Solved

Webroot Firewall vs Win 7 Pro Firewall

  • 13 June 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 81 views

Userlevel 1
Badge +5
Recently I've run into problems with downloads freezing my system, especially from Steam but also from NVIDIA. In one case, it appeared that Windows 7 Pro firewall was blocking Steam's downloader from accessing the Internet by just freezing my system every time Steam tried to download and apply a patch. Yesterday a one-hour download took me all day to acquire. Finally, Windows told me what it was up to and I found a work-around.

I've seen some prior comments on this forum that the two systems are complementary and should both be ON, but the latest was five years ago, so I'm wondering if that's still true. It appears the Windows firewall has a lot of options to control inbound, outbound, etc. What I need is detailed advice on how to set up their system to work best with yours and avoid excess interference with my daily activities.
icon

Best answer by TripleHelix 14 June 2019, 17:15

View original

5 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hello @jmrathbun ,

Welcome to the Webroot Forum,

Sorry for the delayed response. I had freezing occur with Steam and so I uninstalled to reinstall. But that is/was drastic measures and I am running Windows 10. Please have a look here at Webroot Firewall User Guide.

@Triple_Helix can you add any information here?

My best advice is to Submit a Support Ticket so they can check out if any programs need to be whitelisted and also they can look at your Firewall Settings.

This is a Free service with your Webroot subscription.

Hope this helps?
Userlevel 7
Badge +63
Hello,

You must have Windows Firewall on with WSA's Firewall like what Sherry posted:

Managing Firewalls

The SecureAnywhere firewall monitors data traffic traveling out of your computer ports. It looks for untrusted processes that try to connect to the Internet and steal your personal information. It works with the Windows firewall, which monitors data traffic coming into your computer. With both the SecureAnywhere and Windows firewall turned on, your data has complete inbound and outbound protection.
You should not turn off either the Windows firewall or the SecureAnywhere firewall. If they are disabled, your system is open to many types of threats whenever you connect to the Internet or to a network. These firewalls can block malware, hacking attempts, and other online threats before they can cause damage to your system or compromise your security.
The SecureAnywhere firewall is preconfigured to filter traffic on your computer. It works in the background without disrupting your normal activities. If the firewall detects any unrecognized traffic, it opens an alert where you can block the traffic or allow it to proceed.

You may need to reset Windows Firewall so have a look here: https://www.howtogeek.com/201658/how-to-reset-the-windows-firewall-rules-to-default/

Please let us know if that helps and at times when Steam updates you may need to contact support to get it whitelisted in the Webroot Cloud Database.
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Thank you @TripleHelix!!😊
Userlevel 1
Badge +5
I appreciate the answers above, although I had already read the one from TripleHelix before I posted. Probably I didn't explain what happened to me very clearly.

I was trying to start a Steam game by clicking on the game's desktop icon; this normally works OK. The game had downloaded the night before and installed that morning with minimal difficulty, using the LARGE Steam interface (the one with the Store, Library, and Community tabs). When I clicked on the icon, it announced there was a patch coming, put up the SMALL Steam interface that tracks the download and installation, and froze my system. This happened several times. Then I brought up the LARGE Steam interface and looked on their forums for a solution. Finally I noticed that my library didn't show the game as installed. I asked again for it to be installed and waited out the several hours of download time until it showed as completed. Then, when I closed the LARGE Steam interface, I saw demurely lurking behind it a notice from Windows to the effect that an unknown program had attempted to use the Internet and asking for my permission. The listed program was the game's executable. I gave permission and had no further problem until just now, AFTER having reset the Windows Firewall to default as instructed. Now I have the Windows Security Alert in front of me, so I'll send you a picture rather than type all that stuff. So apparently I had solved my problem but by following instructions have triggered it anew. My question remains: "What I need is detailed advice on how to set up their system to work best with yours and avoid excess interference with my daily activities."

Userlevel 1
Badge +5
Anyhow, I got several more of these Security Alerts in the next hour, including programs like Akami NetSessions and a few others I recognized. And when I looked at the advanced settings for the Windows Firewall, I saw long lists of inbound rules and outbound rules. So it doesn't seem as simple as resetting the Windows Firewall rules to default or "The SecureAnywhere firewall monitors data traffic traveling out of your computer ports. It looks for untrusted processes that try to connect to the Internet and steal your personal information. It works with the Windows firewall, which monitors data traffic coming into your computer."

OK, maybe you don't want to go into too many details in a public discussion and I can understand that. But I purely hate taking all day to nurse a download that should be able to run itself. So I'm still looking for any available help beyond what I've been able to discover so far as to managing the Windows Firewall while running SecureAnywhere, or vice-versa.

Reply