Anti-Spyware & Windows Firewall

[David Ford]

Hi,

No probs. so far with Anti-Spyware (except multiple tray
Icons) (running Win XP Pro SP 2 with Norton AntiVirus 2004)

One intriguing question...

How did the newly installed Anti-Spyware manage to connect
to & download the latest updates without me giving it
permission from the Windows Firewall ??? Every other app
needs an exception set up.

If applications can just bypass the Firewall at will, then
what is the point of it ??

Dave Ford MCSD

 

[Andre Da Costa]

Thats interesting, usually its the other way around, it needs to gain
permission first. In that case you are the first.

Concerning multiple icons in the notification area:
Do you use TightVNC or RealVNC or any other VNC application to remote
control your computer?

Is this a Tablet PC? This seems to affect most if not all Tablet
users.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

The Windows firewall is incoming only. It doesn't regulate outbound traffic
at all, except to optionally log it.

Apps that bring up a dialog about opening ports are opening listening ports
for Internet traffic, if I understand this correctly--and the firewall asks
you to allow opening those ports through the firewall.

If you are running as administrator, code running on your machine can open
ports in the firewall and or shut it down. The Windows firewall is a Good
Thing--but it has limitations. FWIW, Microsoft has announced that a 2-way
firewall will be included in their subscription OneCare product. I'll be
interested to see how that works, in terms of the level of interaction and
knowledge required of the user.