Activate Windows XP Fire Wall and learn how to use it, after all it’s Free Firewall ProtectionActivate Windows XP Fire Wall Article Firstly lets not get confused when I talk about the Windows XP firewall , there are in effect two of them. To begin with if you are looking to install the Service Pack Firewall , you’ll first have to install Windows XP service pack 2 , please see link at bottom of page. If you are unsure as to whether you have XP Service pack 2 installed , Go to the start menu / Run and type Winmsd , this will then tell you under summary. When installed you should not need to activate windows XP fire wall, as a default it will already be active. It also comes with pretty good default settings. activate windows XP fire wall article You can access the Firewall through Control panels so , Control Panels / Windows Firewall.
General Tab
From the main Windows Firewall screen we have several choices , On and Off are self explanatory. The other option Don't allow exceptions basically means if you setup any exceptions or programs / ports from the exceptions tab , " Don't allow exceptions " will override this when ticked. Exceptions Tab
Of course the access of all these programs are controlled by the " Don't allow exceptions " option we discussed on the General Tab. As your computer will no doubt have many different applications to mine your list will be different. If you want to give access to another application you only need to select " Add Program " now you just need to select the application from the list or browse to it's location. You can also change port number etc by using " Edit " If you wish to give access to a port rather than a Program , Select " Add Port " activate windows XP fire wall article
From the Add port & Change Scope screens we can give access to specific ports , specific IP addresses, or ranges of IP addresses, it's very flexible , so if you have a number of computers which require access to your computer, you can easily give access as one rule as opposed to a rule for each. The reason for a fire wall to monitor out going connections these days is due to virus's , spyware and other dubious applications, which if present on your computer, and are allowed to access the internet may pass on details such as keystrokes, which could be confidential information such as banking details etc. activate windows XP fire wall article Advanced Tab
The advanced Tab show us all of the current network connections on the computer as you can see on the above screen there are three of them. The local Area Connection and Speedy are both ticked , this means that the Firewall is active and monitoring these two connections. The Wireless Network Connection is not ticked so no Firewall rules apply here. If you click on the Settings box , you can customize the settings for each connection. It will give you a standard list of services, but you can add and remove items from this. activate windows XP fire wall article Note ..Security Logging Keeping a log is always interesting as it give you a clearer picture of what is going on behind your firewall. To set this up select Settings from the Security Logging sub heading and specify a location for the file. ICMP " Internet Control Message Protocol If you are on a network this is an easy way to share network information such as status and errors. Restore Defaults Lastly we have the play it safe button " Restore defaults " . Using the Window XP firewall is not child's play , but if you stick with it, it is a good piece of software, that really is worth getting to grips with. If you find issues after playing with the settings, just hit the " Restore Defaults " button. You really can't mess anything up. install and activate windows XP fire wall it's free firewall protection , get to grips with the window XP firewall XP home edition fire wall . Can't Find What you're Looking for? Checkout our article which covers where to download from, installing and what else it comes with it.
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