OA Free & Windows Firewall - Revisted using XP Pro

[Akamai 0]

I know there is a thread on this but it has to do with Win7 and i'm not sure which version of OA. So here's my question on the behavior of OA Free version 4.5.1.431:

We were testing version 3.x and saw there was a choice where you could enable/re-enable? win firewall when you close or shut down OA. In fact there was a box where you could check for this. I believe it was in Options. Now, we no longer see this box and in fact shutting down OA doesn't exhibit the same behavior as before.

With version 3.x we saw immediately that the win FW was enabled after OA was shut down. We do not see this happening in this above referenced version. Has this function changed? I have not tested whether or not rebooting without OA auto-starting will enable the win FW but this is not ideal anyway. Hopefully someone can let us know about this 'cause i'm thinking this will be the case with the paid version as well.

In the meantime, i've created some batch files that will enable/disable win FW and keep them 'at the ready'

Thanks for any information on this...

BTW, other than this change, this version seems amazing in every other respect.

[Nick 10]

I'm using OA Free version 4.5.1.431 and my OS is Win XP Pro SP3. Shutting down OA automatically enables Windows Firewall.

[JackHughs 0]

I'm using OA Free version 4.5.1.431 and my OS is Win XP Pro SP3. Shutting down OA automatically enables Windows Firewall.

Same here. I'm using OA Free version 4.5.1.431 on both Win XP Home SP3 and Win XP Pro SP3. If OA is shut down, the Windows Firewall is enabled. When OA is restarted, the Windows Firewall is disabled and the Windows Security Center reports that the OA Firewall is operative. This is a very nice feature.

JackHughs

[MaB69 0]

Hi,

This is now an option of advanced mode. This feature is activated by default.

regards,

MaB

[Akamai 0]

Thanks very much for the responses!

Every one of my XP SP2 systems is exhibiting the very same behavior. I even set OA not to start on reboot, shut it down and the win FW was NOT enabled upon reboot. This is 2 [custom home built solid] desktops and 1 Thinkpad doing the exact same thing. One desktop and the TPad did have OA version 3.x installed before upgrading to 4.5.1.431. But one desktop didn't have any FW [other than native windows] installed at all. It appears that something within SP3 puts it right. I'm not willing to put in sp3 - yet. Systems are seriously solid now and i don't trust m$ sps. I'm from the "if it isn't broke i will not fix it" crowd. It's worked well for me for over 25 years in this field.

Can anyone confirm whether or not there is a Reg setting or .ini file i can 'mess with' to get this behavior like it was with version 3.x and i guess what you all are experiencing with SP3?

thanks for any help!

[Nick 10]

In any case you might consider that Online Armor currently runs on Windows XP SP3 (32bit), Vista SP2 (32bit) and 7 (32bit & 64bit)...

System Requirements

Regards

[Martin... 6]

Hi Akamai,

You kind of answered your own question. Your OA installation ain't working since you're running an outdated OS that doesn't have all the functions that OA needs.

You really ought to update to SP3.

And if I may, if you don't trust Microsoft to improve their own system - then perhaps you're on the wrong platform.

You will find OS's with a lot more user-influence out there.

Martin.

[Akamai 0]

Hi Akamai,

You kind of answered your own question. Your OA installation ain't working since you're running an outdated OS that doesn't have all the functions that OA needs. And if I may, if you don't trust Microsoft to improve their own system - then perhaps you're on the wrong platform. You will find OS's with a lot more user-influence out there.

Martin.

Aloha Martin! I kinda figured it was an SP3 thing... but the installation IS working otherwise, as a few of us have checked it backwards and forwards and so far this is the only snafu we can find. Sorry, i just don't do SP3 at this time. With due respect to you and i do thank you for pointing out the obvious... anyone who fully trusts M$ code needs their head examined. And i know i'm not in the minority with that statement. Seriously, i multi boot Slackware and other 'flavors' of Linux but there are reasons why i also run XPProSP2, and believe me, i do tweak the dog out of it.

Also, FYI, i've not been hit by any malware/virus ever. Not bad for over 25 years of IT work. Lucky? Perhaps. Blessed? Absolutely. I'm not saying that companies i've helped haven't been hit, just my own systems.

I had noticed - with a bit of apprehension - the SP3 reference. But since everything installed ok i didn't think much of it as many software packages are like that. I will keep an eye on any other problems that may arise and in the meantime, script up a way to enable the 'native' FW upon OA shutdown.

thanks again for all the responses!

Aloha a nui loa a hui hou!