Name some examples of attacks that firewalls help prevent?
 

Not really a linux-specific question but I'll go for it anyways:
So say I have a personal computer at home and disable my firewall, in which way could my machine be compromised in that case and how? Include exact descriptions including port numbers, protocol names etc.

It's easier to look in your logs, and see what is being blocked. They are the attacks. My sshd was open to the internet for a while, until I noticed my logs filling with failed login attempts from typical windows user names. Needless to say, it's fixed.

You can research this stuff yourself. Why ask us to write it out for you?

We aren't here to do your homework for you, and it reads like you just pasted in the question at the end...

Examples like this are just what I'm looking for.

This is not homework, purely for my own interest. If you don't feel like writing anything, please don't.
Maybe my googling skills just plain suck but all I can dig up are sentences like this: "You can use a firewall to protect your home network and family from offensive Web sites and potential hackers."

What type of firewall are we talking about, a hardware appliance or the software firewall on your computer? As far as I am concerned for a home network if any attack is getting to the software firewall running on your PC it has already gotten too far.

Either way a firewall will lock down all access (or limit access to what you allow) thus making it much more difficult for any of the numerous attacks out there. There are so many possible threats in existence it is impossible to list them all. Plus many of them will be dependent on what services you have running as most attacks depend is actually running. One of the biggest things a firewall can do is prevent an attacker from fingerprinting your PC to find out how to attack further.

Irregardless of whether your post is for personal interest or for homework, it reads like a demand, not a topic for discussion and not a question being asked. Telling someone, especially someone who has made significantly more contribution to this forum than you have, to not respond to your queries and statements because you don't like what they have to say is both pretentious and rude. Perhaps you should consider editing and rephrasing your question or discussion topic as you may get more favorable responses. I also agree with acid_kewpie that your post reads like it is straight out of a text book or homework assignment.

Sorry, but:
is VERY much a homework-type question. If this was for your own interests, you wouldn't need port numbers, protocols, and EXACT descriptions of different attacks. Wikipedia has good explanations of firewalls, how they protect you, different types, etc.

I agree this reads just like homework (and some quick googling adds weight to that observation). There's nothing wrong with asking for help with your homework here on LQ, but the manner in which this particular post was created is such that you're essentially asking us to do your homework for you. That's not in the spirit of LQ, and it's the reason why I'm putting an end to this thread. Feel free to contact me or any other LQ moderator via email if you wish to discuss this matter further.