Firestarter

Firestarter Manual

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The Main Interface

Firestarter main interface

The Toolbar

The toolbar provides quick access to several commonly used features. The options are, from left to right:

Running the Wizard

From time to time, you may wish to re-run the Firestarter wizard in order to change settings, use other network devices or simply check that your configuration is still correct. To restart the Wizard - Select: Firewall->Run Firewall Wizard, The wizard will start and you will be able to work through the settings accordingly.

Alternating between the Firewall Modes

Starting the firewall

To start the firewall Select: Firewall->Start Firewall, or press the start button on the toolbar. This will change the status of the program statusbar to "Firewall Running". In this mode the program will be able to monitor all incoming traffic and will display blocked packets in the Hits view.

Stopping the firewall

If you find you need to stop your firewall - Select: Firewall->Stop Firewall, or press the stop button on the toolbar. This will change the status of the program statusbar to "Firewall Stopped". In this state all network traffic flow without restrictions, as if no firewall was present on the system.

Halting the firewall

Halting Firestarter will cause your Firewall to stop (just as it would if you selected "Stop" above) - however, it will also cause your machine to kill off any existing connections and refuse to accept any new ones. If you suspect your machine has been compromised, you should halt your firewall by selecting: Firewall->Halt Firewall. This will change the status of the program statusbar to "Firewall Halted".

Halting your firewall causes your traffic to Halt too.

Firestarter has been designed in such a way that when you press 'Halt', it will stop all incoming and outgoing connections, while also killing off any existing connections that you may have already established. If your machine is acting as a NAT gateway for a LAN, you may wish to use caution when invoking the "Halt" command.


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