Max Firewall Settings?

Can somebody please explain how to setup the firewall so it has max protection? Is it just paranoid mode on and IDS set to aggressive?

Well, good luck getting a "professional" response. It seems the Bitdefender Forums aren't exactly up to par (at least yet; I'm sure they will be in the coming times). Fortunately, I'm a computer engineering student, and I know a bit more than most about programs and the lingo of their configuration. Here is my personal take on all of this.

1. Start the Bitdefender Internet Security command panel.

2. Click the "Settings" button in the top right side of the window (between "Events" and "User Mode/Stealth Mode" buttons).

3. Click on "Firewall".

4. In the "Settings" tab, click "General Rules". Make sure Incoming ICMP, Incoming ICMPv6, Incoming Remote Desktop Connections, Windows Explorer Traffic on HTTP, and Windows Explorer Traffic on FTP are all set to DENY.

5. Under Application Rules, Adapter Rules, and Network Activity; there isn't much (or even anything) that you really need to do. This is just for adding or removing rules for installed programs or creating adapter zones. And the Network Activity tab shows just that. There are no settings here.

6. Paranoid Mode will pop up for every application that tries to connect to the internet. It's extremely annoying, but yes; turn this ON if you want "Max Protection". I think (so this isn't a "for sure" thing) once you do allow a program through the firewall, it adds that program's specific rule to the firewall meaning you won't be asked about a programs connection attempts more than once.

7. Under the "Advanced" tab, turn "Intrusion Detection System" on, and set it to "Aggressive".

8. Turn "Internet Connection Sharing" Off (unless you actually use that feature....most people don't).

9. Turn "Block Port Scans" On

10. For the "Increase Log Verbosity", you can leave this off. It doesn't actually give you more protection. All it does is write more events to the log. If you never check the log, then turn this off, as it isn't worth the computing power and the hard drive space to be writing really detailed logs that you won't even read. Even if you do read the logs, there's still not point in turning this on, as most of the information will be irrelevant to you.

11. For the "Monitor Wi-Fi Connections", turn this ON.

Now, click the little house shaped button in the top left corner. On the front page of the Bitdefender command panel, click the "Manage Adapters" button under Firewall. Set your "Network Type" to "Public", turn Stealth Mode "ON", and set "Generic" to "NO".

Well, I hope this helped. This should give you the max settings you desire (or at least get you close; like I said, I'm somewhat new to Bitdefender myself).