7 Changed Firewall Settings On It's Own?

[(PeteCresswell)]

I just spent the better part of a day trying to figure out why
the IP camera server on a remote PC had started FTP-ing
zero-length files to my home PC.

All I had done was:

- Shut down the server PC

- Move it from a Verizon DSL-connected site
to a Comcast Cable-connected site

That's all, nothing else... nada.

Along with the move, the Ethernet connection to the new local LAN
started having problems too. Somebody with more presence of
mind than I thought to disable the connection and then re-enable
it and the problem went away.

What I eventually doped out my own was that Windows had removed
parts (not all... just parts) of the firewall exceptions for the
camera server - causing the FTPs to fail once the app tried
actually transferring data.

Could the firewall change have somehow been connected to Windows'
changing my firewall settings all on it's own?

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per (PeteCresswell):

Could the firewall change have somehow been connected to Windows'
changing my firewall settings all on it's own?

Oops...

SHB: Could the Ethernet change have somehow been connected
to Windows' changing my firewall settings all on it's own?

 

[Paul]

Per (PeteCresswell):

Oops...

SHB: Could the Ethernet change have somehow been connected
to Windows' changing my firewall settings all on it's own?

This is just a guess on my part, but the NIC on my PC is listed
as "Local Area Connection 3", implying it has changed identities
several times on its own. Presumably after some network changes caused
by experiments. I would think, information input while it was
"Local Area Connection 2", would not be inherited by the latest
instance. Check your networking, and see if the identity has
changed recently.

For example, maybe you don't have a router between you and the modem.
One ISP had something like PPPOE (and required PPPOE termination
on the computer the modem was connected to), while the other
ISP and method might have delivered ordinary Ethernet packets.
Perhaps those changes caused the NIC identity to change.

I don't really understand why the Local Area Connection number
should change, when it's the same NIC chip it has always been.
But one thing I did do, was temporarily connect the ADSL modem
directly to the computer (while the modem was in bridged mode),
so it would have used Windows built-in PPPOE termination for
the duration of that experiment. The rest of the time, there
is a 4 port router box stuffed in the path, and it takes care
of PPPOE for me.

Paul