PC help: Access music without turning off the firwall?

Q I can’t use my D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player unless I switch off the Windows firewall on my computer, something D-Link’s support people have advised me to do. I can’t believe this is sensible because it will leave my computer vulnerable to attack, but it is the only way I can use my media player.

I could also disconnect my internet connection to ensure the computer remains safe, but if I do this I cannot access D-Link’s radio services because they require access to the internet. I can’t win one way or another, unless you can think of an answer.

I used to use Zonealarm but experienced such difficulties that BT advised me to ditch it and use the Windows firewall.

A Presumably this is because you’re trying to access music or video files that are stored on a PC on your home network, rather than on the internet. What you need to do is open a port on the computer.

This is an instruction to the firewall that it should allow the D-Link media player to access files on the computer. In the Windows firewall, you can do this by opening the firewall control panel and clicking the Exceptions tab. Scroll down the list and find the entry for the D-Link Media Server software. Tick the box to tell the firewall to allow the program to communicate with the media player.

The problem with this media player and Zonealarm is that, as it is installed, Zonealarm does not distinguish between the home network and the internet. This means that it blocks the media player. Here are some instructions on how to stop Zone Alarm from blocking local network traffic.

Zonealarm may require a little more work to set up but it does offer better protection than the Windows Firewall.