Firewall – Standard Mode
When using the Online Armor Firewall in Standard mode, you will most likely interact with the Firewall primarily through pop-ups, without the need to change the Firewall settings.
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 whether you are using Online Armor in Standard or Advanced mode.
- Pop-ups
- Firewall Settings
- Program Access
- Program Access Context Menu
- Rules
- Rules List Context Menu
- Interfaces
- Computers List
- Computers List Context Menu
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 Standard mode you will only see pop-ups for Unknown programs that attempt to access the internet, and you will not see further pop-ups regarding how the program accesses the internet. The pop-ups are simple, providing the filename of the program attempting the location and the location of the file on your hard drive, and provide the following options.
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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 Standard mode only the Rules tab is available, which offers basic control of the Firewall. If you are using a paid version of Online Armor then you can configure advanced options and they will still function while in Standard mode, but will be hidden.
To access the Firewall settings simply open the Online Armor Control Panel and select Firewall from the main menu on the left.
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 filename 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.
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 file name 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 ports the rule allows.
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 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 can see and firewall.
The Interfaces list is organized using a table that shows the following columns:
- Active – Indicates whether the network interface 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) 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.