What is the point of windows firewall?

When I start a game that has not yet been allowed by Windows Firewall, the game will start anyway and run, then it is not until after playing the game and closing it that I see the "windows firewall" window that is asking me if I want to allow access to that game or keep blocking it. If windows firewall really worked, wouldn't it actually block the game from running?

yep tis garbadge.. was aware of that a LONG time agao.. i recommend an independant firewall. or one that comes in a suite such as f-secure or norton person firewall.

If you have a router then technically you dont need a software firewall because it will do a MUCH better job than anything else.

Which one is better zone alarm or comodo(free one)?Zillaschool

When I start a game that has not yet been allowed by Windows Firewall, the game will start anyway and run, then it is not until after playing the game and closing it that I see the "windows firewall" window that is asking me if I want to allow access to that game or keep blocking it. If windows firewall really worked, wouldn't it actually block the game from running?

chocobo7000

a firewall won't stop anything on your pc from running, what it will do is prevent it from making and receiving outside/online connections.. so, unless that's an on-line multiplayer game you had fired up, it most likely did what it was made to do..

[QUOTE="chocobo7000"]

When I start a game that has not yet been allowed by Windows Firewall, the game will start anyway and run, then it is not until after playing the game and closing it that I see the "windows firewall" window that is asking me if I want to allow access to that game or keep blocking it. If windows firewall really worked, wouldn't it actually block the game from running?

BLKR4330

a firewall won't stop anything on your pc from running, what it will do is prevent it from making and receiving outside/online connections.. so, unless that's an on-line multiplayer game you had fired up, it most likely did what it was made to do..

You peoples here have no ideas wat u r talking about, except that CCNA brah, I gots one too.

Windows firewall asks on the program, if you want to allow incoming connections! Not outbound ones. So if you host a server, but have windows firewall block it, then you can't host. Windows firewall comes with Windows because not everyone has a router, so it blocks ports.

Windows firewall is the best free firewall, comodo free cannot let you open passive ports, Windows one does.
It's also very easy to use to specifiy what ports or programs you want to have access.

I will be honest and say I like it more than iptables, because uh... that gets messy real quick.

[QUOTE="chocobo7000"]

When I start a game that has not yet been allowed by Windows Firewall, the game will start anyway and run, then it is not until after playing the game and closing it that I see the "windows firewall" window that is asking me if I want to allow access to that game or keep blocking it. If windows firewall really worked, wouldn't it actually block the game from running?

BLKR4330

a firewall won't stop anything on your pc from running, what it will do is prevent it from making and receiving outside/online connections.. so, unless that's an on-line multiplayer game you had fired up, it most likely did what it was made to do..

As a systems administrator and holder of a valid CCNA qualification I can say with some authority the Windows firewall is great when used along side a router which also has its own firewall, you really shouldn't need another third party firewall app which are often overly intrusive and cause more problems than they're worth, at the end of the day a firewalls a firewall and I've never seen Windows own firewall fail either at home or where I've worked. NB Even if you have a firewall on your router using a software firewall is still a good idea on multi machine networks to stop the spread of viruses, your router generally won't stop cross domain virus/worm traffic, Windows firewall will ;)Chickenesta

[QUOTE="Chickenesta"]As a systems administrator and holder of a valid CCNA qualification I can say with some authority the Windows firewall is great when used along side a router which also has its own firewall, you really shouldn't need another third party firewall app which are often overly intrusive and cause more problems than they're worth, at the end of the day a firewalls a firewall and I've never seen Windows own firewall fail either at home or where I've worked. NB Even if you have a firewall on your router using a software firewall is still a good idea on multi machine networks to stop the spread of viruses, your router generally won't stop cross domain virus/worm traffic, Windows firewall will ;)JigglyWiggly_

I said inbound connections, not outbound ones.JigglyWiggly_

[QUOTE="BLKR4330"]

a firewall won't stop anything on your pc from running, what it will do is prevent it from making and receiving outside/online connections.. so, unless that's an on-line multiplayer game you had fired up, it most likely did what it was made to do..

JigglyWiggly_

if you're referring to your earlier post about outgoing connections (?), my post was merely meant to give a simple explanation of what a firewall does as the tc was apparently expecting that his game would stop working altogether without his consent to do otherwise. replies up till then only either criticised or approved of windows firewall.

...also technically not incorrect i believe as i was talking about a firewall, don't know the details on windows firewall specifically :P point taken though :)

I said inbound connections, not outbound ones.JigglyWiggly_

So when you say inbound connections, this doesn't equal all incoming data? but only unknown or unsolicited data?

[QUOTE="Chickenesta"]As a systems administrator and holder of a valid CCNA qualification I can say with some authority the Windows firewall is great when used along side a router which also has its own firewall, you really shouldn't need another third party firewall app which are often overly intrusive and cause more problems than they're worth, at the end of the day a firewalls a firewall and I've never seen Windows own firewall fail either at home or where I've worked. NB Even if you have a firewall on your router using a software firewall is still a good idea on multi machine networks to stop the spread of viruses, your router generally won't stop cross domain virus/worm traffic, Windows firewall will ;)JigglyWiggly_

You said it yourself, the key words are inbound connections, a worm virus will be an unsocilited inbound connection which any untampered windows firewall will block without blinking.

If you have a router then technically you dont need a software firewall because it will do a MUCH better job than anything else.

Daytona_178

a quick Question ! if i have a linksys router and am on a home network , i dont need a firewall on my pc ? only an antivirus ?

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="BLKR4330"] Incorrect brah.BLKR4330

if you're referring to your earlier post about outgoing connections (?), my post was merely meant to give a simple explanation of what a firewall does as the tc was apparently expecting that his game would stop working altogether without his consent to do otherwise. replies up till then only either criticised or approved of windows firewall.

...also technically not incorrect i believe as i was talking about a firewall, don't know the details on windows firewall specifically :P point taken though :)

I said inbound connections, not outbound ones.JigglyWiggly_

So when you say inbound connections, this doesn't equal all incoming data? but only unknown or unsolicited data?

[QUOTE="Daytona_178"]

If you have a router then technically you dont need a software firewall because it will do a MUCH better job than anything else.

sentenced83

a quick Question ! if i have a linksys router and am on a home network , i dont need a firewall on my pc ? only an antivirus ?

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]

[QUOTE="Chickenesta"]As a systems administrator and holder of a valid CCNA qualification I can say with some authority the Windows firewall is great when used along side a router which also has its own firewall, you really shouldn't need another third party firewall app which are often overly intrusive and cause more problems than they're worth, at the end of the day a firewalls a firewall and I've never seen Windows own firewall fail either at home or where I've worked. NB Even if you have a firewall on your router using a software firewall is still a good idea on multi machine networks to stop the spread of viruses, your router generally won't stop cross domain virus/worm traffic, Windows firewall will ;)Chickenesta

You said it yourself, the key words are inbound connections, a worm virus will be an unsocilited inbound connection which any untampered windows firewall will block without blinking.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"] I don't think Windows firewall stops any viruses or anything. All it does is block ports and services from being accessed. And it doesn't inspect packets either, you are going to need Snort to do that. i got snort running on my home router(pfsense, freebsd based), and it is so awesome. It lets me stop myself from causing attacks onmyself, that is awesome.

You said it yourself, the key words are inbound connections, a worm virus will be an unsocilited inbound connection which any untampered windows firewall will block without blinking.

Windows firewall is great, works like a charm, and it does prevent a few things, and it's probably the easiest to configure, you don't need to do anything, unless you need to :)

If you are just curious, metasploit is a free education tool, which you can try, and see what the firewall does and how good it is. woot, go the CCNA certificate, I got one too :)

The only thing Windows Firewall is good for is it can detect anything that is wrong with your computer. However, if you want it to be taken care of properly, you need to use another antivirus software.

I am saying it blocks services and ports, that a worm could use to take advantage of, if you are saying it stops viruses itself I don't think that is right.JigglyWiggly_

I've already explained in a previous post that it doesnt stop viruses in the same way an antivirus does, you're suggesting that somehow Windows firewall wouldnt protect against worm virsues spreading across a network???? wtf lol, the primary reason for running a firewall if you're already behind a hardware firewall is to stop internal threats, routers dont protect againstclient to client attacks,Im done here :) best go book yourself in for some MCP exams to go along with you CCNA lol

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]I am saying it blocks services and ports, that a worm could use to take advantage of, if you are saying it stops viruses itself I don't think that is right.Chickenesta

I've already explained in a previous post that it doesnt stop viruses in the same way an antivirus does, you're suggesting that somehow Windows firewall wouldnt protect against worm virsues spreading across a network???? wtf lol, the primary reason for running a firewall if you're already behind a hardware firewall is to stop internal threats, routers dont protect againstclient to client attacks,Im done here :) best go book yourself in for some MCP exams to go along with you CCNA lol

Also one more thing Windows firewall doesn't scan packets which you have seemed to completely have missed. Only SNORT can do that. I am speaking of packet sniffing, and intrusion, not a blasted worm. Virus infections in a company are rare, unless dumb IT staff(who use Windows on their servers)

When I start a game that has not yet been allowed by Windows Firewall, the game will start anyway and run, then it is not until after playing the game and closing it that I see the "windows firewall" window that is asking me if I want to allow access to that game or keep blocking it. If windows firewall really worked, wouldn't it actually block the game from running?

chocobo7000