Print
Discuss
Send to friend
Given the flack the company has taken over security and the number of holes that have been found over the years in various Microsoft products, it's hardly surprising Windows XP includes a firewall. It's not immediately obvious - you turn it on from the Advanced properties tab of a network connection by ticking a box, and that's more or less it. It can also be enabled by the Network SetupWizard, but there's not much in the way of configuration options.
Whether it's fear of being seen to encroach on another area of third-party utilities or lack of interest, it's still a mystery the firewall doesn't have a fancier interface. The advanced settings offer three simple tabs - Services, Security Logging and ICMP.
The middle one turns on logging to a text file, while the other two provide a range of tick boxes for specific items, such as Web Server, Remote Desktop, FTP Server or ICMP echo request.While the net savvy will understand, it's not exactly plain English. For novice users, the application-based approach taken by most of the competition is easier to understand. On the services tab, you can add extra if you need to ? but you?ll have to understand what port numbers are being
The logging is not for the novice, either. Frankly, it's of such a quantity that it's debatable whether it's for anybody, except the die-hard network analyst. It's a simple text file with a header line at the top, then rows and rows of raw information.
All this is arguably beside the point, since it does the job and blocks traffic quite happily. But if you want to do things that aren?t covered, then you'll have to learn fast. Since there's no network detection as such, file sharing was blocked on the local network. And there's no control of outgoing connections should your machine be infected with a Trojan or worm.
Contact: Microsoft
www.microsoft.com
Price:
Included with Windows XP
System requirements:
N/A - included withWindows XP
See also:
The latest wave of cyber-crimes and acts of vandalism have demonstrated once again that many systems are still vulnerable to attack. 15 Apr 2004
Symantec offers a full security package with virus and spam controls. 09 Mar 2004
Use this firewall package to filter ads based on portions of their URLs. 09 Mar 2004
A firewall package with ebay password protection - shielding you from scammers. 08 Mar 2004
A good choice of firewall for owners of other McAfee products as it will integrate well. 08 Mar 2004
This firewall package will stop any unknown programs from launching, not just net-based ones. 08 Mar 2004
A firewall from Computer Associates' based on the code created by Zone Labs. 08 Mar 2004All Privacy Tools
del.icio.us
Digg this
reddit!
