Troubleshooting Windows Firewall settings in Windows XP Service Pack 2 for advanced users

Notice

This article is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, you might want to ask someone for help or contact support. For information about how to do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/ (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/)

On This Page

• SUMMARY
  
  
• INTRODUCTION
  
  
• MORE INFORMATION
  • Configuring Windows Firewall by using the Windows Firewall Security Alert
    
    
  • Configuring Windows Firewall by using the Windows Security Center
    • Adding a program exception
      
      
    
    
    
  • Advanced troubleshooting
    • Recognizing failure symptoms
      
      
    • Adding a port exception
      • Identifying the ports
        
        
      • Adding the port exception
        
        
      
      
      
    • Using Logging
      • Interpreting the log file
        
        
      
      
      
    • Using command-line support
      • Gathering diagnostic data
        
        
      
      
      
    • Troubleshooting the firewall
      
      
    • Configuring Windows Firewall Group Policy
      
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• REFERENCES
  
  

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SUMMARY

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) includes Microsoft Windows Firewall, the updated...

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) includes Microsoft Windows Firewall, the updated firewall software that replaces Internet Connection Firewall (ICF). If Microsoft Windows Firewall is blocking a port that is used by a service or by a program, you can configure the Windows Firewall to create an exception. Windows Firewall may be blocking a program or a service if the following conditions are true:

• Programs do not respond to a client's request.
• Client programs do not receive data from the server.

A Windows Firewall Security Alert may notify you that Windows Firewall is blocking a particular program. When this scenario occurs, you may unblock the program by selecting Unblock this program in the Security Alert dialog box. To help determine which programs and ports are being blocked, you can configure Windows Firewall to log dropped packets. With Windows Firewall Netsh Helper, you can configure Windows Firewall and Windows Firewall logging at the command prompt. Program compatibility may not always be the issue. Group Policy settings can also prevent programs from running. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) includes several utilities that you can use to troubleshoot Windows Firewall issues.

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INTRODUCTION

The best way to resolve firewall blocking issues is to modify programs to work w...

The best way to resolve firewall blocking issues is to modify programs to work with stateful filtering firewalls. If you cannot modify a program, you can configure the Windows Firewall to add exceptions for specific ports and programs. This article discusses the failure symptoms that relate to the default configuration of the Windows XP Service Pack 2 firewall, how to configure exceptions for ports and for programs, and how to perform some troubleshoot methods for firewall settings.

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MORE INFORMATION

Failures that are related to the default firewall configuration appear in two wa...

Failures that are related to the default firewall configuration appear in two ways. Client programs may not receive data from a server. Server programs that are running on a Windows XP-based computer may not respond to client requests.
If a program is being blocked, you may receive the following Windows Firewall Security Alert:

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For information about these symptoms and advanced troubleshooting steps to resolve them, see the "Advanced troubleshooting" section.

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Configuring Windows Firewall by using the Windows Firewall Security Alert

To unblock the program, click Unblock in the Security Alert dialog box.

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Configuring Windows Firewall by using the Windows Security Center

Adding a program exception

When you add a program to the exception list, you enable the firewall to open ranges of ports that could change every time the program is run. To add a program exception, follow these steps:

1. Use an administrator account to log on.
2. Click Start, click Run, type wscui.cpl, and then click OK.
3. In Windows Security Center, click Windows Firewall.
4. On the Exceptions tab, click Add Program.
5. In the list of programs, click the name of the program that you want to add, and then click OK. If the name of your program is not in the list of programs, click Browse to locate the program, and then click OK. Note If you do not know where the program is located, contact the program vendor to determine the program location.
   
   For information about how to contact your program vendor, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   65416 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/65416/ ) Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K
   
   60781 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60781/ ) Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P
   
   60782 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60782/ ) Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z
6. Click OK.
7. Test the program to verify that the firewall settings are correct.

If you are still experiencing problems, you might want to ask someone for help or contact support. For information about how to do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)

Back to the top

Advanced troubleshooting

This section is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, you might want to ask someone for help or contact support. For information about how to do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/)

Recognizing failure symptoms

Failures that are related to the default firewall configuration appear in two ways:

• Client programs may not receive data from a server. For example, the following client programs may not receive data:
  • An FTP client
  • Multimedia streaming software
  • New mail notifications in some e-mail programs
• Server programs that are running on a Windows XP-based computer may not respond to client requests. For example, the following server programs may not respond:
  • A Web server program, such as Internet Information Services (IIS)
  • Remote Desktop
  • File sharing
  Notes
  • Failures in network programs are not limited to firewall issues. These failures may be caused by RPC or DCOM security changes. Therefore, you have to determine whether the failure is accompanied by a Windows Firewall Security Alert that indicates that a program is being blocked.
  • Service failures are not accompanied by a Windows Firewall Security Alert because services are not typically associated with a user logon session. If the failure is service-related, configure the firewall as discussed in the "Configuring Windows Firewall by using the Windows Security Center" section.

Adding a port exception

If you do not resolve this issue by adding a program to the exception list, you can add ports manually. To do this, you must first identify the ports that are used by the program. A reliable way to determine port usage is to contact the program vendor. If you cannot contact a vendor, or if a port list is not available, you can use the Netstat.exe tool to identify the ports in use.

Identifying the ports

1. Start the program and try to use its network features. For example, with a multimedia program, try to start an audio stream. With a Web server, try to start the service.
2. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. At the command prompt, type netstat –ano > netstat.txt, and then press ENTER. This command creates the Netstat.txt file. This file lists all the listening ports.
   
   
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4. At the command prompt, type tasklist > tasklist.txt, and then press ENTER. If the program in question runs as a service, type tasklist /svc > tasklist.txt instead of tasklist > tasklist.txt so that the services that are loaded in each process are listed.
   
   
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5. Open the Tasklist.txt file, and then locate the program that you are troubleshooting. Write down the Process Identifier for the process, and then open the Netstat.txt file. Note any entries that are associated with that Process Identifier and the protocol that is used.
   
   
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If the port numbers for the process are less than 1024, the port numbers will probably not change. If the numbers that are used are greater than or equal to 1024, the program may use a range of ports. Therefore, you may not be able to resolve the issue by opening individual ports.

Adding the port exception

1. Click Start, click Run, type wscui.cpl, and then click OK.
2. In Windows Security Center, click Windows Firewall.
   
   
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3. Click the Exceptions tab, and then click Add Port to display the Add a Port dialog box.
   
   
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4. Type a descriptive name for the port exception and the port number that your program uses, and then select either the TCP or UDP protocol.
   
   
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5. Click Change Scope.
   
   
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6. View or set the scope for the port exception, and then click OK.
   
   
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7. Click OK to close the Add a Port dialog box.
   
   
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8. To verify that the port settings are correct for your program, test the program.

Using Logging

You can enable logging to help identify the source of inbound traffic and to provide details on what traffic is being blocked. %Windir%\pfirewall.log is the default log file. To enable logging, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type firewall.cpl, and then click OK.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
   
   
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3. In the Security Logging area, click Settings.
   
   
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4. Click to select the Log dropped packets check box, and then click OK.
   
   
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5. Click OK.
   
   
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Note Outbound successes are not logged. Outbound traffic that is not blocked is not logged.

Interpreting the log file

The following log information is collected for each packet that is logged:

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Fields	Description	Example
Date	Displays the year, month, and day that the recorded transaction occurred. Dates are recorded in the format YYYY-MM-DD, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month, and DD is the day.	2001-01-27
Time	Displays the hour, minute, and seconds when the recorded transaction occurred. Times are recorded in the format: HH:MM:SS, where HH is the hour in 24-hour format, MM is the number of minutes, and SS is the number of seconds.	21:36:59
Action	Indicates the operation that was observed by the firewall. The options available to the firewall are OPEN, CLOSE, DROP, and INFO-EVENTS-LOST. An INFO-EVENTS-LOST action indicates the number of events that occurred but that were not recorded in the log.	OPEN
Protocol	Displays the protocol that was used for the communication. A protocol entry can also be a number for packets that are not using TCP, UDP, or ICMP.	TCP
src-ip	Displays the source IP address, or the IP address of the computer, that is trying to establish communications.	192.168.0.1
dst-ip	Displays the destination IP address of a communication try.	192.168.0.1
src-port	Displays the source port number of the sending computer. A src-port entry is recorded in the form of a whole number, between 1 and 65,535. Only TCP and UDP display a valid src-port entry. All other protocols display a src-port entry of -.	4039
dst-port	Displays the port number of the destination computer. A dst-port entry is recorded in the form of a whole number, between 1 and 65,535. Only TCP and UDP display a valid dst-port entry. All other protocols display a dst-port entry of -.	53
size	Displays the packet size in bytes.	60
tcpflags	Displays the TCP control flags that are found in the TCP header of an IP packet: Ack acknowledgement field significant Fin No more data from sender Psh Push function Rst Reset the connection Syn Synchronize sequence numbers Urg Urgent Pointer field significant Flags are written as uppercase letters.	AFP
tcpsyn	Displays the TCP sequence number in the packet.	1315819770
tcpack	Displays the TCP acknowledgement number in the packet.	0
tcpwin	Displays the TCP window size in bytes in the packet.	64240
icmptype	Displays a number that represents the Type field of the ICMP message.	8
icmpcode	Displays a number that represents the Code field of the ICMP message.	0
info	Displays an information entry that depends on the type of action that occurred. For example, an INFO-EVENTS-LOST action creates an entry for the number of events that occurred but were not recorded in the log from the time of the last occurrence of this event type.	23

Note The hyphen (-) is used for fields where no information is available for an entry.

Using command-line support

Windows Firewall Netsh Helper was added to Windows XP in the Microsoft Advanced Networking Pack. This command-line helper previously applied to IPv6 Windows Firewall. With Windows XP Service Pack 2, the helper now includes support for configuring IPv4.

With Netsh Helper, you can now:

• Configure the default state of Windows Firewall. (Options include Off, On, and On with no exceptions.)
• Configure the ports that must be open.
• Configure the ports to enable global access or to restrict access to the local subnet.
• Set ports to be open on all interfaces or only on a specific interface.
• Configure the logging options.
• Configure the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) handling options.
• Add or remove programs from the exceptions list.

These configuration options apply to both IPv4 Windows Firewall and IPv6 Windows Firewall except where specific functionality does not exist in the Windows Firewall version.

Gathering diagnostic data

Windows Firewall configuration and status information can be retrieved at the command line by using the Netsh.exe tool. This tool adds IPv4 firewall support to the following Netsh context:

netsh firewall

To use this context, type netsh firewall at a command prompt, and then use additional Netsh commands as needed. The following commands are useful for gathering firewall status and configuration information:

• Netsh firewall show state
• Netsh firewall show config

Compare the output from these commands with the output from the netstat –ano command to identify the programs that may have listening ports open and that do not have corresponding exceptions in the firewall configuration. Supported data gathering and configuration commands are listed in the following tables.

Note Settings can be modified only by an administrator.

Data Gathering

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Command	Description
show allowedprogram	Displays the allowed programs.
show config	Displays the detailed local configuration information.
show currentprofile	Displays the current profile.
show icmpsetting	Displays the ICMP settings.
show logging	Displays the logging settings.
show opmode	Displays the operational mode.
show portopening	Displays the excepted ports.
show service	Displays the services.
show state	Displays the current state information.
show notifications	Displays the current settings for notifications.

Configuration

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Command	Description
add allowedprogram	Used to add excepted traffic by specifying the program's file name.
set allowedprogram	Used to modify the settings of an existing allowed program.
delete allowedprogram	Used to delete an existing allowed program.
set icmpsetting	Used to specify allowed ICMP traffic.
set logging	Used to specify logging options for Windows Firewall either globally or for a specific connection (interface).
set opmode	Used to specify the operating mode of Windows Firewall either globally or for a specific connection (interface).
add portopening	Used to add excepted traffic by specifying a TCP or UDP port.
set portopening	Used to modify the settings of an existing open TCP or UDP port.
delete portopening	Used to delete an existing open TCP or UDP port.
set service	Used to enable or drop RPC and DCOM traffic, file and printer sharing, and UPnP traffic.
set notifications	Used to specify whether notifications to the user when programs try to open ports are enabled.
reset	Resets firewall configuration to default. This provides the same functionality as the Restore Defaults button in the Windows Firewall interface.

Troubleshooting the firewall

Along with program compatibility issues, the Windows Firewall may experience other problems. Follow these steps to diagnose problems:

1. To verify that TCP/IP is functioning correctly, use the ping command to test the loopback address (127.0.0.1) and the assigned IP address.
2. Verify the configuration in the user interface to determine whether the firewall has been unintentionally set to Off or On with No Exceptions.
3. Use the netsh commands for Status and Configuration information to look for unintended settings that could be interfering with expected behavior.
4. Determine the status of the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing service by typing the following at a command prompt:
   sc query sharedaccess
   (The short name of this service is SharedAccess.) Troubleshoot service startup based on the Win32 exit code if this service does not start.
5. Determine the status of the Ipnat.sys firewall driver by typing the following at a command prompt:
   sc query ipnat
   This command also returns the Win32 exit code from the last start try. If the driver is not starting, use troubleshooting steps that would apply to any other driver.
6. If the driver and service are both running, and no related errors exist in the event logs, use the Restore Defaults option on the Advanced tab of Windows Firewall properties to eliminate any potential problem configuration.
7. If the issue is still not resolved, look for policy settings that might produce the unexpected behavior. To do this, type GPResult /v > gpresult.txt at the command prompt, and then examine the resulting text file for configured policies that are related to the firewall.

Configuring Windows Firewall Group Policy

Contact your network administrator to determine if a Group Policy setting prevents programs and scenarios from running in a corporate environment.

Windows Firewall Group Policy settings are located in the following Group Policy Object Editor snap-in paths:

• Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Network/Network Connections/Windows Firewall
• Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Network/Network Connections/Windows Firewall/ Domain Profile
• Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Network/Network Connections/Windows Firewall/ Standard Profile

क्या आप आज भी अपने घर में Slow Internet Connection का प्रयोग करते हैं?

क्या आप आज भी अपने घर में Slow Internet Connection का प्रयोग करते हैं?

अगर हाँ, तो मैं पक्के तौर से कह सकता हूँ की आप इसके कछुआ चाल से खुश तो नही होंगे। पर मज़बूरी का नाम महात्मा गाँधी। तो इसी Connection को ही ‘अपने सर के बाल’ ना नोचने वाला बनाया जाए, कुछ Tips की मदद से।

अगर आप थोड़ा सा लिक से हट कर काम करते हैं, तो आप भी अपने घर से ही नेट प्रयोग करना पसंद करेंगे. चले जानते हैं की करना क्या है :

(१) Use of Opera Browser : इस Browser के बनने वालों का दावा है की ये दुनिया का सबसे तेज browser है और मैं इससे सहमत भी हूँ। Opera, Speed के मामले मे बाकि को तो पीछे छोड़ देता है। तो सबसे पहले IE, Firefox की जगह Opera use करना शुरु कर दें।

Download Opera

(२) Use Mailing Client For Mailing : अगर आप दिन भर Mailing करते है तो आपके Computer पर Mailing Clients, जैसे Outlook, ThunderBird, Oprea ( Opera में Mailing Client भी है, कमाल है ना ) , का use आपको Fast बना देगा ।
(3) Download Manager For Downloading : अगर आप या अन्य जैसे Free Download Manager का use करते हैं तो आपके नेट की Downloading Speed कई गुना बढ़ जायेगी, और आप कहेंगे, वाह कितना तेज है !

(४) Stop All Updates When Surfing : Software या अन्य Updates का Surfing के समय होना आपके मूड को ख़राब कर सकता है। इसीलिए ये Updates Surfing के समय ना होने दें और जब आप Free हों तो इन्हे जरुर करें।

(५) Use Of Offline RSS Or Feed Reader : अगर आप दिन भर में किसी News Site या Blog को देखते रहते हैं, तो उसके फीड को ऑफलाइनRSS रीडर, जैसे Opera (इसमे फीड रीडर भी है), Ms Outlook में , Subscribe करके आप कुछ और fast हो सकते हैं।

कैसे डराए अपने दोस्तो को

कैसे डराए अपने दोस्तो को
You can use this trick to scare your friends or to make something useful, like reminders you put in Windows Start-up.
दोस्तो मैं जो आपको आज एक trick बताने जा रहा हूँ वो थोडी डरावनी और थोडी मज़ेदार भी हैं इस trick का इस्तेमाल आप कई प्रकार से कर सकते हैं. इसे आप किसी को डराने के लिए भी और अपने महत्वपूर्ण कार्यो को याद रखने के लिए भी कर सकते हो.
अगर आपको अपने किसी दोस्त को डराना हैं तो नीचे दिए गए निर्देशों को ध्यानपूर्वक पढे. और यदि किसी कार्य को करने के लिए अपने कंप्यूटर में एक reminder लगाना हैं जो कंप्यूटर के start होने पर एक messege आपको दिखाए तो आप इसे statup वाले फोल्डर में डाल दे.

तो चलिए शुरू करते हैं कैसे बनाये एक डरावना संदेश या Fake Virus.

यहाँ कुछ साधारण से चरण दिए गए हैं एक pop-up बनाने के.

१). सबसे पहले आप अपना notepad खोले. और नीचे दिया गया संदेश टाइप करे.
text1=msgbox("अपना संदेश यहाँ लिखे",52,"अपना टाइटल यहाँ डाले")
Make A Scary Pop-up

अपना एक डरावना संदेश बनाये.

आप चाहे तो कई pop-up संदेश लिख सकते हैं और आप जितनी बार संदेश लिखेंगे उतनी बार ये pop-up संदेश आपके कंप्यूटर के स्क्रीन पर आएगा.

२). अब आप अपने notepad को save करे और save करते वक्त इसका नाम popup.vbs ही लिखे और इसे 'Save as Type' to 'All Files' वाले ओप्शन में ही save करे.
Make A Scary Pop-up

३). आप नीचे दिए गए संदेशो का भी इस्तेमाल कर सकते हैं:-

text1=msgbox("Virus Detected",52,"Warning: VIRUS")
text2=msgbox("Virus is installing on your system",52,"Installing...")
text3=msgbox("Virus is installing on your system",52,"Installing...")

४). और जब एक बार आप अपने notepad को save कर लेंगे, तब आपको कुछ ऐसा संदेश दिखाई देगा, जैसा की नीचे दिया गया हैं :-
Make A Scary Pop-up

Make A Scary Pop-up

Creating an HTML Page

Creating an HTML Page {Please change brecket ( ) into this simble < >}

Introduction to HTML

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What is an HTML File?

• HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
• An HTML file is a text file containing small markup tags
• The markup tags tell the Web browser how to display the page
• An HTML file must have an htm or html file extension
• An HTML file can be created using a simple text editor

A web page is created using a language called, Hypertext Markup Language,
better known as HTML Code. You can write your own coding within a plain text editor,
such as Note Pad, or use an HTML editor, which will write the code for you.

HTML codes, also referred to as HTML tags, are enclosed by the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) brackets
and may be written in capital or lower case letters.

The opening bracket is followed by an element, which is a browser command, and ends with the closing bracket.


An element may also be followed by attributes, which are words describing the properties of the element, and further instruct the browser.




Attributes are only contained in the opening HTML tags to the right of the element
and are separated by a space and followed by an equal (=) sign.

The value follows the equal sign and is enclosed in quotes.





Basic HTML Document Code Structure
Begin writing your HTML tags by creating your document's basic layout. Copy and paste this code into your text or HTML editor.










This area will contain everything that will be visible through a web browser, such as text and graphics.
All of the information will be HTML coded.

For a complete list of HTML codes, tags and examples, see the HTML chart below.

Save the file as "mypage.htm".

Start your Internet browser. Select "Open" (or "Open Page") in the File menu of your browser. A dialog box will appear. Select "Browse" (or "Choose File") and locate the HTML file you just created - "mypage.htm" - select it and click "Open". Now you should see an address in the dialog box, for example "C:\MyDocuments\mypage.htm". Click OK, and the browser will display the page.

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Example Explained

The first tag in your HTML document is . This tag tells your browser that this is the start of an HTML document. The last tag in your document is . This tag tells your browser that this is the end of the HTML document.

The text between the tag and the tag is header information. Header information is not displayed in the browser window.

()The text between the

The text between the tags is the text that will be displayed in your browser.

The text between the and tags will be displayed in a bold font.

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HTM or HTML Extension?

When you save an HTML file, you can use either the .htm or the .html extension. We have used .htm in our examples. It might be a bad habit inherited from the past when some of the commonly used software only allowed three letter extensions.

With newer software we think it will be perfectly safe to use .html.

---

Note on HTML Editors:

You can easily edit HTML files using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor like FrontPage or Dreamweaver, instead of writing your markup tags in a plain text file.

However, if you want to be a skillful Web developer, we strongly recommend that you use a plain text editor to learn your primer HTML.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: After I have edited an HTML file, I cannot view the result in my browser. Why?
A: Make sure that you have saved the file with a proper name and extension like "c:\mypage.htm". Also make sure that you use the same name when you open the file in your browser.

Q: I have edited an HTML file, but the changes don't show in the browser. Why?
A: A browser caches pages so it doesn't have to read the same page twice. When you have modified a page, the browser doesn't know that. Use the browser's refresh/reload button to force the browser to reload the page.

Q: What browser should I use?
A: You can do all the training with all of the well-known browsers, like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, or Opera. However, some of the examples in our advanced classes require the latest versions of the browsers.

Q: Does my computer have to run Windows? What about a Mac?
A: You can do all your training on a non-Windows computer like a Mac.

(All Things Is Copy This Site: www.w3schools.com For More Information Click This Link And Go this On The Site.)