Windows 7 has this really effective built-in firewall that protects your computer from the latest security threats. If you don’t know how to configure the firewall settings on your Windows 7 computer, then this article would really help you in setting the firewall rules according to your needs for your greatest security.

Available Security Options

There are a lot of security options available for you that would allow you to modify your firewall settings for your maximum security for your computer. The numbered steps below will describe different firewall settings that you can use for your advantage.

  1. From the Start menu, open the Control Panel window and then click on the System and Security” link. This will now show the available security options that you can use for your system. To set the rules for the built-in firewall for Windows 7, click on the “Windows Firewall” link. A window will now appear which would show the different firewall options. These are available for both private (home or work) and public networks. The default setting for the firewall option for both these types of networks is ON. On the left pane of this window are important firewall options like “Change notification settings”, “Turn Windows Firewall off or on”, “Allow a certain program or a particular feature through the firewall of Windows”, “Turn the Windows firewall off or on”, and “Advanced settings”.
  2. When a new program tries to access the internet, Windows 7 has a notification feature to ensure that these programs are allowed for internet access. As these notifications may get a little annoying, there is an option to turn off this feature without compromising the security of your computer. To do this, click on the option “Change Notification settings” as described from step one. If you have another firewall installed on your computer, you can also turn off Windows 7 firewall on the same window.
  3. The link “Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall” allows the user to choose which programs can access the internet. Upon clicking this link, a list of programs that are allowed to connect to the internet will be displayed. You can add a new program to the list by clicking on “Allow another program” and then selecting the new program then clicking the “Add” button.
  4. The “Advanced Settings” link will allow you to do advanced customizations for your Windows 7 firewall. This is where you can define Inbound rules. Outbound rules, and Connection security rules and monitoring according to your needs. If you want to set your computer to the default firewall settings, clicking on the “Restore defaults” link will do the trick. It is however not advised to click this link if a lot of customizations in your firewall have been made.

From what you can see in the numbered steps above, we can really say that Windows 7 provides a lot of options that would help retain maximum security for your computer. These options are pretty easy to configure by following the steps above and would keep your computer safety at its highest level of security.