Tech Tips

Firewall in XP SP2

Question: How can I control the settings of the firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2?

Answer: With Service Pack 2, the latest major upgrade to Windows XP, Microsoft has introduced several improvements to the Windows Firewall. A personal firewall is a program that prevents unauthorized connections to your computer over the internet, typically for security reasons.

With Service Pack 2 the Windows Firewall has gained the ability to allow or deny internet connections to specific programs, and also allows you to limit what types of connections that program can make. When a program attempts to accept incoming connections on your computer, Windows will pop up a message telling you that the Windows Firewall has blocked some features of the specified program and ask if you wish to continue blocking it. To let Windows block that program, click on the "Keep Blocking" button; to allow that program to make a connection, click on the "Unblock" button; if you want to see the same message the next time that program attempts to connect, click on the "Ask Me Later" button.

If you have wish to block or unblock a program, you can do so through the Security Center in your Control panel - click on the Start Button, then click on the words "Control Panel," then click on the "Security Center" icon. At the bottom of the Security Center window, click on the words "Windows Firewall" (underneath the words "Manage security settings for:"). In the window that appears, click on the tab with the word "Exceptions" on it and you will see a list of all programs that have been specifically blocked or unblocked - unblocked programs have a checkmark to the left of them, while blocked programs do not. To change the settings for a program in the list, click on the checkbox to the left of its name and, when you are finished, click the OK button.

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