I got email the other day that said XP service pack 2 will be adding a firewall that is on by default. It will also close all your unused ports.
Win XP SP 2 Process and Port HardeningThe “shielded mode” security settings in the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 will provide the best level of safety for your machine
Information security starts with knowledge of, and control over, both our software-based and human-based processes. The dangers of running unmonitored processes listening on open ports are well known. In preparing to release Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft has taken the unprecedented step of admitting it might have made a mistake in forcing Windows machines to listen to the network and accept arbitrary, anonymous and unsolicited inbound communications. Go to http://click.wd-mag.email-publisher.com/maab0hsaa4P5Pb5V78zb/ for information about the upcoming SP 2 release.
My first thought was about how many apps will be broken by this.
I won't trust anything from Microsoft when it's first rolled out. For the time being, Norton is my best friend.
Posted by Mithras at March 5, 2004 01:29 AMXP installs out the box with a firewall enabled that generally breaks things from teh get go for advanced users. I can only imagine how many headaches this update will cause for me.....
Posted by Prime at March 5, 2004 02:44 AM