Advanced mode is intended for more advanced users that wish to exercise more control of how their computer can connect to the internet.
Online Armor will automatically allow Trusted programs to access the internet by default to minimize the amount of pop-ups that you see. This option can be changed in the Options, under the Firewall tab. The number and type of Firewall pop-ups that you see will also be different depending on your settings and whether you are using Online Armor in Standard or Advanced mode.
Firewall Settings:
Video
- Automatically allow trusted programs to access the internet (Video)
- Display a small popup when trusted programs are allowed access (Video)
- Show or hide the firewall activity in the system tray (Video)
- Block all network traffic (Video)
- Unblock network traffic (Video)
 | In Advanced mode you will see pop-ups for Unknown programs that attempt to access the internet, and information on the protocol, remote address, port, and country of the connection being attempted. The pop-ups provide the filename of the program attempting the location and the location of the file on your hard drive, and provide the following options.
|
Firewall Settings
The firewall settings allow you to make changes to what and how programs can connect to the internet, and if or what computers can connect to yours over the local network.
In Advanced mode the Rules tab is the same as in Standard mode, but the Restrictions, Blacklists, ICMP, and Restricted Ports tabs are available as well.
To access the Firewall settings simply open the Online Armor Control Panel and select Firewall from the main menu on the left.
The Rules tab offers basic control of the firewall. This is where most of the configuration changes will be made for the Firewall. The Rules tab is the same in Standard and Advanced mode. If you have already read the Firewall Settings section for Standard mode then you can skip this section and move on to Restrictions.
Once a program has been Allowed or Blocked from connecting to the internet it will be added to the Program Access list. The Program Access list shows you basic information about the programs the Firewall has seen and allows you to change whether internet access is Allowed or Blocked for each program.
The Program Access list is organized using a table with the following columns:
- Status – Shows whether internet access is Allowed or Blocked for the program.
- Program – Shows the file name of the program on your hard drive.
- Program name – Shows the name of the program.
Each row is color coded to indicate whether the program is Allowed (green) or Blocked (red).
Underneath the list are the following buttons.
- Allow – If a program has been Blocked then this button will be enabled and will Allow the program to access the internet.
- Block – Sets Online Armor to Block the program from accessing the internet.
- Add – Allows you to manually add a program to the list. Manually added programs are Allowed by default.
- Delete – Removes the program from the Program Access list. Deleting the item from the list will cause Online Armor to pop up again if the program tries to access the internet again in the future.
Program Access List Context Menu
You can right-click any program in the Program Access list to access additional options including:
- Allow – If a program has been Blocked then this option will be enabled and will Allow the program to access the internet.
- Block – Sets Online Armor to Block the program from accessing the internet.
- Find – Allows you to perform a search in the Program Access list to find a particular program.
- Add – Allows you to manually add a program to the list. Manually added programs are Allowed by default.
- Delete – Removes the program from the Program Access list. Deleting the item from the list will cause Online Armor to pop up again if the program tries to access the internet again in the future.
- Delete All – Removes all programs from the Program Access list.
- Goto Rules – Takes you to the Rules list, automatically highlighting the selected item.
- Export – Allows you to save the Firewall settings, which can be imported again later if Online Armor is reinstalled, to save the time of answering pop-ups or changing settings again.
- Import – Allows you to import previously exported Firewall settings.
The Firewall Rules determine how a program is allowed to connect to the internet.
Note: See “Creating Firewall Rules” for more information on creating rules.
The Rules list is organized using a table with the following columns:
- Program – Shows the filename of the program on your hard drive.
- Prot – (Short for Protocol.) Shows the protocol for that individual rule. If the program uses another protocol then another rule will be created.
- Dir – (Short for Direction.) Shows whether the rule allows incoming or outgoing connections.
- Ports – Shows which port(s) the rule allows the program to use.
- Adv – Indicates whether Advanced options are set in this rule. (Advanced mode only.)
Each row is color coded to indicate whether the rule allows (green) or denies (red) the type of connections specified in the rule.
Underneath the list are the following buttons:
- New Rule – Allows you to manually create a new rule to add to the list.
- Delete Rule – Removes the selected rule.
- Edit Rule – Allows you to make changes to the selected rule in the list.
You can right-click
any rule in the list to access additional options including:
- New Rule – Allows you to manually create a new rule to add to the list
- Edit Rule – Allows you to make changes to the selected rule in the list.
- Copy Rule – Creates a duplicate of the selected rule and opens the rule editor. This is useful if you need to create a rule that is similar to one that is already made.
- Find – Allows you to perform a search in the Rules list to find a particular rule.
- Delete Selection – Removes the selected rule.
- Delete All – Removes all rules in the list.
- Export – Allows you to save the Firewall settings, which can be imported again later if Online Armor is reinstalled, to save the time of answering pop-ups or changing settings again.
- Import – Allows you to import previously exported Firewall settings.
The Interfaces list shows you all network adapters installed in your computer that Online Armor is currently firewalling.
The Interfaces list is organized using a table with the following columns:
- Active – Indicates whether the network interfaces is active (connected).
- Trusted – When this option is selected, any computer in your local network (other computers that share the same internet connection) will be able to connect to your computer, usually to access shared files or printers, without restriction.
- Address, Mask – Shows the network address (IP address) and the Subnet Mask that the network adapter is currently using.
- Desc – Shows the description of the network adapter provided by the network adapter’s driver.
The Interfaces list is color coded to indicate automatically Trusted (yellow), manually Trusted (green), Not-Trusted (red), or disabled/not applicable (grey).
The Computers list shows other computers in your local network that Online Armor can see. This list allows you to control what computers in your network may connect to your computer, usually to access shared files or printers across the network.
Computers may be classified in the following ways:
- Trusted – The computer can connect to your computer without any restrictions.
- Unknown – If the computer connects to your computer through a Trusted network interface then the connection will be allowed and rules created. If it connects to your computer through a network interface that is not Trusted then the connection will be denied.
- Not-Trusted – The computer cannot connect to your computer under any circumstances.
The Computers list is organized using a table with the following columns:
- Computer – The network address (IP address), hardware (MAC) address, and possibly the computer name of the other computer seen on the network.
- Status – Indicates whether the computer is Trusted, Unknown, or Not-Trusted.
- (Unlabeled) – The last column, which is not labeled, shows a light bulb if the computer has been located and is turned on.
Note: Computers commonly communicate across the network during the normal course of operation. This does not necessarily mean that the computer is accessing any personal information or behaving maliciously.
Underneath the list are two options:
- Hide inactive networks – Hides any networks that Online Armor has seen but that your computer is not currently connected to.
- ARP protection - Changes the way that Online Armor discovers other computers on the network, using a method that is less vulnerable to ARP attacks. This method may take longer to discover other computers and may produce problems on some networks.
- Reset list – Re-establishes the list of computers on the network, clearing any computers from the list that are not currently on the network.
You can right-click any computer in the Computers list to access options including:
- Trust – Sets the selected computer to Trusted.
- Untrust – Sets the selected computer to Unknown.
- Distrust – Sets the selected computer to Not-Trusted.
The Restrictions tab allows you to restrict connections by IP address/range and by Country.
The Restrictions tab contains two panes. The left pane allows you to configure IP address/range restrictions, and the right tab allows you to configure restrictions by country.
At the top of each pane are two options that allow you to change whether the settings you configure will be Allowed or Denied.
- With the option set to Allowed, your computer will be able to connect to any IP address/range and country except for the ones you specify.
- With the option set to Denied, your computer will only be able to connect to the specified IP addresses/ranges and/or countries.
To add an IP restriction click Add and enter the starting and ending IP addresses in the range you wish to Allow or Block. For example, entering 10.10.10.0 to 10.10.10.255 will block every address starting with 10.10.10.xxx. Once you enter the starting and ending addresses of the range, the IP Address and Mask fields will be automatically filled in.
To add a country restriction, simply click Add and select the country you wish to Allow or Block.
Once you have added restrictions, you can right-click on any entry in the list and Import or Export settings files.
Online Armor supports the import of Blacklists in the "Bluetack" format. Online Armor will block any connections to or from the IP addresses on the Blacklist(s).
You may add multiple blacklists and give them a name for easy identification. Selecting the "Default (All Rules)" option configures Online Armor to apply the blacklist to all rules automatically. In the Advanced mode rule editor you may override these settings on a per-rule basis.
You can Import and Export your blacklists by right-clicking any entry in the Blacklists.
You can also manually Add, Delete, or Edit individual entries in each blacklist with the corresponding buttons below.
The ICMP tab allows you to configure Online Armor to Allow, Deny, and Log the ICMP messages that you wish.
By default all ICMP messages are logged and Echo Request, Timestamp Request, Information Request, and Address Mask Request are allowed.
The list is color coded to show when each ICMP message is Allowed (green) or Denied (salmon).
The Restricted Ports list allows you to restrict ports used for internet connections, regardless of the Trusted status of any individual program. This list does not restrict local network connections.
You can manually Add ports to be restricted, Edit existing port restrictions, or Delete port restrictions. You can also temporarily disable restrictions by removing the check from the box in the “Restricted” column.
The Restricted Ports list is color coded to indicate when a restriction is one of the defaults (green), or when a restriction has been added or edited (salmon).
Clicking Restore Defaults will remove any restrictions that have been added and undo any changes made to the default restrictions.