Resetting the firewall?

I've attached a screen shot example of our broken firewall. note the three processes listed. in our experience, if you can see processes like these listed, then the firewall will no longer allow outside connections to any of the services you've activated.

I may have found a work around for the problem.

1. remove all packages/apps/processes from the list.

2. turn off the Firewall.

3. turn off all services in their respective Preference panes; e.g., the Sharing pane.

4. turn on the services you need.

*then*

5. turn on the Firewall

when asked if you wish to allow outside connections to 'kdc', click Allow.

that seems to clean up the Firewall list and allow the sharing services to work as expected; i.e., you can't activate services while the Firewall is turned on.

cheers,

Gregory

that worked before Yosemite.

I've found that I can usually reset the firewall now by:

1. open Security & Privacy/Firewall/Firewall Options and delete all of the services/processes/applications.
2. turn off the Firewall.
3. turn off all Sharing services.
4. turn on the Sharing services I need.
5. turn on the Firewall.

at this point, I usually get asked to allow/reject access to a process (not application) called 'kdc'. I allow this process because it seems to be involved in the Firewall process itself. when I then open Firewall Options, the 'kdc' process will however not be listed, and the Firewall seems to work as expected.

fortunately, this method seems to work and doesn't require a Reboot... at least for now.

I don't know if it matters, but I've also changed another security aspect on our Macs. I now have a dedicated Admin account. our 'people' accounts no longer have admin privileges. someone here in the discussions community suggested this for better security and it makes a lot of sense. this change means that during the Firewall reset procedure above, I have to enter the admin's account/password 3 or 4 times but I don't mind the extra hassle for the extra security.

I don't add the processes. the system does. they're part of the 'packages' that get activated whenever a Sharing service is turned on. usually, you don't see the processes listed separately in Firewall Options, but for the last 5 to 7 years, I get this kind of list whenever I reboot my Mac. at the same time, the services stop working because the Firewall then blocks everything coming in to the Mac.

nothing special installed on my Macs. just normal services turned on, including File sharing and Screen sharing.

Apple has been unable to pinpoint the problem in all this time. since you're not seeing it, I have to wonder if it's specific to non-USA located Macs. we're in Hong Kong. I can reliably repeat the problem with newly installed systems on multiple devices including an iBook, a Macbook Pro, a Mac Pro 2008 and an iMac 2013.

respectfully, you're making the false assumption that viruses, trojans, etc will not come from other computers on the LAN.