Gaming with a Firewall

[DarkTerror]

Do you think you could help me a gaming question?

The concern I have, is that I play a game called Warcraft III. To play the game in its best possible way I need to have my firewall open. But I would like as much anti virus programs on my system that I will not be totally defenseless against other viruses.

Currently I run Trend Micro's PC Cillin.

What else can I have so I can secure my system without actually having a firewall.

[gameboy]

I Use the Gamespy arcade to play online games. It seems to work good with my firewall(NPF) turned on. Also i run my anti-virus(NAV), Pest Patrol, WinPatrol, Spybots tea timer and a few other apps without any trouble whatsoever while playing online games.

[gkweb]

Hi,

if you don't use any firewalls, I strongly advise you to disable as much as possible of Windows services.

A good way to start is to disable the services used by viruses/worms :
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/wwdc.htm

and for further informations about what services to disable :
http://www.blackviper.com/

regards,

gkweb.

[CrazyM]

-{ Quote: "The concern I have, is that I play a game called Warcraft III. To play the game in its best possible way I need to have my firewall open." }-

Depending on the firewall, you should not have to open up everything.
Does your firewall allow you to define only the necessary ports/protocols and restrict that to a specified application?

Regards,

CrazyM

[dread]

You dont have to completly shut down your firewall. You only have to open up a few ports here is a list http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/app_port_list.htm if none of them work look in the help files it list the port. Or look here http://www.battle.net or here http://www.blizzard.com/support/ . I think this what your looking for though http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=awr0655p . This is true for most programs your firewall is blocking most of the help files or their website will tell you what port they use so you can open up that port.

[Paranoid2000]

DarkTerror,

You really need to specify which firewall you are using to get specific advice. Most can be configured to give limited access to certain applications. Also, if you are using a router (for sharing a cable or DSL connection), this may have a firewall too - if so, please specify the make and model.

Running without a firewall while online nowadays is just asking for trouble, regardless of the reason.

[DarkTerror]

I'm using Trend Micro's Firewall, that's probably the best I have on my computer.

I looked around the Firewall area on my trend micro program. It doesn't seem to have any options to open up some ports.

[Detox]

I am an avid online gamer, and have used Sygate Personal Firewall since I discovered it. I can let an application (the game, in thie instance) access the net and then everything is fine and dandy.

[Paranoid2000]

-{ Quote: "I'm using Trend Micro's Firewall, that's probably the best I have on my computer.

I looked around the Firewall area on my trend micro program. It doesn't seem to have any options to open up some ports." }-Your firewall should have *some* ability to allow you to loosen the limits for a single program. If it really does not, then I would advise you to consider another one (at this point everyone else jumps in with recommendations for their favourite... ;D).

If you want something simple, try ZoneAlarm (although it is a pig to uninstall if you need to remove it). For something offering more configuration options, consider Kerio or Outpost (I'm afraid I can't recommend Sygate until they get that local proxy issue sorted, sorry Detox).

[dread]

http://kb.trendmicro.com/solutions/productSResult.asp?txtKeyword=ports&radMatch=or&cmbCategory=23&radSearchAgainst=f&radDisplay=1&cmbResults=100&btnSearch=Search&cType=3&prodID=81&versionID=1&cmbProduct=81&cmbVersion=2004&radKey=Score&radOrder=DESC

Look at that page. I assume you have Internet Security since that is the only firewall I know of they make. You do a search to if that isnt what you want or have other problems.
Adding or editing the Exception List rules of Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2004 Personal Firewall ------------- http://kb.trendmicro.com/solutions/solutionDetail.asp?solutionID=17039
Here is my personal opinion. Trend firewall is a pain a butt, yes it will do its job but most of the people that i know has trashed it cuase you have to do that alot for programs. I am not trasing it though not saying its bad or anything just saying its a real pain to configure cuase you have to do that alot from what I seen. Another thing if you have windows xp and have the windows xp built in firewall on,disable it it stops alot of stuff to.