To Firewall or Not to Firewall - That Really IS The Question

In my years working as an IT support specialist, one of the biggest frustrations of typical internet users is that the firewall software that they have installed breaks?their access to the internet. Especially dial up users.

Whether its Norton Internet Security, McAfees Security Center or any other third party firewall software, the individual settings for that software can (and eventually will) completely shutdown your access to the internet.

The most common symptoms of this is getting the page cannot be displayed?message in Internet Explorer or a timeout?error message in Outlook Express or Outlook.

What typically happens is that the firewall software will do an automated update (especially if it is part of a suite? an antivirus and firewall software combination, for example). The update will prompt a restart of the computer, and upon restarting, you wont be able to access the internet or receive email.

A firewall is an important part of system protection. Especially for a person who uses a dial up connection. It blocks the attempts of anyone on the Internet trying to connect to or access your system without your permission. The firewall should also ask for your permissionwhich you can grant permanently by establishing an exceptionto allow connections you need for programs such as email, instant messenging or gaming. In addition, they can provide some protection against viruses and Trojans.

However, when your firewall blocks your ability to access the internet, then its overstepped its usefulness. If you cant get to any websites or receive emails and you arent sure what is happening, heres what to doshort of calling your ISPs technical support or turning off the firewall completely.

Windows Firewall
Included in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, Microsoft has a built-in application called Windows Firewall. By default, this firewall is turned on when installation of SP 2 is completed.

To access Windows Firewall, go to the Start menu, open the Control Panel, and click Windows Firewall.

If Windows Firewall is blocking Internet Explorer, you might receive a security alert indicating such is the case. If so, click Unblock in this dialog box, and your problem should be solved.

However, if you cant use Internet Explorer and dont receive a security alert, a better course of action is to open Windows Security Centerit is best to make sure you are logged on as an administrator when doing thisand click the Windows Firewall link so you can manage its security settings.

In Windows Firewall, click the Exceptions tab. This displays the list of programs and services that Windows Firewall will not block. If Internet Explorer is not listed, click the Add Program button and use the Browse button to find it. (The file Iexplore.exe should be located in C:PROGRAM FILESINTERNET EXPLORER.) Highlight it and click OK, then click OK once more.

Third-Party Firewalls
If youve installed another firewall, the installation process more than likely will ask you to turn off Windows Firewall, or it may automatically disable Windows Firewall.

As mentioned, installing a third-party firewall, even if its just an incoming firewall that is part of another program, will result in disabling Windows Firewall. (If this doesnt happen automatically, or if you arent prompted to do so, you should disable Windows Firewall because in most cases its best to have just one firewall running at a time.) Once the firewall is installed and activated, if you encounter a problem using IE, check the security settings.

I wont go into changing specific settings within Norton or McAfee since that is an article all by itself. Suffice it to say that the help?area of the software itself should be fairly helpful.

The easiest way to find out if your firewall software is causing the problem is to right click on the program icon in the system tray of your taskbar and disabling or turning it off completely and see if that solves the problem.

High Speed Connections
Typically, users who access the internet through a high speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection dont have to concern themselves as much with firewall software. The reason for this is that a typical DSL connection involves the use of a modem, which acts as a DHCP server. This modem acts as a hardware firewall using NAT (Network Address Translation). Put simply, the computer you are using is assigned a private IP address (lets say 192.168.0.5) and the modem is using an IP address that is assigned by your ISP.

Lets say you have an instance of Internet Explorer open and you type www.yahoo.com?into the address bar. The computer will send a message to the DSL modem requesting the information from the yahoo website. The DSL modem will relay that request to the web server at yahoo.com and then receive a reply. Once this reply is received, the modem will determine what computer (yours...192.168.0.5) sent the request, and it will forward the information from yahoo to it. This all happens in a matter of seconds.

I would recommend that users of Cable connections use some sort of firewall software since the computer they are using is directly connected to the internet. Unless of course you have more than one computer in the home and you are using a router.

Update Your Virus Protection
If a firewall detects a security risk, such as one posed by a virus or worm, it might prevent a user from going online through IE. This is why its very important to keep your antivirus program updated. When you update your antivirus program, you are staying on top of the virus definitions the program uses to identify the latest virus threats.

Of course, its ideal to do this on a regular basis so that your system does not get infected. But if you find access to IE blocked and tweaking the settings in your firewall doesnt work, the problem might actually be a virus. One solution is to go online with a different computer and visit the Web site of the manufacturer of your antivirus program. Download the latest definitions to a CD and then insert the disc into the computer with the nonfunctioning IE.

Once you load the new definitions, initialize a full-system scan with your antivirus program and then use a repair wizard or similarly named tool to fix any security risks that are found. Restart your system, and you should be able to launch IE.

Ron Barrett is the owner of Ron's Computer Service. You can subscribe to his weekly newsletter Bits-n-Bytes: Decoding the Digital World by sending an email to Bits-n-Bytes. He is a Certified Help Desk Analyst, CompTIA A+ Certified and has earned a Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology. He has worked in several companies in the role of help desk analyst, desk top support and network/email administrator. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his wife and three boys, working around the house and trying to perfect his golf swing.

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