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yajeshFlag for United States of America

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Allow an App or Feature through Windows 10 Firewall Settings

Hi,
I have Windows 10 Professional with latest updates applied as of today (Mar. 09 2017) installed on one of my system. As I was navigating through Firewall settings, I landed on settings - "Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall".  Of course, without too much knowledge what I was doing, I unchecked all and/or removed some of the "Public"  settings.

I am trying to figure out what are the default settings based on the services/application, so that I can reset it back to what should have been. Furthermore, I have Googled around to get some rationale on this topic. I personally do not see anybody has done any real justice in explaining these very specific settings, other two-liners. Everybody wants to talk about Inbound and Outbound Rules. That is not exactly what I am looking for at all.

I just want to know how can I best reset those Public check-boxes, so that I do not sense any impact for some of the applications Inbound/Outbound and still maintain optimum security levels.

I have attached picture file (JPG) that you can navigate up & down using  left-click most button to see what I have got. You will notice  I did uncheck several of the Public check-boxes and checked few Private boxes.

Thanks for your help in advance.
Yajesh
2017-03-09_16-22-35.jpg
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David Johnson, CD
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File and print sharing should  not be permitted on public network locations. curious that itunes is allowed on public but not private network locations.  If you are primarily on a private network location then any settings on a public network location are meaningless.
I see outlook is only allowed on a private network.. not so good to get mail when you are at a public hotspot

you might want to do a system restore to a point before your changes to remove your fat fingering.
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ASKER

I appreciate your input with regards to basic understanding between Private and Public. Of course, what you have suggested do make sense. I have taken care of that based on your input. However, when you mention:

>>> If you are primarily on a private network location then any settings on a public network location are meaningless

I'm not sure if this line makes sesne, when I notice similar settings on other systems, they do have both checked by defualt. Secondly, what I am seeking to answer is a link/url  where it clearly explains the significance of Private and Public - how does it impact privacy / security based on the applications. Intuitively, one can take a good educated guess. But that is not the intent. I am hoping there is a clear write-up somewhere on this topic.

As I mentioned. there are whole chapters written about Inbound / Outbond rules but nobody has taken time to explain the real "importance" of Private / Public Settings, rather the MSFT developer feels the individual will figure it out by osmosis....:-)

If there is no more contributors to this topic, I will gladly ask the moderator to close this question.

I do thank you Dave, for taking time to address my question.
Yajesh
As far as that goes, Windows will enable network discovery on a private network because it's assumed to be trusted. On a public network, that's one of the last things you'd ever want to allow, hence that feature being disabled.

Now as far as the firewall rules themselves, that is up to you to define out. There are reasons you may want to allow certain things while on a public network that you wouldn't on a private network, and vice versa. An organization may even have their own security policies around that. It's not on Microsoft to answer that question for you. But the fact that you at least have the ability to allow/disallow an application's except in the firewall by type of network at least keeps things simple enough for a semi-saavy user (the average usersas of today still will not understand this part without being properly educated).

Here's a URL that does SOME explanation, since you asked for that: https://www.howtogeek.com/245982/whats-the-difference-between-private-and-public-networks-in-windows/

Here is another article, but from MS: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731634(v=ws.11).aspx
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David Johnson, CD
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Thanks! for taking tiem to contribute.
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Hi masnrock,
I just closed the question, before reading through your response. How-To-Geek URL, I had already seen that. As far as MSFT, thanks for sharing. I did browse through that also - agian standard 20,000 Foot news-print.

I am so sorry being a pest or stupid - one may say sarcastically.

I do understand the significance of Private vs. Public. I also understand [INTUITIVELY] what selections might be considered Private vs Public. However, where I am lost is, there are millions of MSFT Windows users on a global scale. Not one article, has taken time to provide a list (default) that gets loaded by MSFT, as to why it selected Public vs. Private or Both.  If I load other applications, do they automtically select Public / Private and I noticed they even assign specific ports. There is more to this then just Private / Public issue.

Basically, I need to study what is going on behind the scenes. I personally feel, this is one of the added attribute that is equally important when dealing with Firewall related questions using MSFT OS. Does these setting get affected when you start setting Input / Output Rules for the Firewall.

My apologies being a pest. I have been Windows user since its inception years and still am. I am looking for a [business solution] rather than academic explanations. If I knew the technical answers, I can probbaly write a whole book chapter just on this very specific topic, may be do some justice to other users.

However, do appreciate for both yourself and lvl80  taking time to look into this and help me with some understandings.
Yajesh.