How to configure the firewall with your own hands?

Security on the Internet ... This topic has been actively discussed by the media of varying degrees of "yellowness" for already a year, completely forgetting that it would be nice to give some specific recommendations, and not to tell a bunch of terrible, but not too believable stories.

I would like to tell you a little about how to configure the firewall yourself, without resorting to the services of various kinds of computer help.

What it is

Before you talk about the setting, you need to spend a little digression into the depth of the topic. A firewall is a special program that prevents intrusions to your computer from the depths of the Internet, and also blocks the actions of spyware that can transfer your personal information to a party.

When is it really needed?

Contrary to popular belief, personally your computer malicious hackers are unlikely to attack. Of course, if you are any commercial director of a bank, then this can really become a reality, all the rest can not be particularly afraid.

But if you have a "white" IP (not dynamic), you pick up a simple ftp server at home or decide in order of individual mazahism to pick up a site on your home computer ... That firewall is sure to come in handy!

How to configure the firewall correctly, so that it can cope as effectively as possible with all the tasks assigned to it? Immediately make a reservation that we will talk about general settings, since utilities of this kind in the modern market are too many.

Customizing Packages

First, we will configure the rules that apply to incoming packets. This is more important, since with the outgoing the normal firewall will surely cope on its own (based on the rules prescribed by the developer).

We prohibit all incoming "correspondence" (TCP) to ports within 1-1025, as well as UDP for the ranges 1-1024. What is it for? The thing is that it is there that most of all "holes" in the protection of the OS of the Windows family. In general, their list would be nice to find out even before you configure the firewall.

Be sure to cover the doors on TCP 5000, as well as on UDP 1900. As a result of all the above, most of the system ports are under fairly reliable protection, the level of which meets all the requirements of the average user.

But how to configure the firewall, Windows 7 which provides even in the basic package? If you do everything described above, you can consider yourself completely protected.

What can I open?

To open it is possible DNS (and for company UDP 53), FTP (TCP 20-21). If there is such a need (own http-server), you can also open TCP 80. Almost all ICMP packages can be safely resolved. A little trick: if you prohibit calls to the 80 port of remote computers from ICQ, then the amount of advertising will be significantly reduced.

Since it is quite easy to configure the firewall in the ways described above, it is likely that even novice and completely inexperienced beginners will cope with this. Note that no network screen can compensate for the tortuosity of the user's hands, and therefore once again do not visit questionable sites, do not open links that lead to anything far away!

And how to open the firewall completely? As a rule, in the settings of any such application there is an item "allow all" or something like that. Use this as rarely as possible.