1. A method for protecting a computer during a boot operation of an operating system of the computer, the method comprising: (i) loading a security profile, comprising packet inspection rules, into the memory of the computer during an early stage of the boot operation of the operating system of the computer when kernel mode services are available and before user mode services are initialized; and (ii) inspecting packets, transmitted to or from the computer by a computer network, during the early stage of the boot operation of the operating system according to the inspection rules.