Getting Started with McAfee Firewall

McAfee Firewall

Inbound Data: No. As long as McAfee Firewall supports a network 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. 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.

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

Many people use McAfee Firewall to block the “nukes” that cause their IRC connections to be broken. While McAfee Firewall blocks the nukes, there are other ways that attackers can still cause the connections to be broken:

nServer-side nuking. This is when the "nukes" are sent to the IRC server, not to your computer, telling the server that you can no longer be reached. To prevent this, the IRC server needs a firewall.

nFlood blocking a TCP connection. If a flood of packets is sent to you from a higher speed connection, McAfee Firewall can stop the packets, but the flood takes up all your bandwidth. Your system does not get a chance to send anything. Dial-up users are particularly vulnerable since they have the lowest speed connections.

TIP

To read additional frequently asked questions, refer to the

Readme.txt file.