Running a Firewall When Playing FS9

[jordonj]

I have heard that you should de-activate your firewall and anti-virus when playing FS9.  I'm sure it would free up a lot, but I'm afraid of someone attacking my computer then.

Advice?

[chainz]

De activating your firewall and anti virus while playing games is a good idea. You shouldn't have to worry, When your done playing start them up again.

[commoner]

...disconnect from the internet and fly without fear of "attack" seems logical..............commoner

[phantom1]

I have never de-activated my firewall, or antivirus program when playing Flight Sim, and I've never had a problem. Peronally, I would never even consider doing so, as it leaves your computer wide open to all sorts of attacks from the net.


Alan

[GA_Pilot]

I am with phantom1, I have never disconnected my firewall, or my antivirus when I fly on flight sim, because I think to do so would leave you vulnerable. And disconnecting from the net isnt an option because I fly with real weather, which you cant use if you are disconnected.......

[jordonj]

Thanks Phantom1 and FlyIn...I am of that mind too, but I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[JBaymore]

I have never de-activated my firewall, or antivirus program when playing Flight Sim, and I've never had a problem.

There are some possible problems with this approach to online flight.... but they happen for OTHER users of the flight server you are flying on.  This is one of the prime causes of the dreaded "Some players were unable to connect" message in the multiplayer setup screen of fs2004.

If your firewall, router/dsl modem does not have the necessary ports open, then once you are connected to a flight server..... your unopened ports can prevent another person from being able to connect to the flight server.  This is a well known and documented fact among serious online flight folks.  Microsoft knows about the issue.  It gets discussed again and again on the server boards.

It is not hard to open the necessary firewall and router / modem ports and assign a permission for fs2004 to use them.  Once you do that you can leave the firewall running with no ill effects on anyone else.  

See the multiplayer forum here for more details in threads there... and also the "ports" postings on the "Worlds Serious Pilots" flight server forum.

best,

.................john

[_526th_Fireman]

I fly online all the time, at the Zone for CFS2, and sometimes there too for FS9, although I fly most of the time in FS9 at a seperate server.

I use a router and firewall and if set up correctly, there are no problems.

Most of todays firewalls will have some kind of setup where you can choose what traffic to allow and not to allow. Some call it the "Learner" mode.

This option makes it very simple....when you have this option selected in your firewall and you go fly online, it will ask you if you want to allow this traffic. You click yes and the firewall remembers the port it is using and you don't have to set it again.

Windows XP SP2 firewall has this option and makes it very easy to use. Although I did have a time setting up ports in my router as it was all new to me when I got broadband.

Now I happily fly online all the time.

Many flying online state that if you are behind a router, you can disable the firewall to fly because your router is acting like a very good firewall too. But then again, your router has to be set up correctly.

There are plenty of tutorials on line for settings up routers AND firewalls for flying on line. Nibbles and Bits is a very good one.

http://www.nibblesnbits.tk/

[jordonj]

I have all the ports I need open...It's the resources that a firewall uses that I was thinking of...

[FS_Pilot]

I personaly use a seperate computer as my firewall leaving more resources available for the Games machine. if you have an old computer laying around it is worth the effort. a pentium 100 with 64 mb ram will more than handle the job.

[Politically Incorrect]

I have been told by a few that as long as a browser or email and IM software isnt running your more than safe to disable your Firewall and Anti-virus.
Theory is that almost all viruses now come thorugh IM and email???
I have yet to try it, but one that did agree that as long as your browser or email isn't open your safe is a computer programer so I consider his word trustworty (to the point of letting someone else do it LOL!)

I know with these disabled you would certaintly free up much valuable resources and RAM, but fear that as long as a connection is enabled you are always at risk, am I wrong for thinking this way?

[Tom_M]

(paraphrased) I have yet to try it, but as long as your browser or email isn't open your safe

Wrong. Even with IM, email and browser closed, a machine connected to the Internet with no firewall is at risk.

Tests by several sites reported that a Windows XP machine left connected to the Internet without a firewall will be infected within 20 minutes. Also, the horrible 'Messenger Popup' ads will appear without a firewall unless you disable them in the Services part of the Administrative Tools.