How secure is Windows Firewall?
One of the first things I do when I reinstall my computer is turn off Windows Firewall because it tends to create more problems than help. But since I wanted the "full" Windows Vista experience, I decided to leave it on this time.
But it seems that in Windows Vista, Windows Firewall does not create any problems at all by blocking more than it should. In fact, from what I can tell, Windows firewall does not block anything at all!
At first, I started clicking "Unblock" when the first few popups occurred because they were programs I wanted to allow. The only problem with pressing Unblock is that it will make another popup before it will unblock the program because you need administrative privileges.
After awhile, I decided that I would try clicking "Keep blocking" instead because I was lazy and one popup is better than two any day. The first time I did it I thought I would have to go back and allow the program or it would not work. But, this was not the case. The program worked perfectly. It appears that the Windows Firewall allows a program to communicate with the outside world, even when it's blocked!
The other day a patch to a game that I play, World of Warcraft, came out. It requires you to download the patch with a bittorrent type application. As soon as the patch started I recieved the Windows Firewall message saying that the program was blocked.
And being the lazy person that I am, I clicked "Keep blocking". But sure enough the patch was able to both download and upload, despite telling it that I did not want it to connect to the internet
From what I can tell, all the applications I have tested so far do not require you to unblock them. I am able to run Half-Life, World of Warcraft, bittorrent, and numerous other programs without ever pressing Unblock.