Can someone cite the steps in configuring firewall in Microsoft XP, and addition; I want to block all the ports which are not required and important.
To examine and configure your firewall settings, follow these steps:
Click Start, click Run, type wscui.cpl and then click OK.
In Windows Security Center, click Windows Firewall.
Windows Firewall includes the following tabs:
General
Exceptions
Advanced
The General tab includes the following settings:
On (recommended)
Don't allow exceptions
Off (not recommended)
On (recommended). This is the default setting (with Don't allow exceptions not selected).
Don't allow exceptions. When this check box is selected, the firewall is placed into On With No Exceptions mode which blocks all unsolicited requests to connect to your computer. This includes requests to programs or services that you select on the Exceptions tab. Use the Don't allow exceptions setting when you need maximum protection for your computer, such as when you connect to a public network in a hotel or airport, or when a vulnerability is discovered and either you have not had time to download a Hotfix for your computer or a Hotfix is unavailable.
After you have installed the latest operating system service packs and software updates, you can restore normal Internet functionality by returning the operational mode to On with Don't allow exceptions cleared.
Off (not recommended). Turning off Windows Firewall might make your computer more vulnerable to damage from viruses, worms, or intruders.
This work around may make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. Be careful.
Its easy to configure your windows firewall you just have to go to start, then in windows security center you can click windows firewall, there are 3 tabs on windows firewall, namely general tab, exceptions tab,and advance tab. But before you do that you must know what is a firewall first, according to Microsoft, firewall is used to make your computer more secure, it restrict the information that comes from another computers and give you more control over the data that you want to accept or rejects on your computer system.
And also firewall serve as a wall as the name suggest, it blocks against people or programs like virus and worms that will try to enter on your system without you knowing about it. You can think that this firewall is your barrier against data or information that you don't need because it will check all the information that you can get from the internet or other computers depending on your firewall settings.
On the general tab you can choose to be on,don't allow exceptions or off.
When you use don't allow exceptions, your windows firewall will block all the request to connect to your computer from the internet or from other computers.
While when you use the exceptions tab you can add or choose any program that you permit to connect to your computer.
And lastly the advanced tab will let you do specific connections, logging and default settings.
