Managing Computer Connections - McAfee VIRUSSCAN PLUS 2008 User Manual

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Managing computer connections

You can configure Firewall to manage specific remote
connections to your computer by creating rules, based on
Internet Protocol addresses (IPs), that are associated with remote
computers. Computers that are associated with trusted IP
addresses can be trusted to connect to your computer and those
IPs that are unknown, suspicious, or distrusted, can be banned
from connecting to your computer.
When allowing a connection, ensure that the computer that you
trust is safe. If a computer that you trust is infected through a
worm or other mechanism, your computer can be vulnerable to
infection. In addition, McAfee recommends that the computer(s)
you trust are protected by a firewall and an up-to-date antivirus
program also. Firewall does not log traffic or generate event alerts
from IP addresses in the Trusted IP Addresses list.
Computers that are associated with unknown, suspicious, or
distrusted IP addresses can be banned from connecting to your
computer.
Since Firewall blocks all unwanted traffic, it is normally not
necessary to ban an IP address. You should ban an IP address
only when you are certain an Internet connection poses a specific
threat. Ensure that you do not block important IP addresses, such
as your DNS or DHCP server, or other ISP-related servers.
Depending on your security settings, Firewall can alert you when
it detects an event from a banned computer.
In this chapter
Trusting computer connections ................................98
Banning computer connections ................................101