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17 Posts
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27888
[Moved] Windows 8 Firewall
As the native firewall app in Windows is mediocre, I have been using 3rd party solutions for many years. Now that I am on Windows 8, a big annoyance is that Windows Firewall activates itself on start up, even though marked to be OFF. Every time I reboot, I have to manually go and disable it as it interferes with the superior firewalls that are running.
Windows firewall makes my netBIOS visible to others and also some service ports are marked as masked but not invisible. I do not want any of my system to be seen by others and Windows firewall just is not good enough.
How do I permanently disable it in Windows, other than checking the usual boxes?
Xian Renegade
17 Posts
0
September 25th, 2013 10:00
Update: all is sorted now after I had installed a 3rd party firewall and antivirus. I am using two antivirus programs, one of which is ClamAV for Windows or ClamWin. It is not a real-time scanner but it is most excellent on scheduled scans, also email scans.
The other firewall + antivirus will not be disclosed here, but suffice to say that all my service ports are now in full STEALTH mode, it has disabled Windows Firewall and I am a most happy man for now.
This should be a learning exercise for us all, as the common belief is that Windows Firewall is quite good. Proven to be incorrect.
Bugbatter
20.5K Posts
0
September 25th, 2013 11:00
Thank you for letting us know that you are finally in full Stealth mode. As mentioned above, that can be achieved simply with Windows 8's Defender(MSE) + Windows Firewall.
Your example indicates that "one size fits all" does not apply when it comes to security. Thus, your claim: "Windows Firewall is quite good. Proven to be incorrect." is questionable.
Glad we were able to help. NOTE: The issue has been resolved, so this thread is now closed.
The fixes and advice in this thread are for this machine only. If you have a similar problem, do not apply the instructions from this thread to your own machine. Please start a new topic at the top of the forum describing your issue and someone will be along to assist you.
DELL-Munawar P
748 Posts
1
September 23rd, 2013 05:00
Hi Xian Renegade,
I’d be glad to assist you regarding the same, As your system has the Firewall from a 3rd party which usually should disable the Windows firewall, but sometimes it gets activated by itself when installing any programs/ applications or making any change to the Firewall. Disabling the Windows Firewall is not recommended by Dell or Microsoft and in this case you can disable it completely. Please click on the below link which has some detailed steps on disabling the Windows firewall on Windows 8 OS.
http://bit.ly/18ODTTD
Let us know if this helps.
Xian Renegade
17 Posts
0
September 24th, 2013 06:00
Xian Renegade
17 Posts
0
September 24th, 2013 06:00
Hi Munawar
I have followed the steps but that is not to switch off Windows Firewall?
The Windows Firewall is inferior as it exposes much of one's system to others, as you can see here:
I want my computer to be much safer, I want all ports to be stealth and NETBIOS to be hidden, not shown as allowed by Windows Firewall. Frankly, I am surprised that Dell actually recommends an inferior firewall, one that is sneered at by IT experts.
When using my 3rd party firewall, my computer is completely hidden from others.
Why do we not have this option natively?
I still need help, please!
Bugbatter
20.5K Posts
0
September 24th, 2013 22:00
"our system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet — solicited or otherwise — was received from your system as a result of our security probing tests. Your system ignored and refused to reply to repeated Pings (ICMP Echo Requests). From the standpoint of the passing probes of any hacker, this machine does not exist on the Internet. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system wisely remained silent in every way. Very nice."
How old is your router?
Xian Renegade
17 Posts
0
September 25th, 2013 00:00
For a start, those same words you have used was found at a different site. Several tests done by various tools and even a certified systems engineer prove the opposite, as you also can see from my own basic testing's screen prints. Don't believe what you are told by others. My own experience already refutes that statement.
At home, a Huawei E3131 HSDPA dongle which is brand new. Otherwise, at wireless hotspots, I am afraid that I am quite vulnerable. Windows Firewall is wide open to port scanners. Do some proper research and you will see.
Xian Renegade
17 Posts
0
September 25th, 2013 05:00
Hi SpywareHammer
I have run MS Security Essentials on my laptop for a while and then experienced some uncommon behaviour of certain files. I did not make a note of this but my Windows 8 installation became corrupt and would not boot. Eventually, I was rescued by Dell's Mr Arn Canlas, who had rendered the most excellent service. Even before that installation failed, the native Windows firewall failed all stealth and leak tests I threw at it. I then installed Bitdefender and also SpywareHunter. In no time, some malware was found and deactivated. (Sandboxed.) I then unistalled both applications, using Revo Uninstaller and reactivated MS Security Essentials and Windows' native firewall, as it seemingly uses less resources.
I have posted results of basic firewall tests, proving that Windows Firewall is no firewall at all. Some other trusted names also failed these basic tests, let alone more professional scrutiny. Perhaps a good read for home users or laymen (like myself) can be found here: https://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm and also http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3667_7-57578546/windows-8s-rising-security-tide-raises-all-antivirus-boats/
More test results at http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-8/janfeb-2013/
I would love to see how we can resolve this by using native firewall from Windows. A thought from my side is to block all network traffic and only manually specify allowed applications, such as Skype or my mail application, IE, Firefox, etc. However, I do not know the identities of all Windows systems processes and may end up alienating my laptop from the Internet. I am in search of a truly safe and secure without crippling it.
I have been in IT since 1982 but I am no security expert. Back in the day, we had no such problems because most users or even LAN's had no direct access to others. The Internet had changed this entirely and we suddenly had to cope with risk formerly unknown. Because of infections by spyware recently, I needed to step up security as best as I could. I am also using browser alerts such as WOT (Web of Trust), Ghostery, etc' None is foolproof and one has to understand that a visiple NETBIOS, non-stealth ports and such leaves one wide open to "hacker" attacks. In fact, these are cracker attacks as a hacker simply is someone with an above average interest and ability in IT skills, according to Steve Wosniak who had coined the term.
http://www.takisnet.org/~allyson/Woz/Woz_info.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak
Anyone with the technical expertise is welcome to also comment here as a solution is needed by the community and not only by myself.