Configuring Your Firewall 
Revised 1/7/2008 LD1


Since a la mode's desktop programs frequently connect to the Internet to communicate with your XSite, our map services, our update servers, and various other services, if you install a firewall program on your computer, you're likely to get a number of warnings when this occurs. Frequently, program crashes, lockups, and other errors are caused by something as simple as a blocked program file in your firewall.

This document explains some basic configuration options in today's common firewall programs.  If you have problems following any of these instructions, we recommend consulting your security software manufacturer or a local technician for additional assistance. While our support technicians will do the best they can to assist you, keep in mind that firewalls and antivirus software are 3rd party programs so we aren't able to provide additional support if you still have problems with the Internet functions in your a la mode desktop program while they are activated.

 

Select your a la mode program AND firewall program using the options below to view the exact steps on configuring your firewall.

1. Select Your a la mode Program 2. Select Your Firewall
 

 

What's a firewall?

With the frequency of computer viruses, spyware, adware, and phishing attacks on the Internet today, there's an ever increasing need for software to protect your computer from these potential threats.  A firewall is a program designed to do just that.  In fact firewalls are so common today, that you may already have a firewall on your computer that you are not aware of.  Generally, firewalls come packaged with antivirus software or if you have Windows XP, it also comes pre-packaged with a firewall to protect your machine.  While they are intended to protect your computer from a variety of potential threats, firewalls often inadvertently causes other legitimate programs on your computer to malfunction as well.  Mostly, this is because a firewall has no way of knowing whether a program poses a threat to your computer without input on your part.  And while we've done everything we can to reduce the likelihood that any vital pieces are blocked by a firewall on your computer, it's likely that your firewall will still misjudge a few significant pieces of your a la mode software, causing any number of different issues during regular use.  

Can I stop my firewall from interfering with my a la mode programs?

Yes.  There are several ways that you can stop your firewall from interfering with your a la mode programs.  A common way to test whether your firewall is causing a problem is to simply disable it momentarily and try to work in your a la mode programs again.  If the problems don't occur, it's probably a problem with your firewall.  Of course, while disabling or removing your firewall may be a great short term solution, in the long term it leaves you open to a variety of security threats.  To account for this, we've compiled detailed explanations about how to configure your firewall properly to work with any a la mode programs you've installed.  Just use the links along the left side of this document to find the appropriate firewall doc for your situation.

What kinds of problems occur when running antivirus software or firewalls?

While not all users experience difficulties running antivirus or firewall protection, customers have had problems completing the following tasks that were corrected by disabling the antivirus software.

  • System is generally slow
  • Downloading and installing updates may fail
  • Miscellaneous errors appear when doing anything that requires an Internet connection

These issues can be somewhat difficult to diagnose, as you would not receive error messages indicating the problem is specifically related to your antivirus or firewall software.  Additionally, running antivirus software continuously, particularly across a network can cause your system to respond slowly since it scans each file as it's accessed and modified. Slowness will vary widely from one user to another, from the insignificant to extremely delayed system response.