Mcafee FIREWALL 2.1 User Manual

McAfee Firewall

Getting Started

Version 2.10

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2000 Network Associates, Inc. and its Affiliated Companies. All Rights Reserved. No part
of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated
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Issued May 2000/ McAfee Firewall v2.10

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Getting Started iii

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iv McAfee Firewall

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THE SOFTWARE.

Getting Started v

SOME COUNTRIES HAVE RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF ENCRYPTION WITHIN
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Statements made to you in the course of this sale are subject to the Year 2000 Information and
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vi McAfee Firewall

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Welcome to McAfee Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

About McAfee Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

How McAfee Firewall works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

About McAfee Firewall documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

McAfee Firewall online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

How will McAfee Firewall help me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

How is my PC at risk on the Internet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

What other protection do I need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Are there any data packets that McAfee Firewall cannot stop? . . . . . .15

What network devices does McAfee Firewall support? . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

What protocols can McAfee Firewall filter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

How can I still be harassed, even with McAfee Firewall? . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Chapter 2. Installing McAfee Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

About Winsock 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Installing McAfee Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Troubleshooting installation problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Step 1: Clean up your hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Step 2: Remove temporary files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Step 3: Close other software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Chapter 3. McAfee Firewall Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Control applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Default settings for applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Control system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Default settings for System activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Password Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Instructions for Administrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Getting Started vii

Table of Contents

Configuring Network, Display and Logging Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Configuring Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Configuring System Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Configuration after Adding/Removing Network Devices . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Using Password Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Chapter 4. Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Appendix A. Product Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

How to Contact McAfee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Customer service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Technical support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

McAfee training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

viii McAfee Firewall

Table of Contents

Getting Started ix

Table of Contents

x McAfee Firewall

1Welcome to McAfee Firewall

About McAfee Firewall

McAfee Firewall is a personal firewall that lets you monitor, control and log
your PC’s network activity. It protects you from Internet hackers and keeps
your PC private.

McAfee Firewall:

• Stops fileshare and printshare access attempts.

• Shows who is connecting (i.e., if you allow sharing)

• Stops floods and other attack packets from being received by the Operating
System.

• Blocks untrusted applications from communicating over the network.

• Detects hidden programs ("trojans") that can give remote access to your PC
or reveal private information (e.g. online banking inf ormation).

• Provides detailed information about which sites you have contacted and
the type of connection that was made

1

• Blocks all traffic while you are away, and your PC is connected 24 hours a
day.

Figure 1-1. McAfee Firewall main window

Getting Started 11

Welcome to McAfee Firewall

How McAfee Firewall works

McAfee Firewall is a simple-to-operate security too l f or the non-technical
users. It dynamically manages your computing security behind the scenes, so
that you do not even have to understand networking protocols. It is custom
created at the moment it is needed, and only as needed, as you go on to do
something else on your computer.

McAfee Firewall filters traffic at the devices that your system uses - network
cards and modems. This means that it can reject inbound traffic before that
traffic can reach vital functions in your PC and before it can waste valuable
system resources.

It monitors applications that are either trusted or not trusted. When trusted
applications need to access a network, it manages everything in the co mputer
to allow that applicatio n’s traffic. When it detects non-trusted applications
trying to access a network, it blocks all traffic to and from that application.

Some network communications are needed to maintain network-based
services. These are managed through user defined rules under the SYSTEM
button feature of McAfee Firewall. The default SYSTEM settings feature
provides protection from hostile threats.

In addition, during the installation process, it will prompt you with some basic
questions to set up McAfee Firewall to do specific tasks, according to your
needs (e.g. allow sharing of files o r not).

NOTE: For more information on how McAfee Firewall works, see

Chapter 3, “McAfee Firewall Configurations.”

About McAfee Firewall documentation

This Getting Started manual provides the basic information you need to
install, setup and use McAfee Firewall. More detailed information on
step-by-step instructions on how to perform a task within McAfee Firewall is
provided via the Help files which you can access while working within the
different windows and dialog boxes. You can also review the Readme.txt file
which contain other general information ( e.g., frequently asked questions)
about the product.

12 McAfee Firewall

McAfee Firewall online Help

To launch McAfee Fir ewall help:

In the McAfee Firewall main screen, click Help menu; then select Contents.
The Help contents is displayed.

You can also search for a help topic via the Index or Find tabs.

• Index tab

1. In the text box, type the first few letters of the word or phrase you are looking for.

2. Locate what you are looking for; then double-click the topic or click the Display button.

• Find tab

Clicking the Find tab enables you to launch a fu ll text search. When you
search for topics via the Find tab for the first time, a Find Setup Wizard is
displayed. Follow the instructions on screen to setup the full text search
option. After setup is complete:

Welcome to McAfee Firewall

1. In the text box, type the first few letters of the word or phrase you are
looking for. You can also select matching words to narrow your search.

2. Once you have located what you are looking for in the display topic box, click the topic.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are some frequently asked questions that you can briefly
review:

NOTE: To read additional frequently asked questions, refer to the
Readme.txt file of McAfee Firewall.

How will McAfee Firewall help me?

McAfee Firewall protects your PC at the network level. It acts as a gatekeeper,
checking every data packet going in or out of your PC. It allows only what you
tell it to allow.

Getting Started 13

Welcome to McAfee Firewall

McAfee Firewall has been designed to be easy to use, while providing you
with excellent protection. Once you install and run it, it is configured to block
known attacks and to ask you b efore allowing applications to communicate.

How is my PC at risk on the Internet?

When you connect to the Internet, you share a network with millions of people
from around the world. While that is a truly wonderful and amazing
accomplishment, it brings with it all the problems of being accessible to
complete strangers.

When on the Internet, you need to lock down your PC. When you talk to
strangers on IRC (Internet Relay Chat), be cautious of files they send you. This
is one way the BO (Back Orifice) program spreads, giving people remote
control of your PC. Check files you get for viruses.

When on the Internet, others can try to access your fileshares. You should
check that they are not available, or else people can read and delete what is o n
your system.

The data you send can be seen by more people than just the intended receiver.
Practically any system that is connected to any part of the network path used
to relay your data packets can see what is sent. Also, it is hard to know with
absolute certainty that you are talki ng to whom you think you are talkin g to.

What other protection do I need?

McAfee Firewall provides network level protection. Other important types of
protection are:

• Anti-virus programs for application-level protection.

• Logon screens and screen saver passwords to preven t unauthorized access.

• File encryption or encrypting file systems to ke ep inform ation secret.

• Intrusion detection for an added level of network protection.

• Boot-time passwords to stop someone else from starting your PC.

• Physical access to the computer, e.g. stealing the hard drive.
A separate but also important issue is controlling access to information,

misinformation and "filth" that is widely available on the Internet. You can use
a number of content-filtering programs or services such as McAfee’s Internet
Guard Dog that can filter the contents of data packets or restrict access to
certain sites.

14 McAfee Firewall

Welcome to McAfee Firewall

Are there any data packets that McAfee Firewall cannot stop?

Inbound Data: No.

As long as McAfee Firewall supports a netw ork device and is running, it is
intercepting all incoming packets and will allow or block according to the way
you have it configured. If you choose to block everything, it will.

Outbound Data: Yes and no.

McAfee Firewall intercepts outbound data packets as they are passed to the
network device driver. All popular applications communicate this way. A
malicious program could communicate by other means, however.

What network devices does McAfee Firewall support?

McAfee Firewall supports Ethernet and Ethernet-like devices on Microsoft
Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 SP4 and SP5. This includes dial-up connections,
most cable and ISDN modems and most Ethernet cards. It does not support
Token Ring, FDDI, ATM, Frame Relay and other networks.

What protocols can McAfee Firewall filter?

McAfee Firewall can filter TCP/IP, UDP/IP, ICMP/IP and ARP. It intercepts
all protocols, but others, such as IPX, must be either allowed or blocked - no
filtering is done. The Internet uses the IP protocols. No others are sent. Also,
IP networks are the most common.

Getting Started 15