When Microsoft shipped Windows Vista, one new feature that was introduced was a firewall that monitored both inbound and outbound traffic. What Microsoft failed to mention about the firewall is the fact that monitoring outbound traffic is disabled by default.

Microsoft claims it was disabled because administrators wanted more control over it. Even more interesting is the fact that you can't enable outbound filtering through the Windows Security Center in Windows Vista. The user is required to manually configure the firewall if you want to filter that outbound traffic.

To do this in Windows Vista, you have to use the Microsoft Management Console, or (MMC). Advanced Windows users can find directions on how to configure and use outbound the firewall configuration here.

For the less technically-inclined who aren't using a firewall (and you should be) and would like more control over who their computer communicates with, below are some free Vista compatible utilities that will help:

• CurrPorts from Nirsoft.net (I've used it for years and can highly recommend it)
• Open ports scanner from filesland.com
• Free Internet content logger
• Plax network suite from bestsecuritytips.com
• Network Monitoring freeware downloads from Snapfiles.com

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