Features

Get your settings right to keep the baddies at bay without compromising functionality.

To protect your PC from Internet and network-borne attack, Vista includes Windows Firewall. This has been designed to constantly monitor attempts by other computers to communicate with yours and thwart any unauthorised access.

The reason why this can get complicated is that unauthorised access can mean many things. Unless you're a major financial institution, it's unlikely a hacker is going to target your specific PC to steal information, but there are all kinds of automated tools out there that find unprotected computers on the Internet and install malware on them to harvest data or hijack them to create 'botnets' - groups of PCs under a hacker's control.

As well as blocking incoming connections of this nature, the firewall can prevent programs on your computer from sending out information without your permission, as spyware will try to do. Internet traffic is examined and either blocked or permitted depending on the firewall rules. The default rules allow common Internet programs to get on with their business, but if you add new applications the firewall settings may need to be adjusted. You can tell the firewall that a particular program should be allowed to use the connection, or open and close individual ports (communication gateways) that may be used by various programs.

More advanced users who feel comfortable editing detailed firewall settings can launch Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. Press the Windows key and R simultaneously to display the Run dialog, then type wf.msc and press Enter. As well as viewing a list of all of the firewall rules that are currently in place, the Actions pane to the right of the screen can be used to create new inbound and outbound rules as required.

	1 To allow a particular program access, open the Settings screen from Control Panel and click the link labelled 'Allow a program through Windows Firewall'. Click Add Program, then select the program from the list that appears. Alternatively, click the Browse button to select a program that's not already displayed in the list.

	2 You can also open individual ports through the firewall to enable the online features of programs and games. Their manuals should specify ports. In the Firewall Control Panel, click Change Settings. In Exceptions, click Add Port. Type a name to remind you what the port is for, enter the port number, and choose TCP or UDP as the manual advises.

3 Turn it on Windows Vista's firewallis switched on by default, but it can be disabled by opening the Windows Firewall Control Panel, clicking the Change Settings link and selecting Off. This is only recommended if another software or hardware firewall is being used in preference (for example, a firewall included with a router); it really isn't a good idea to connect a PC to the Internet without firewall protection.