mac firewall settings for google hangout

Firewall Settings For Google Hangout Software That Would

Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miamis NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC.

The Windows firewall has been enabled by default ever since worms like Blaster infected all those vulnerable Windows XP systems, so what gives.

Like firewalls on other operating systems, it allows you to block certain incoming connections.

Its more than just a switch you flip to boost your security, as its sometimes understood by Windows users.

Some firewalls also allow you to block outgoing connections, but the built-in firewalls on Mac and Windows dont work in this way.

If you want a firewall that will allow you to choose which programs get to connect to the Internet or not, look elsewhere.

Thats why a firewall was so necessary on Windows all those years ago because Windows XP had so many services listening for network connections, and those services were being exploited by worms.

Ubuntu took the approach of simply not having potentially vulnerable services listening by default, so an Ubuntu system is secure without a firewall.

Firewall Settings For Google Hangout Software That Would

However, it means that the firewall isnt actually good protection against any malicious software that would want to open a port and listen on your computer.

Once your computer is infected, its software firewall doesnt help.

You could access it entirely on your computer via localhost.

To prevent anyone else from contacting this server software, you could simply enable the firewall.

Unless you enable an exception for that specific piece of server software, all incoming connections to it from outside your computer will be blocked.

If youre using Mac OS X as a server system thats exposed directly to the Internet, youll obviously want to lock it down as much as possible with a firewall.

But, if youre doubting the advice here or just feel better with it enabled, youre also free to enable it.

Typical Mac users probably wont notice many (or any) issues after enabling the firewall.

Click the Apple menu, select System Preferences, and click the Security Privacy icon.

Click the Firewall tab, click the lock icon, and enter your password.

Click Turn On Firewall to turn the firewall on, and then click Firewall Options to configure your firewall options.

An application you add to the list can have incoming connections allowed or blocked your choice.

It could potentially lead to more hassle with setting up certain network services.

But, if you feel more comfortable with it on, youre free to enable it.

Hes written about technology for nearly a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years.

Mac Firewall Settings For Google Hangout