List of Active Software

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Level 1

55 points

List of Active Software

Hi everyone!

I cannot start or change the OS X firewall in system preferences because my system tells me I have other firewall software running that must first be turned off. How do I find out what other firewall software is running?

Is there a way to see a list of active software? If so, how do I do it?

If there is no way to list the current active software, then could someone list the common firewall apps so I can check and see if i have one of them installed?

I've been thorugh my list of apps and utilites and can't find one that would activate a firewall.

Many thanks,

flyboy01

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.3.8)

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.3.8)

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.3.8)

Posted on Nov 30, 2005 7:00 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Nov 30, 2005 7:21 PM in response to Andy Kenagy

Open the Activity Monitor located in your Utilities folder.

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Answer 2

Andy Kenagy Author

Level 1

55 points

Nov 30, 2005 7:53 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks, Kappy!

I knew it was around here somewhere but my brain couldn't remember to open activity monitor! Ugh!

Now, I've reviewed the list of open apps but none ring a bell as far as affecting the firewall.

Any ideas of what to look for to get the "other" firewall program turned off?

Many thanks,

flyboy01

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.3.8)

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Answer 3

Nov 30, 2005 10:13 PM in response to Andy Kenagy

The ipfw firewall on OS X is a kernel extension, it's not a process on its own. You use various utilities to tell the kernel to enable/disable/modify it, but "it" is part of the core operating system processes.

You can clear the existing firewall configs from a Terminal prompt with the command sudo ipfw flush and then the Sharing preferences pane should allow you to set the firewall from there. Make sure System Preferences is closed when you do that ipfw command.

OTOH, this is a bit temporary, since next time you restart, whatever set up the firewall last time may automatically hapen again. Do you have anything in /Library/StartupItems or /etc/sysctl.conf that sets up ipfw?

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