Turning this on increases your security, but may cause some apps to stop working. Checking this box tells the Microsoft Defender Firewall to ignore the allowed apps list and block everything.

Under the Incoming connections section you'll find a single checkbox for Blocks all incoming connections, including those in the list of allowed apps. We recommend leaving it on unless you absolutely need to turn it off. Important: Turning the firewall off may increase the risk to your device or data.

You'll also find a simple slider for turning the firewall on, or off, for that type of network. Usually your computer will only be connected to one network at a time. Here Windows Security will tell you which, if any, networks of that type you're currently connected to. When you select one of the three network types you'll get the settings page for it. Most of the other devices connected to it belong to strangers and you'd probably prefer they not be able to see, connect to, or 'discover' your device. The Wi-Fi at your local coffee shop, however, is a public network. We call that 'discoverable' because all the devices on that network are allowed to 'discover' each other. So you might be fine with those other devices being able to see yours. Your home network might be an example of a private network - in theory the only devices on that network are your devices, and devices owned by your family. The key difference is whether other devices on the same network are allowed to see, and maybe connect to, your device. You can specify that a particular network your device connects to is 'private' or 'public'.

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