Network Uptime

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Protecting Your Data: A Guide to Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall Advanced / Security Logging

When troubleshooting a problem with an application, questions may arise regarding the disposition of network communication through Windows Firewall. Did the traffic make it through Windows Firewall, or did Windows Firewall drop the packets?

Fortunately, Windows Firewall includes an option to log all network communication. The details of the Windows Firewall log can provide important information for troubleshooting the faltering application.


Advanced / Security Logging / Settings
The Windows Firewall security log settings can be configured to log dropped packets or to log successful connections. Both of these options can be enabled or disabled independently.


The file containing the log can reside anywhere on the computer, and the size of the file is limited to a finite value. The default filename is pfirewall.log, but the name and location can be changed to any filename and location on the computer. The size limit defaults to 4,096KB (4 megabytes), but can range anywhere from 1KB to 32,767KB.