreds) breathe sighs of relief and eagerly await an answer.
I got similarly confused, a little, when I upgraded from dialup to DSL. Because I now need an ethernet connection between my computer and my router-modem, I’m in effect on a one-station local network which in turn connects to the internet. The system now uses its onboard (Intel) network controller as part of the connection, rather than the internal modem.
My router has slots for 4 local connections … eventually I’ll get my wife’s computer, upstairs, hooked into it so she can have internet access too. Just how will be an interesting problem – because all walls and floors here have steel fire barriers, wireless is probably not an option, and a cable would have to zigzag so much that it would probably be pushing the limits of acceptable length.
I got around to making the link to the network controller, etc, and I can see where the terminology originates.
MikeBCda -
As doktornotor suggests, look to power line networking.
My son has his and his wife’s systems of three, sometimes four, PCs and peripherals linked and fed completely by this method.