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harryeames
Nov 15, 2004, 03:39 AM
I have a good ISP. I recently loaded limewire. limewire now wants permission to pass thro my firewall to load a Server. Is it safe to give permission?

psi42
Nov 15, 2004, 02:41 PM
Well, that's really up to you... how paranoid you are, that is.

While some nazi-ISPs might get angry if you run a server, most will just ignore you. :)

By forwarding/allowing incoming connections through your firewall, you are decreasing your security. An attacker would potentially have more luck if you had a limewire server running than if you didn't. That said, just by putting your computer online you are decreasing your security. If you want to buy food, you have to leave your house, and if you want to run a limewire server, you'll have to forward that port.

I'm not familiar with the way limewire in particular works in relation to other P2P clients. It's possible you may be able to accomplish what you want without forwarding that port.

In the end, it's the usual tradeoff between functionality and security.

:)

~psi42