Hi everyone!
I just realised the firewall on my mac was disabled, which apparently, is the default setting. I find that quite strange. Anyway, I thought it best to enable it and when I did, there are several items in the list allowing incoming connections. Does anyone know what they are and if they're supposed to be allowing incoming connections?
Thanks.
[Edited by Moderator]
amd1 wrote:
I'm wondering if there's any harm in having it on? Can it cause problems of any sort for the average user?
When I didn't know what I was doing, I set Firewall and Stealth mode ON for years with no ill effects on our Macs. But then one day my son complained he could not connect to a friend's Wi-Fi until he turned Firewall OFF (sorry, I don't know the details). Then I have been educated here and now I let Firewall be in its default OFF state.
Yes, off & the VPN off also.
@Kurt Lang How can anyone tell whether a particular VPN is junk or useful?
Very basic graphic of why "coffee house" VPNs are essentially worthless.
Barney-15E wrote:
If you do not have any sharing services enabled then there is no way into your Mac
When you say sharing services, do you mean things like airdrop?
Firewall returned to off setting.
VPN disabled (except for occasionally streaming foreign tv)
Thank you all for your insights and advice!
Help with Firewall Settings macOS 15.5
