User manual

networks, having a good software firewall is especially important as it isolates
you from risks that others operating on the same network may pose. Unfor-
tunately, since that isolation often means blocking incoming transmissions,
the FTP connection initiated by the camera may be considered a hostile
source and blocked.
As noted above these firewalls provide a valuable service and, while it
may be easier, it is not recommended that you switch them off altogether.
Instead, these packages generally allow you to create exceptions to allow spe-
cific programs and/or protocols to communicate across the firewall. Properly
configured, a software firewall can be set up to allow incoming FTP traffic
while still blocking malicious traffic. The following section covers the basics
of how to do this with the Windows Firewall, as it is the most common one in
use because of it’s inclusion in Windows XP Service Pack 2 - other packages
will be slightly different, however the underlying principles are the same.
C.2 Security Alert
To help simplify the process of configuring the necessary exceptions, the Win-
dows firewall will prompt you (see fig. C.1) when a new program attempts to
set itself up to receive incoming traffic from an outside source. This provides
you with the opportunity to allow or deny the indicated program access to
incoming transmissions and will automatically create the relevant exception
if you select the unblock option. When you see this alert, you should look at
the name and publisher of the program in question and then decide whether
or not you want to grant it access through the firewall.
In the case of ITP, you will need to select the unblock option if you would
like to receive images via the FTP protocol. Selecting this option will allow
incoming FTP traffic through the firewall as long as ITP is running, and
suspend it when it is closed. If you accidentally selected the keep blocking
option, however, you will need to manually create the necessary exception
(see section C.3). As such, this alert provides you with the opportunity to
quickly and easily allow ITP to access the network as necessary and skip the
more complicated manual procedure - if you have used it as described above,
you can safely skip the next section.
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