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Disabling the WinXP firewall

Why do it?

If you have installed a third party firewall such as Zone Alarm or Norton you will have no need for the built-in firewall in WinXP. In fact it can be more trouble than its worth as it blocks others from accessing your computer even when you want them to. It also auto-installs itself whenever you run the network setup wizard (if you use Internet Connection Sharing).

How To Do It

Click on Start, then Control Panel

Click on Network Connections

Find the Local Area Connection for the Network card that connects to your Cable Modem. If you have only one Network card this is easy as there is only one. If you have a home network you should have noted which network card is used for the cable modem. If unsure rerun the network setup wizard and WinXP will tell you which is the likely one (though its not infallible).

Click on the appropriate network connection. You will get a screen like that below:

Click on Properties

Here you can see which network card this connection refers to. Click on the Advanced tab:

The top section refers to the firewall. untick the box. This disables the firewall. You will see that I use ICS so there is a tick in the ICS box. This is not necessary unless you have a home network - which, by the way, you can set up from here by clicking the link to the Network Setup Wizard.

Now make sure you have a third party firewall protecting your system.

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