A hardware firewall is how you play ball with hackers.
It puts an entire piece of equipment who's only mission in life is to pass thru data you want and keep out data you don't want.
I run multiple networks. But my favorite one is where I have an entire Linux computer acting as a firewall. Hell, sometimes, I can't even get into it. LOL
Generally, it decides what to allow by decided whether or not someone from the internal network requested something from the site it's coming from. Like, if you are surfing site ihub.com, and all the sudden a request comes into the network from 205.111.11.11 .... the Linux says "Ah, no thank you." and simply drops the requests. I don't make mine fire back a reply of denial to the scanners. I'd rather the scanner assume that nothing exists, then "something just denying it."
A lot of software-based firewalls aren't great because of the computer they are sitting on, not necessarily the software themselves. Programs and windows components open up ports that probably shouldn't be opened and scanners will pick that up. The advantage of having a router or Linux box sitting in front is that it has 1-2 ports open and those are filtered...no other software screwing with ports.
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