Firewall Configuration in Windows XP

Role of Firewall
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 offers firewall. Firewall inspects and restricts the information that is exchanged between a computer and Internet. Windows firewall is a security tool that protects your computer and its confidential data against anyone who has evil intentions and want to access your personal detail without your permission. It gives you full control to block suspicious software and worms and provides a mean to log security events.
It helps to defend your computer by blocking unsolicited traffic. Unsolicited traffic means any attempt to connect with your machine over a network connection that was not specifically requested by applications running on your system. Therefore, firewall configuration is an essential part so that your applications like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express etc can work successfully without any pain.

Firewall configuration is not a heavy task. This blog describes how to configure firewall on a single machine.
Firewall configuration
STEP 1: From the Windows XP SP2 desktop, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
STEP 2: Next, in Control Panel, click Security Center.
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STEP 3: Windows Firewall general settings allow you to configure these options:
On (recommended). This is the default setting (with Don’t allow exceptions not selected).
Don't allow exceptions. When this option is ON, the firewall is placed into ON with No Exceptions mode which blocks all unsolicited requests to connect to your system.
Off (not recommended). Turning OFF Windows Firewall might make your computer more vulnerable to damage from viruses, worms or intruders.