Sei sulla pagina 1di 5

How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP

Page 1 of 5

bleepingcomputer.com
Home Forums Downloads Tutorials Startup List Virus Removal Uninstall List File Database Glossary

Welcome Guest (Log In | Create Account)


Welcome Guide

New Member? Join for free.


Chat Help Search RSS

Free VPN Download


www.spotflux.com Fast, Secure, Unlimited VPN. 100% Free. Download Now
Home > Computer Tutorials > Windows XP Tutorials > How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP

How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP


By Lawrence Abrams on March 24, 2004 | Last Updated: December 13, 2012 | Read 82,600 times.
0 Like 2 0

Search for a Tutorial

Search

Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. Introduction How to enable or disable the Windows Firewall in XP How to manage exceptions to the Windows Firewall Conclusion

Tutorials Navigation
Tutorials Home New Tutorials Popular Tutorials RSS Feed

Introduction Windows XP comes with a built-in firewall called Windows Firewall. For people who do not want to spend the money on a commercial software firewall, this firewall will be more than enough to protect your computer. By default, Windows Firewall disables all incoming traffic to your computer, including ICMP traffic, which consists of pings. Just like all other firewall's you can specify which services/ports you would like to have open so that other computers can connect to yours. This will allow you to open up ports for services like web servers, mail servers, game servers, etc. Windows Firewall comes configured with basic services that you can enable to be opened, and you also have the ability to add other rules for incoming traffic that are not already configured. If you would like, you also have the ability to enable incoming ICMP traffic, so that you can ping and traceroute to your computer. How to Enable od Disable the Windows Firewall in XP Note: In order to enable the Windows Firewall you must be logged in as an Administrator. Click on the Start button and then click on Run. In the Open field, type control and press OK. This will launch the control panel. If you see a selection similar to Figure 1, click on Switch to Classic View option which is indicated by the red arrow in the figure below.

Most Popular Tutorials


How to start Windows in Safe Mode How to remove a Trojan, Virus, Worm, or other Malware How to see hidden files in Windows HijackThis Tutorial - How to use HijackThis to remove Browser Hijackers & Spyware How to show hidden files in Windows 7

Figure 1: Control Panel in Category View After clicking on classic view you should now see a screen that looks like Figure 2. You will then want to double click on Windows Firewall as shown in the image below.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-configure-windows-xp-firewall/

2/25/2013

How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP

Page 2 of 5

Figure 2. Control Panel in Classic Mode After double clicking on Windows Firewall icon, you will be presented with the Windows Firewall control panel that allows you to configure the settings for the firewall.

Figure 3. Windows Firewall To enable the firewall, simply make sure the On (recommended) option is selected. If you wish to disable the firewall, simply select the Off (not recommended) option. You will also notice that there is a checkbox labeled Don't allow exceptions . If this option is checked then any rules, or exceptions, that you create to allow outside traffic to reach your computer will be disabled. Exceptions will be explained in more detail in the following section. How to manage exceptions to the Windows Firewall When the Windows Firewall is enabled it will not allow any remote computer connect to yours. There are situations, though, that you may wish to allow a remote computer connect to yours such as if you are running a web server, sharing files or printers on your computer, using certain P2P programs, or running other services that require remote connections to work. To allow these types of connections we need to enable them as exceptions in the Windows Firewall. For those of you who are familiar with configuring hardware firewalls, this is similar to port forwarding. To manage your exceptions you need to open the Windows Firewall as described in the previous section. Once the Windows Firewall control panel is open you should click on the Exceptions tab. This will change the screen to one that looks similar to the one below.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-configure-windows-xp-firewall/

2/25/2013

How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP

Page 3 of 5

Figure 4. Windows Firewall Exceptions Screen In this screen you can select predefined services that you would like to enable so that remote computers can access them. If you do not plan on allowing any remote computer to access yours, please make sure there are no options checked. When adding exceptions you have two ways of doing it. The first method is to add a program that you would like remote computers to access by clicking on the Add Program... button. Doing this will tell Windows Firewall to allow remote connections to any ports that the program uses. The second, and safer, option is to instead only add specific TCP/UDP ports that you require to be connected to by using the Add Port button. When you click on the Add Port button a new dialog box will open that allows you to configure the necessary information for the exception as shown below.

Figure 5. Add a Port In the Add a Port dialog box, you should give a descriptive title to the exception and then enter the port that needs to be opened. You should then select TCP or UDP depending on what type of port it is. If you need to open a port for both TCP and UDP, you will need to create two separate exceptions where one is for UDP and the other is for TCP. If you are not sure what port should be opened to allow your applications to work, you should check the documentation that came with your program. As an example, let's create an exception that allows your computer to act as a web server that can be reached by other computers. The default configuration for a web server is for it to listen for connections on TCP port 80. To do this we would create an exception as shown below:

Figure 6. Creating an exception for the http protocol As you can see in the image above, we have created an exception called WWW that allows TCP port 80, which is the port for a web server, to be connected to by remote computers. Once you press the OK button, the exception will be added and automatically checked as shown in the image below.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-configure-windows-xp-firewall/

2/25/2013

How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP

Page 4 of 5

Figure 7. The WWW Exception enabled in Windows Firewall As you can see the new WWW exception has been created and automatically enabled by Windows Firewall. You can then press the OK button to exit the Windows Firewall control panel. One thing to remember is that when working with exceptions, if you have the Don't allow exceptions checkbox checked in the General settings tab of the Windows Firewall, all of your exceptions will be disabled until you uncheck that box. Conclusion As you can see, you have a fairly powerful firewall at your disposal for absolutely free. There are some shortcomings, such as not monitoring outbound connections, but it will do the job of securing your computer from hackers on the Internet. If you have any questions on how to use the Windows XP Firewall, please ask us in the AntiVirus, Firewall and Privacy Products and Protection Methods forum. Revision Information: 01/12/11: Updated the tutorial to use the most relevant information and images. Ads by Google

WAF for IIS 6 / 7.x / 8.0 Scan both GET and POST data, Try it, best WAF for your IIS site.www.tsmst.com

Users who read this also read:


Understanding and Using Firewalls
The Internet is a scary place. Criminals on the Internet have the ability to hide behind their computers, or even other peoples computers, while they attempt to break into your computer to steal personal information or to use it for their own purposes. To make matters worse, there always seems to be a security hole in your software or operating system that is not fixed fast enough that could ...

Windows Forensics: Have I been Hacked?


One of the top questions I see on forums is "How do I know if I have been hacked?". When something strange occurs on a computer such as programs shutting down on their own, your mouse moving by itself, or your CD constantly opening and closing on its own, the first thing that people think is that they have been hacked. In the vast majority of cases there is a non-malicious explanation ...

How to backup and restore your data using Cobian Backup


As many of you know, today's digital world comes with a lot of things that make our daily life easier. However, as time goes on you rely more and more on the information stored on your PC. No one is completely safe from power outages, corrupt hard disks, an infected system through a backdoor or Trojan, or even a fire. To make sure that a computer can easily be restored to a previous point, ...

Safely Connecting a Computer to the Internet


It is exciting to get a new computer. Think of all the applications and games you can now run, the music you can store, and the pictures you can share with friends. Your new computer is delivered, you quickly unpack it, and start plugging it all in. The computer boots up, the desktop appears, and just by clicking on your web browser icon you are suddenly connected to the wide world of the Internet ...

How to use Vista's Complete PC Backup and Restore utility


Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise come with a more advanced backup and restore utility called Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore. This program allows you to create an entire backup of your computer that can be used to restore your computer in the case of system-wide failure. Unlike the standard backup and restore feature that comes with all the versions of Windows Vista, Windows ...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-configure-windows-xp-firewall/

2/25/2013

How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP

Page 5 of 5

Comments: <:nav id=global-nav>

0 comments
Leave a message...

Discussion

Community

Share

<:section id=conversation data-role="main">

No one has commented yet.

<:section style="DISPLAY: none" id=community data-role="main">

Top Discussions on BleepingComputer.com


blog comments powered by Disqus

Top Commenters

This article is published and created for http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/, otherwise known as Bleeping Computer , and is covered by all copyright laws. All articles on this website are copyright 2003-2013 by Bleeping Computer, LLC. All right reserved. Use of these articles is limited to viewing and printing for personal use only. If you would like to use this material or portions of this material for other purposes you must receive explicit permission from Bleeping Computer before reprinting or redistributing this article in any medium.

Advertise |About Us |User Agreement |Privacy Policy |Contact Us |Sitemap |Chat |Tutorials |Uninstall List Tech Support Forums |The Computer Glossary |RSS Feeds |Startups |The File Database |Virus Removal Guides |Downloads

2003-2013 All Rights Reserved Bleeping Computer LLC.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-configure-windows-xp-firewall/

2/25/2013

Potrebbero piacerti anche