User configuration is critical to the effectiveness of the firewall. You can choose between the following options:
- Access rights of unknown IP addresses: Access attempts by other computers on the network are identified by the IP address and, in principle, are blocked by default. If you want to carry out a data exchange, you can allow it manually or add the IP address as an exception so that the next time access is allowed without consulting it first.
- Check online program access - When installing programs that are available online, manual commit should also be configured. This way, you can be sure that you are installing the desired file and immediately recognize if an untrustworthy website tries to infect your computer with malicious software.
- Visibility in networks: you can configure the visibility of your team in specific networks. It is recommended to hide the equipment in public networks (such as WiFi access points in airports or coffee shops) to protect it from unauthorized access attempts. Although visibility cannot be equated with granting access permission, it does make it more difficult for offenders when they try to access your data.
- Active website content blocking: Some technologies for displaying dynamic content on websites (videos or graphic animations), such as Microsoft ActiveX or Adobe Flash applications, are always misused to spread malware because the content runs locally on the user's computer. The execution of that content can be blocked from the beginning.
These are just some of the parameters that you can configure in your firewall settings. Of course, in addition to blocking websites, services and IP addresses, you can also classify them as trustworthy and thus allow automatic access. Likewise, to recognize the limits of a firewall and that it can repel malware efficiently, it is necessary to adequately assess the accesses of programs and other computers.
For this reason, it is important that you do not only have the firewall, but at the same time use an antivirus program that compares both installed programs and dynamic website content with current virus definitions and blocks them or generates a warning before execution.
Many firewalls also work with ports. For an Internet data packet to reach your computer, it must pass this input filter. Each application uses a specific port. A firewall can be configured so that only the necessary ports can be opened . The firewall blocks all other accesses and thus prevents applications from receiving unwanted or unplanned data packets. Generally, this process is responsible for some programs not working due to the firewall. In this case, you should not disable the firewall , but simply open the necessary port.