A program policy is automatically created if a program without a policy attempted communication and you clicked Allow always or Block always on the Allow Access? prompt window. (More on program policies.)
All program polices can be edited or removed on the Manage Program Policies window.
Program policies control four different types of communication:
– Outgoing attempts from your computer to a remote location that is in the Internet Zone.
– Outgoing attempts from your computer to a remote location that is in the Trusted Zone.
– Incoming attempts from a remote location in the Internet Zone to your computer.
– Incoming attempts from a remote location in the Trusted Zone to your computer.
Depending on what Zone the program was in (Internet Zone or Trusted Zone) and what direction the communication was in (incoming or outgoing), the firewall will create the program policy and enter the action that you chose on the "Allow Access?" prompt.
If you clicked Allow always, the action for the given Zone and direction is Allow. All other parameters are Prompt.
If you clicked Block always, the action for the given Zone and direction is Block. All other parameters are Prompt.
Assume you opened an online game application and an "Allow Outgoing Access?" prompt displayed. The prompt informed you that the program was attempting outgoing communication to the game server, which is in the Internet Zone. You clicked Allow always.
A program policy will be automatically created.
For outgoing communication in the Internet Zone, the action in the policy will be Allow.
For incoming communication in both Zones, and the outgoing communication for the Trusted Zone, the action in the policy will be Prompt.
The Bypass locked Zone option is cleared. The program policy will not override a locked Zone.
The Prompt me if this program is modified option is selected. A prompt will display if you ever open this program and it's been altered. See Keep Program Policy? for details.
All the parameters for program policies can be viewed and edited from the Manage Program Policies window.
Related topics:
New Program Policy window - Explicitly create program policies