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Creating with presets

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Don't worry if you have never used a firewall before, Outpost was created with you in mind. Creating rules is child's play, but like most things it takes a little bit of getting used to. Outpost comes complete with rules created for common applications like Outlook Express, Netscape Navigator, Quake II etc., etc. There are also generic rulesets for types of applications so if you can't find rules created for your e-mail client by name just choose preset rules for e-mail client, it's that simple!

Using the Rules Wizard

Right lets look at how the Rules Wizard works (in this example I am using IE as it's the browser that nearly all Windows PC have installed). Connect to the internet open up IE and visit www.google.com, you should have had this window popup (obviously since you are viewing this on the internet you may have already created rules for IE and so won't get a popup):

The first thing to do is DON'T PANIC! The only reason you would need to panic is if you didn't see the above window and know that you hadn't already have rules created for IE! The reason Outpost has displayed this window in the first place is because you have just installed Outpost there are no rules in Outpost's applications rules list so it is asking you what it should do about an application called IEXPLORE.EXE that is trying to connect to the internet. Lets look at the information displayed in the window and see whether we want Outpost to allow this connection attempt.

1 - Communication attempt that triggered the Rules Wizard

First of all IEXPLORE.EXE is the name of Internet Explorer's executable and since we have just told IE to connect to Google it's probably safe to assume it is IE. You should always check the name though as Trojan Horses and other malicious programs might be calling themselves a very similar name like IEXPLORER.EXE or iEXPLORE.EXE and if just quickly quick on 'OK' you might give an application you don't want to have permission to connect to the internet free access. Next there is the icon that the application uses and the line Internet Explorer requesting an outgoing connection with:

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Internet Explorer is the description IEXPLORE.EXE has in its properties (the window that appears when ever you right click on a file and select 'Properties'). This will help you in working out what the application is when its executable name is obscure. requesting an outgoing connection with means that IE is trying to establish a connection with a remote computer.

2 - Service, Port, and Host

Next we see the remote port and address IE is trying to connect to. The protocol being used is TCP and the port is 80. Outpost is also trying to be helpful by resolving the port number to the service associated with that port, in this case HTTP which stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (obviously if you are new to firewalls this is about as helpful as getting poked in the eye, but after a while you will learn what these services are). HTTP is a service most commonly used by web browsers (other applications may use HTTP too) to connect to websites. The remote host is also shown as being www.google.com, the web site I told you to try and visit.

3 - How Outpost should handle the communication

Outpost then wants to know what you want to do about it. There are a series of toggles. Allow all activities for this application, Block all activities for this application, and Create rules using preset followed by a combo box listing pre-defined rules for applications.

• 'Allow all activities for this application' adds IE to your list of Trusted applications, you will not need to make any rules, Outpost will allow IE un-restricted access.
• 'Block all activities for this application' adds IE to your list of Blocked applications so that Outpost will stop all communication to and from IE.
• 'Create rules using preset' allows you to create a rule for this communication attempt or to create a series of rules from Outposts rules presets. Either way Outpost will add IE to your list of Partially allowed applications all of which require you to make rules.

Below the toggles are two buttons 'Allow Once' and 'Block once'. If you don't want to create a rule you can just click on either of these buttons for a one-time block or allow. These can be quite useful for learning what services and protocols different applications need. If your not sure about allowing an application access to a service or protocol just click on 'Block Once' when Outpost presents you with the Create rule for... window and see if the application complains.

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Creating rules for Internet Explorer

Since we know now that it is IE trying to connect to Google and because you will probably want to use IE all the time it's best to create rules rather then clicking on 'Allow Once'. You could toggle Allow all activities for this application but for this tutorial toggle 'Create rules using preset'. Outpost has recognized the fact that the application is IE and the combo box is displaying 'Internet Explorer'. If you want you could click on the downward arrow button on the combo box and select another preset list of rules or select 'Other' which allows you to create a rule from scratch. For now just click on 'OK' and open Outpost's main window and click on the 'Options' menu and select Options -> Application... This will open the Options window with the 'Application' tab selected. Under Partially allowed applications you should see the IE icon and the name IEXPLORE.EXE. Double click on this and the Rules window should open showing you the default rules that have been created for you by Outpost:

If you want to modify any rules or the rule names just double click on a rule. Don't be afraid to alter the rules created by Outpost just because you have used rules presets, you might want to use different names or remove some of the ports a rule allows an application to use, or even delete some of the rules completely. Remember these presets are created to make Outpost easier for you to use, but because Agnitum have know way of knowing what different users will need they create the presets to allow an application to do anything it normally should even if only a few users actually require an application to do everything it is capable of. Personally I have deleted all but 5 of the preset IE rules and even those I have modified. Don't worry about this now, as you become more familiar with firewalls, ports and services you can make changes later.

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Outpost and the Outpost logo are ©Agnitum Software

This is an unofficial guide, the information expressed here may differ from Agnitum's. There is a support forum (no longer run by Agnitum, but by users) if you need more help this is a good place to start. Where information here conflicts with what Agnitum have told you always go with the information given to you by Agnitum.

Guide/site and images ©Stephen Cox