Managing Firewall Security Levels - McAfee VSF09EMB1RAA - VirusScan Plus 2009 User Manual

70 McAfee VirusScan Plus

Managing Firewall security levels

Firewall's security levels control the degree to which you want to
manage and respond to alerts. These alerts appear when it
detects unwanted network traffic and inbound and outbound
Internet connections. By default, Firewall's security level is set to
Automatic, with outgoing-only access.
When Automatic security level is set and Smart
Recommendations is enabled, yellow alerts provide the option to
either allow or block access for unknown programs that require
inbound access. Although green alerts are disabled by default,
they appear when known programs are detected and access is
automatically allowed. Allowing access lets a program create
outbound connections and listen for unsolicited inbound
connections.
Generally, the more restrictive a security level (Stealth and
Standard), the greater the number of options and alerts that are
displayed and which, in turn, must be handled by you.
The following table describes Firewall's three security levels,
starting from the most restrictive to the least:
Level Description
Stealth Blocks all inbound Internet connections, except open
ports, hiding your computer's presence on the Internet.
The firewall alerts you when new programs attempt
outbound Internet connections or receive inbound
connection requests. Blocked and added programs appear
on the Program Permissions pane.
Standard Monitors inbound and outbound connections and alerts
you when new programs attempt Internet access. Blocked
and added programs appear on the Program Permissions
pane.
Automatic Allows programs to have either incoming and outgoing
(full) or outgoing-only Internet access. The default security
level is Automatic with the option selected to allow
programs outgoing-only access.
If a program is allowed full access, then Firewall
automatically trusts it and adds it to the list of allowed
programs on the Program Permissions pane.
If a program is allowed outgoing-only access, then Firewall
automatically trusts it when making an outbound Internet
connection only. An inbound connection is not
automatically trusted.
Firewall also allows you to immediately reset your security level
to Automatic (and allow outgoing-only access) from the Restore
Firewall Defaults pane.