Allow IE to pass Windows Firewall?

[malG]

I just did a clean install of XP SP2 with all updates. When visiting certain websites for first time, Windows Firewall would prompt me to allow/disallow Internet Explorer to pass the firewall. Is allowing it recommended? If I allowed it, what are the disadvantages?

Thank you.

 

[mechBgon]

Any examples of websites that caused this?

 

[malG]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Any examples of websites that caused this?

When I click on any of the "News stories from the past 24 hours": http://www.abc.net.au/vod/news/

The ABC is Australia's non-commercial broadcaster and also the largest broadcaster in Australia. Strangely, I disallowed IE to pass when prompted but I can't see any adverse effect - the videos work.

Bear in mind that I'm running a clean install of XP. You won't get a prompt if IE is already allowed in Windows Firewall or if you were prompted earlier and selected to disallow it (on any website).

What do you suggest?

 

[malG]

Here's an image of the prompt: http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7422/video6ie.png

Let me rephrase; in general, should we let IE pass the Windows Firewall if we don't visit suspicious sites (porn, warez, etc)?

What would you do?

 

[dderolph]

Perhaps I'm missing the point but the answer seems obvious. If you want to use IE on the Internet, then you must tell the Firewall to allow it.

 

[RebateMonger]

Windows Firewall in XP doesn't block OUTBOUND traffic. Any Windows Firewall warning comes from unsolicited network traffic coming INTO your computer.

My guess is that your Internet Explorer warning comes from "Add-ons" to Internet Explorer that are listening for incoming traffic. Something like a Java add-on that is listening and receives an unsolicited request from the web site to do something.

Not letting Internet Explorer accept inbound traffic shouldn't interfere with MOST browsing.

 

[malG]

Originally posted by: dderolph
Perhaps I'm missing the point but the answer seems obvious. If you want to use IE on the Internet, then you must tell the Firewall to allow it.

On the contrary, I disallowed IE to pass Windows Firewall when prompted but I can't see any adverse effect, the videos work and all other web pages work fine.

 

[stash]

Yeah, remember that the XP firewall blocks inbound traffic only. When those dialogs pop up, it is telling you that something is trying to make an inbound connection. Disallowing that connection will have no effect on any outbound traffic whatsoever, so browsing the web will be unaffected.

 

[xtknight]

It would want to make an inbound connection to listen for UDP requests for Windows Media Player is my guess.

 

[StopSign]

The first thing I do on every XP install is disable Windows Firewall...

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: StopSign
The first thing I do on every XP install is disable Windows Firewall...

What do you use instead? It's not that terrible.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: StopSign
The first thing I do on every XP install is disable Windows Firewall...

Agree! It really doesn't have all the controls I like. Instead I use Kerio (free) and it is better than ZoneAlarm (free.) I had ZoneAlarm Pro, but it got too bloated and slowed down booting too much.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: StopSign
The first thing I do on every XP install is disable Windows Firewall...

The first thing I do on every XP client I see is enable Windows Firewall and remove any add-on firewall....

I see way too many users, even those who really should know what they are doing, accidentally click on the wrong answer in ZoneAlarm or McAfee Internet Security. Two days later, they call me because for two days they couldn't use their VPN or couldn't access their own Server. Plus, I can't count how many times I've seen ZoneAlarm installed on home PCs, but I STILL find that their PC is contaminated with SpyWare.

Windows Firewall does fine to prevent the transmission of common worms without confusing users and inviting them to block communcations needed in common business situations.