firewall problems, please help
 

I am using tiny personal firewall on win98se computer with firefox and the
last few times i have tried to surf the web I keep getting alerts from my
firewall saying that firefox wants to connect to some address on port 80, if
I deny, accept or create filter rule it doesn't help, I just keep getting
one alert after another, the address changes but the port is the same. This
is driving me crazy and is why I hate using firewalls, from my experience it
seems that you need to have a good understanding of what is going on to be
able to use a firewall and I just don't have the time to learn about this, I
already have a million things to do, I can't be bothered with this hassle
which is why I have resisted using a firewall up until now but it seems i
really do need it now, there has to be an easier way surely, I have tried
zonealarm in the past but gave up on that for the same reasons. Anyhow I
would appreciate it if someone could tell me if the alerts i am getting
could be malicious or if they are something to ignore. This is so
frustrating, it's not like other software which i can just work out for
myself, you have to have background information in order to know what to do.

Re: firewall problems, please help
 

"graviton" <ride@past.nowhere> wrote in message
news:4362a521@clear.net.nz...
> I am using tiny personal firewall on win98se computer with firefox and the
> last few times i have tried to surf the web I keep getting alerts from my
> firewall saying that firefox wants to connect to some address on port 80,
if
> I deny, accept or create filter rule it doesn't help, I just keep getting
> one alert after another, the address changes but the port is the same.
This
> is driving me crazy and is why I hate using firewalls, from my experience
it
> seems that you need to have a good understanding of what is going on to be
> able to use a firewall and I just don't have the time to learn about this,
I
> already have a million things to do, I can't be bothered with this hassle
> which is why I have resisted using a firewall up until now but it seems i
> really do need it now, there has to be an easier way surely, I have tried
> zonealarm in the past but gave up on that for the same reasons. Anyhow I
> would appreciate it if someone could tell me if the alerts i am getting
> could be malicious or if they are something to ignore. This is so
> frustrating, it's not like other software which i can just work out for
> myself, you have to have background information in order to know what to
do.
>
>

Can any attempted outward connection from firefox be a security risk? Also
note the problem I am having at the moment comes and goes normally even
though the webpages opened are the same but at the moment the problem is
very persistent, I have closed my browser and disconnected many times and
shutdown but the problem is there everytime for the last couple of days, it
prevents webpages opening so I can't just ignore it, as long as i use the
firewall I can't use my browser at the moment so it is a big bloody annoying
problem.

Re: firewall problems, please help
 

"graviton" <ride@past.nowhere> wrote in
news:4362a521@clear.net.nz:

> I am using tiny personal firewall on win98se computer with
> firefox and the last few times i have tried to surf the web I
> keep getting alerts from my firewall saying that firefox wants
> to connect to some address on port 80, if I deny, accept or
> create filter rule it doesn't help, I just keep getting one
> alert after another, the address changes but the port is the
> same.

Outbound connections to port 80 by a browser are OK.
Port 80 is the default "http" port, and making an outgoing connection
is how browsers retrieve the page.

You want a filter rule that allows these by default.

(These instructions are for Kerio FW, which I understand is the same
as/very similar to tiny.)

Right-click the tiny personal firewall icon in the system tray
(taskbar extreme bottom right) and select Adminstration.
Click the Details (Advanced?) button.
Find any existing rules that might have been added for firefox and
either:
- Repair them so they allow outgoing on port 80 (and 443, which is
the https/secure SSL protocol), ANY remote endpoint address, ANY
local endpoint port.
(You might allow ANY remote port, rather than just 80 and 443.)
OR
- Delete them and re-create them next time you get the popup.

Re: firewall problems, please help
 

On Sat, 29 Oct 2005 11:44:52 +1300, graviton wrote:

> Can any attempted outward connection from firefox be a security risk?

Well if you get hooked by a phisher....

Re: firewall problems, please help
 

"Mark C" <mark.c@somewhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:4362bc96$0$18611$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
> "graviton" <ride@past.nowhere> wrote in
> news:4362a521@clear.net.nz:
>
> > I am using tiny personal firewall on win98se computer with
> > firefox and the last few times i have tried to surf the web I
> > keep getting alerts from my firewall saying that firefox wants
> > to connect to some address on port 80, if I deny, accept or
> > create filter rule it doesn't help, I just keep getting one
> > alert after another, the address changes but the port is the
> > same.
>
> Outbound connections to port 80 by a browser are OK.
> Port 80 is the default "http" port, and making an outgoing connection
> is how browsers retrieve the page.
>
> You want a filter rule that allows these by default.
>
> (These instructions are for Kerio FW, which I understand is the same
> as/very similar to tiny.)
>
> Right-click the tiny personal firewall icon in the system tray
> (taskbar extreme bottom right) and select Adminstration.
> Click the Details (Advanced?) button.
> Find any existing rules that might have been added for firefox and
> either:
> - Repair them so they allow outgoing on port 80 (and 443, which is
> the https/secure SSL protocol), ANY remote endpoint address, ANY
> local endpoint port.
> (You might allow ANY remote port, rather than just 80 and 443.)
> OR
> - Delete them and re-create them next time you get the popup.

Thanks a lot, your help is very much appreciated and seems to have done the
trick.

Re: firewall problems, please help
 

Gordon wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Oct 2005 11:44:52 +1300, graviton wrote:
>
>
>>Can any attempted outward connection from firefox be a security risk?
>
>
> Well if you get hooked by a phisher....
>
....or get a Javascript virus.

Cheers,

Cliff

--

Barzoomian the Martian - http://barzoomian.blogspot.com