Internet availability on LAN

[Guest]

I have an inhouse LAN, wireless and wired, and since installing SP2 on a my 3
computers all running XP PRO I continually have trouble with conectivity to
the internet. I have my firewall turned OFF because I cannot see other
computers on the LAN when it is on. It seems I need to reboot the cable
modem everytime I want the internet after a short pause in use.

I never had this problem before installing SP2 when it first came out. I am
sure it has something to do with the new firewall.

Any clues on what to do, or how to configure the firewall to allow access to
my LAN?? THANX

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I have an inhouse LAN, wireless and wired, and since installing SP2
on a my 3 computers all running XP PRO I continually have trouble
with conectivity to the internet. I have my firewall turned OFF
because I cannot see other computers on the LAN when it is on. It
seems I need to reboot the cable modem everytime I want the internet
after a short pause in use.

I never had this problem before installing SP2 when it first came
out. I am sure it has something to do with the new firewall.

Any clues on what to do, or how to configure the firewall to allow
access to my LAN?? THANX

1. How are you connecting to the Internet through your cable modem? Using
ICS? I would instead pick up a little firewall appliance/gateway that can do
NAT and DHCP, and share it that way.
2. You can open up exceptions for file & print sharing in your firewall
properties. However, the Windows firewall doesn't control any outbound
traffic, so if you can't see other computers on your network when your
firewall is on, there's another cause. The firewall would only prevent other
computers connecting to your WinXP SP2 computer.