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KEA! X and the Microsoft Windows Firewall
Technical Note 2146
Last Reviewed 01-Oct-2004
Applies To
Attachmate KEA! X
Summary
Technical Note 2146
Last Reviewed 01-Oct-2004
Applies To
Attachmate KEA! X
Summary
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) includes a new Windows Firewall. In prior releases, this feature was known as the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) and was disabled by default. Starting with the SP2 release, during installation the firewall is automatically enabled on all network connections and is configured to block all unsolicited incoming traffic. This note describes how the Windows Firewall interacts with KEA! X.
Note: For information about Attachmate Products and Microsoft Windows XP SP2, see Technical Note 1981.
About the Windows Firewall
The Windows Firewall is a stateful host firewall that runs in Windows XP and blocks all unsolicited incoming traffic, unless configured to allow the traffic. Outgoing traffic is not blocked by the firewall.
When the firewall detects unsolicited inbound application traffic, a Windows Security Alert is displayed. The Alert window enables users to decide whether to block the incoming traffic (Keep Blocking), add the connection to the Windows Firewall Exceptions list and always allow it (Unblock), or allow only this specific instance of the connection (Ask Me Later).
KEA! X and the Windows Firewall
Attachmate has tested the current KEA! X product with the Microsoft Windows Firewall. (For information about the current product versions!, see the Attachmate Product Support Lifecycle at http://support.attachmate.com/programs/lifecycle/.)
Once unblocked, KEA! X is able to pass through the firewall with no additional firewall configuration because all communication with the host is initiated (solicited) by KEA! X.
Additional Notes:
- You must be a member of the Window's Local Administrative group to configure the firewall.
- The firewall can be configured using Group Policies or scripting. For more information about these deployment options, see Deploying Windows Firewall Settings for Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 on the Microsoft web site at
Manually Adding Applications to the Exceptions List
If you clicked Ask Me Later or Keep Blocking in the Windows Security Alert, you can still add the application to the Microsoft Firewall Exceptions list manually at any time. To manually add KEA! X to the Exceptions list, follow these steps:
- From the Control Panel, click Security Center > Windows Firewall.
- On the Exceptions tab, click Add Program.
- Browse to and select the KEA! X executable, X.exe, and then click Open > OK > OK.
