firewall... do u have yours switched on

i've just had to reinstall lion and when I was putting my settings back to the way I wanted, I stumbled into secrecy and privacy, I noticed there was a firewall setting and I switched it on, if I'm honest I've never noticed it before and don't know if it was switched on prior to my reinstall

Now every time i start up iTunes I get the yellow triangle warning asking me if I want the application 'iTunes.app' to accept incoming network connections. I always click allow, but this happens every start up

in the advanced tab of the firewall settings, iTunes is in there and has the green ball next to it, accepting all incoming connections

If the Firewall will allow all iTunes network connections through, Why do I get this warning on iTunes start up ?

any clues chaps ?

Just turn the blessed thing off. It was off by default. And that was for a reason. The reason being that very few people actually need to use it.

As you've discovered, having two firewalls on does not make things twice as awesome. It makes it doubly likely to have problems exactly like the ones you are having. So just turn it off.

Exactly as Chas says, keep it off, the only reason I ever need to use it is when I use my MBP at work and they have strict policies about keeping application firewalls on.

- Simon

cheers guys....

I'm still learning and I wasn't so sure...

Hmmmmmm, I tend to disagree.
Proposing to remove a control without assessing the risk is what we call negligence.

I assume you are talking about the iMac in your signature.
If the firewall is configured correctly, then leave it on, it does not harm you and it provides that extra layer of protection.
As soon as an unknown computer connects to your network, you become vulnerable if you say " Allow all incoming connections " ( in other words .... " the door is open, feel free to come in and have a look " ). An unknown computer is any device that you did not configure yourself and as such you don't know what that device is doing. Ie. a friends laptop.

This may sound paranoid, but it isn't.

It is up to you to assess your risks and risk appetite and make a decision.
As I said above, once configured properly, leave it on.

My 2 cents.

Cheers ... McBie

chas_m said:

Just turn the blessed thing off. It was off by default. And that was for a reason. The reason being that very few people actually need to use it.

As you've discovered, having two firewalls on does not make things twice as awesome. It makes it doubly likely to have problems exactly like the ones you are having. So just turn it off.

Click to expand...

Two firewalls? I see reference to one in preferences, what's the other?

I assumed the other is in your router (as a home user) am I wrong ?

jif said:

I assumed the other is in your router (as a home user) am I wrong ?

Click to expand...

Most routers have a firewall built in, that is not the problem.

My question is .... is that firewall ON and if it is on, what are the firewall rules configured on the firewall. ( ALLOW ANY TO ANY , similar to " Allow all incoming connections " )
If the answer to any of these questions is " I don't know ", then I suggest you find out and stop the assumptions.

Also, if you allow " guests " to connect to your network, your router firewall will not be doing much to protect your networked devices .-_-

Again, you will have to assess the risks and your risk appetite and then decide.

Cheers ... McBie

I agree with McBie. Telling someone to turn off their firewall because it's not needed is not good advice. As an example, many folks like to go to free WiFi hot spots (Starbucks, Panera, etc) and use their machine. Turning off the firewall can be risky. Sure, you should never conduct financial or personal business over a clear connection or have sharing turned on, but how many folks are informed or will even remember.

My advice: Leave it on as it does no harm to have both your router and software firewall in action at the same time.

I leave mine on as to what chscag stated never know where I will be and the test I have done shows no difference in performance so far.

McBie said:

Hmmmmmm, I tend to disagree.
Proposing to remove a control without assessing the risk is what we call negligence.

I assume you are talking about the iMac in your signature.
If the firewall is configured correctly, then leave it on, it does not harm you and it provides that extra layer of protection.

Click to expand...

chscag said:

I agree with McBie. Telling someone to turn off their firewall because it's not needed is not good advice. As an example, many folks like to go to free WiFi hot spots (Starbucks, Panera, etc) and use their machine. Turning off the firewall can be risky.

Click to expand...

I agree fully with these two guys. If you don't notice any problems with having it on, why turn it off? It adds another layer of protection without any adverse affects. It also helps to protect you if you move between networks and are subject to the security measures (or lack of) that have been set up by others. I tend to have it on since I move between home (where I also have a router firewall up) and school where many different and unknown individuals share the same network. At school, I am protected from the outside but I don't know what happens inside the network.

I've got an iMac, so I don't move networks

If I leave it on, how can I stop getting the 'accept iTunes.app' warning every time I fire up iTunes as per my original post

jif said:

If I leave it on, how can I stop getting the 'accept iTunes.app' warning every time I fire up iTunes as per my original post

Click to expand...

You can start by using the search function or Google just like I did ....

Have a look here .... maybe this can help.

iTunes keeps asking to allow or deny incoming connections | MacYourself

Some sound advice .... make a full backup before you start fiddling with your OS X configuration.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers ... McBie

I'm running lion and it won't let me delete iTunes, saying its read by the OSX

Any chance of an error code, a print screen of the error, because the string " .... saying its read by the OSX " is an error message that does not exist.

There are people on the forums that are willing to help, but you need to be accurate in describing your issue...... it takes 2 hands to clap.

Cheers ... McBie

I'm trying dude, i appreciate your help but go easy on me


i apologise, I typed 'reqd' but it auto-corrected to 'read' and i posted without spotting it. Sorry dude

this is the error

My firewall is on by default on my system and I don't get any error messages when using ITunes. (I'll assume it's on by default since I have no recollection of messing with that area.)

I have never messed with that area and upon reading this thread went and looked and my firewall is on. Not sure why you are getting the messages. After the OS reinstall did you ensure the software is updated?

yeah all up to date... I've recently had to reinstall lion and everything is now running great on my iMac. However I don't know whether the firewall was on prior to the reinstall, as if I'm honest I didn't realise it was there (I'm still really new to mac's)

this issue has only started since I switched it on...

sorry to be a pest !!

No problem in my view. You might want to reinstall iTunes or verify that iTunes is in fact updated.