Whenever an application makes a request for Internet or network access, the Network Protection feature allows or denies this request based upon the rules specified for that application. Each individual rule contains instructions that determine whether the application should be allowed or blocked; which protocols it is allowed to use; which ports it is allowed to use and so forth.
The Network Protection uses a set of rules to filter data transmitted to and from your system. The rules are grouped into 2 categories:
- General Rules. Rules that determine the protocols over which the communication is allowed. A default set of rules that provides an optimal protection is used. You can edit the rules by allowing or denying connections over certain protocols.
- Application Rules. Rules that determine how each application can access network resources and the Internet.
GENERAL RULES
Certain protocols are used whenever data is transmitted over the Internet.
By default, general rules aren't displayed when opening Network Protection. To display these rules, select the Show General Rules checkbox on the bottom of the Application Rules window:
The default rules are displayed. To edit the rule action, select a corresponding Allow or Deny drop-down menu option.
- DNS over UDP.
Allow or deny DNS over UDP. By default, this type of connection is allowed.
- DNS over TCP.
Allow or deny DNS over TCP. By default, this type of connection is allowed.
- Sending emails.
Allow or deny sending e-mails. By default, this type of connection is allowed.
- Web Browsing HTTP.
Allow or deny HTTP web browsing. By default, this type of connection is allowed.
- Incoming Remote Desktop Connections.
Allow or deny other computer’ access over Remote Desktop Connections. By default, this type of connection is allowed.
- Windows Explorer traffic on HTTP.
Allow or deny HTTP traffic from Windows Explorer. By default, this type of connection is denied.
- Windows Explorer traffic on FTP.
Allow or deny FTP traffic from Windows Explorer. By default, this type of connection is denied.
APPLICATION RULES
To view and manage the rules controlling applications' access to network resources and the Internet, open the the Application Rules dialog first:
1. On the Advanced Settings dialog, click the Manage button under the Application Rules block.
Here you can reset, add, edit or remove rules to be applied to the applications installed on your PC.
To define a new rule for an application, click the Add button. With the Add Rule dialog displayed, specify the following parameters:
- Program Path. Click the Browse button and select the application the rule applies to.
- Local IP. Specify the source address of the connection attempt. Only one value can be entered here.
- Remote IP. Specify the destination address of the connection attempt. Several values separated by comma can be entered here.
- Local Port. Specify the port that the application must be attempting to send data through. Several values separated by a comma or a range of values using dashes can be entered here.
- Remote Port. Specify the port on the remote entity that the application must be attempting to send to. Several values separated by comma or a range of values using dashes can be entered here.
- Protocol. Specify the protocol that the application must be attempting to use when sending or receiving packets of data:
- Any. Select this radio button if you want the rule to apply to all IP protocols.
- TCP. Select this radio button to enable two hosts to establish a connection and exchange streams of data. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) guarantees data and guarantees delivery of packets in the same order they have been sent.
- UDP. Select this radio button to use User Datagram Protocol that is an IP-based transport designed for high performance. It is often used by games and other video-based applications.
- Other. Select this radio button if you want the rule to apply to a specific protocol and indicate a number to represent this specific IP protocol (other than TCP and UDP).
- Direction. Select the direction of the monitored network activity:
Outbound. The rule applies only for the outgoing traffic.
Inbound. The rule applies only for the incoming traffic.
Both. The rule applies in both directions. - IP Version. Select a suitable IP address format: IPv4, IPv6, or Any.
- Action. The action the Network Protection feature takes when the conditions of the rule are met. Select Allow or Deny.
Once the parameters have been specified, select one of the four profiles the rule will apply to:
- Trusted
- Home/Office
- Public
- Untrusted
A profile is a way to group the network adapters. For example, on a machine with six network adapters one may belong to group #1 (which we can label “Home/Office network rules”) and the rest can belong to group #2 (which can be labeled “Public network rules”).
Adapter grouping is useful as it allows certain rules to be immediately applied for any selected adapters.
For example, you can create various rules for home networks and for public networks using different profiles. If a new adapter is added (like a newly connected WI-FI adapter), you can choose to apply one of those sets of rules to this new adapter.
The profile types were added to enhance the user experience. No action will be taken unless you specify it. One adapter can have several profiles selected. Once you apply one of the four profiles to an adapter, all the rules assigned to this profile become active for this adapter.
To save your parameters, click the Save button.
To edit a rule, select it in the application rules list, and then click the Edit button. With the Add Rule dialog displayed, modify the parameters previously set, and click the Save button.
To delete a rule, select it in the application rules list, and then click the Remove button.
To remove the current set of rules and restore the default ones, click the Reset button.