Block Outbound Traffic in Windows Vista Firewall
Enable 2 way blocking capabilities of Windows Vista Firewall.
Windows Vista’s built-in Firewall does a decent job of blocking incoming requests. It is capable of blocking outgoing requests as well but that feature is turned off by default. An unblocked firewall that can don’t have any control over outgoing traffic is quite dangerous that a malicious program can mass-email spam, forward passwords, credit card details and any other critical information to the wrong person.
So if you are running Windows Vista you can follow these simple steps to enable Windows Vista Firewall to block any outgoing traffic as well,
Step-1: Windows Firewall with Advances Services
Click the Start button and type-in Firewall in the Search box. When you see the list narrowed down click on the “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” option.
Step-2: Windows Vista Firewall Properties
Click thru the UAC prompt and when the “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” dialog pops-up click on the “Windows Firewall Properties” link.
Step-3: Domain Profile Tab
On the Domain Profile tab you should be able to see Outbound connections have a default value of “Allow”. Change that to “Block”.
Step-4: Private Profile Tab
Navigate to the Private Profile tab and there again you should be able to see Outbound connections have a default value of “Allow”. Change that to “Block”.
Step-5: Public Profile Tab
Once again, when you navigate to the Public Profile tab, you should be able to see Outbound connections have a default value of “Allow”. Change that to “Block”. Click OK to dismiss the dialog.
Ultimately we want all the 3 tabs to have the Outbound Connection values set to “Block”. Once you do that Windows Vista Firewall will now block all outbound traffic as well, providing you with a firewall that you can trust.
Alternatively, you can use the best free firewall program Comodo Internet Security.
If you have any questions or comments please let us know in comments.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Great tutorial again!
I’d simply add to be careful with blocking all outbound traffic though, this could be problematic with a variety of programs, especially Bittorrent or online video games.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:59 am
I followed the above instructions however subsequently and what suddenly became "blocked" was Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, etc. How can I correct this problem, meaning how can I make the changes that you recommended but at the same time utilize Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, etc.?
July 24th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
When I block outbound connections, I can't use Firefox. It's not my internet connection, I know that for sure. I even tried putting a check in the box to make Firefox an exception. I also tried it on Internet Explorer with the exception box checked and unchecked and had the same problem both times. It only seems to do this when I have outbound blocked on my Private Profile. So for now I'm only blocking outbound connections on Domain and Public profiles. How do I block outgoing on Private Profiles but still be able to use web browsers?