How To Get Windows Firewall Working?

[XChamp]

I vaguely remember turning off Windows Firewall a while back and now, since I have a much larger bankroll in online accounts, I'm a little worried about security. The problem is that I can't turn it back on. When I open it up in control panel there are two main options to select under the "General" tab: 'On' and 'off'. It's on 'off' right now but everything is grayed out so I cannot select 'on.'

I am on as an 'administrators' user group. I have tried changing it on my other 'administrators' user group account and it still does not work. There is only one other user account and that is user name: 'ASPNET' group: Users. I don't know what that user is or how it got there. Could this be a problem, or is this a completely different issue?

Anyone have an ideas?

Thanks

[Freakin]

I would personally use a different firewall, software or otherwise.

Look into ZoneAlarm. They should have a free version. It will tell you whenever a program is attempting to phone home.

Freakin

I second the use of zonealarm. Windows' firewall is junk.

[XChamp]

thanks guys. I downloaded the free version of Zonealarm and so far I like it a lot.

I agree with the gentlemen above on the ZoneAlarm recommendation because for a free program it serves its purpose and the PRO version is that much better, but honestly if your that worried about safety and security go with a hardware based firewall. Heck i use both software and hardware on my end. Most often its just a peace of mind thing because the more defence the better right? well as long as your happy go with software but for a business it never hurts to go both.

[Mempho]

Furious,

Could you give me some hardware recommendations?

Anything with stateful packet insepction ("SPI") should be fine. Netgear and linksys both make pretty good routers/firewalls for cheap.

[CORed]

To turn on Windows Firewall, start with "My network places" from your start menu or an Explorer Window. Click "View network connections" in the left hand panel right click "properties" for the connection you want to firewall. Click the "Advanced" tab There will be a box labeled "Windows Firewall" with a button labeled "settings". The "settings" button gets you into the box where you can turn the firewall on and open ports, if needed.

[Freakin]

I think that in general a hardware firewall (even as simple as a router with NAT) will be sufficient for your needs. The place that a software firewall comes in handy is malware. You really don't know what kind of software is trying to 'phone home' and a software firewall will let you know.

Stateless firewalls do add a level of security, but they are easier to circumvent than one with SPI. It's not as safe to forward ports through the firewall either.

A software firewall's biggest task is to monitor outgoing stuff, but they do block incoming connections too... which is nice if someone circumvents your hardware firewall, of if there is a local attack.