Betrayed by Your Firewall

Your firewall is your friend, right? It makes sure bad things stay out of your computer, good things stay in, and everyone keeps smiling.

Not so fast.

While a firewall is an absolute necessity it can also be an absolute pain in the...neck. In fact, firewalls cause a lot of the issues we hear about, including problems with printing, accessing the Internet, connecting to other computers on the network, making scanners and peripherals work, and on and on. What's worse, people almost never think that their firewall might be causing their troubles.

Before we dive into how to solve issues caused by firewalls, let's review some basics. If you're like most people, you have a software firewall on your computer. It's either part of Windows, or part of your "security suite" (called anti-virus software by normal people.) You may also have a hardware firewall in your router. If so, it works in combination with your software firewall to provide more powerful protection.

To make sure that your firewall is not stabbing you in the back, we recommend:

• Making sure you know exactly what firewalls are on your system. (Don't laugh...we could tell you stories.) One software firewall is a must. Two is a disaster. If you find that you have two software firewalls running, disable the Windows firewall by going into Control Panel > Windows Firewall...
• If you are having any of the difficulties listed above (or other random acts of aggression by your computer), try temporarily disabling your firewall. If the problem goes away a firewall rule can be created to allow that traffic. But remember, do not leave your firewall turned off for long.
• Always keeping in mind that there is a tradeoff between security and convenience. The more secure your system, the more you will have to put up with little nuisances, like pop-up windows asking if you really want to run a program.

If you need help managing a dysfunctional relationship with your firewall, give us a call. We can make sure you two are best friends for life.

Securely yours,

Darrell Gray
Networkistics, Inc.
IT consulting and support services
925.249.9980
www.networkistics.com