A Complete Guide to the Microsoft Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall might not be the best firewall out there, but its one of the most commonly used. Since the Windows Firewall comes enabled on almost all Windows XP Home and Professional computers (enabled on computers with SP2 or later, unless the manufacturer disabled it), it's the one that people are most often trying to figure out how to configure.

The Microsoft Windows Firewall scores high when it comes to simplicity and ease of use. It only scores average in terms of features and customization. It does include most of features you would expect from a firewall, just not too many extra bells and whistles.

There are a few different ways to get to the Windows Firewall. The most simple and direct way is to go into the control panel and double click on the Windows Firewall icon. Or you could right click My Network Places and choose properties. From the window that pops up, right click the connection you want to configure the firewall for and hit properties. From this window, click on the advanced tab and choose settings button next to where it says Windows Firewall.

Now that you have the Windows Firewall control panel open you will see that you can choose to turn the firewall on or off. If you choose to turn it on you can also decide whether to allow exceptions or not. Exceptions are specific programs that you want to give access to the internet, regardless of the port or type of traffic they are sending.

Under the exceptions tab you can check or uncheck programs in the list to allow them access to the internet, or deny them access. You can check or uncheck the box at the bottom of the screen to display a notification when Windows Firewall blocks a program. This is a good option to have so you can see what is being blocked. If something is being blocked that you want to allow, you can simply add it to the exception list.

To add a program, hit the Add Program button and choose the program from the list. From the Add Programs window you can choose to change the scope of which computers you want to unblock the program or port from. This is more of an advanced option but may become necessary if you are connected to a network and need to be specific with who has access to what.

To add a port to the exception list, hit the Add Port button. Then simply add the name, port number and connection type (TCP or UDP).

You can also choose to edit any individual item in the list by selecting it and hitting the Edit button. There is also a delete button to delete an entry from the list.

Click the Advanced Tab and you will see several more settings. The first is the Network Connection Settings options. This shows all of the connections setup on your computer (wireless, LAN, VPN, dialup) and whether the Windows Firewall is enabled for the connection or not. You can select a particular connection, hit the Settings button and specify which services can communicate on the internet as well as specify ICMP settings.

You have a choice of creating a log file by clicking the Settings button in the Security Logging section. You can choose what to log, where to store the log and how big the log can get. This can be useful for troubleshooting purposes.

There are two other options on this screen. One is ICMP settings and the other is a button to restore the Windows Firewall settings to a default state. Use this if something isn't working properly after making changes. Be sure to document all of your custom settings before doing this.

There are many more resources online for Windows Firewall but hopefully this article will get you started in understanding how it works. Thanks for reading.