Basic Troubleshooting Firewalls

Keeping safe online can be explained in two easy steps: Keep the bad stuff out and the good stuff in. Firewalls can do both, which makes them a vital piece of software in today’s age of hack attacks, adware, and spyware of every kind.

A firewall is like a moat around your computer. It screens inbound and outbound traffic to determine if it should pass, keeping malicious code such as virus attacks from getting into your system and keeping private data from getting out when keylogging programs and other nasty codes try to steal it.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 comes with a built-in firewall called the Windows Firewall. But many notebooks and desktops come preloaded with third-party software from Symantec, McAfee, CA, Zone Labs and others. To see which firewall
you have, click Start and All Programs and look for the vendor’s name.

When the firewall stops working, so does your Internet connection or even your whole computer. But there are ways to fix it, and most of them are simple.

Who’s At Fault?

First things first. Before you get started, you need to know what’s truly causing your problem. Is it your firewall? Your ISP? Your phone line?

The best way to determine if your firewall is playing tricks on you is to turn it off and see if your problem persists. If the problem disappears, you know what the culprit is.

If the problem persists, remember that many things can prevent you from viewing a Web site, sending or receiving email, using a chat program, streaming a movie, or sending photos to Flickr or MySpace, all of which are tasks governed by firewalls because they involve the transmission of data over the Internet. For instance, if you cannot view a Web site, the problem could be the settings in your Web browser or a problem on the Web site itself. Some Web sites use ActiveX and JavaScript, types of code that give a Web page advanced features but also give hackers a way to exploit your computer, which your browser may block for safety.