Windows XP comes with a built-in firewall. It is really quite effective. If you go to Steve Gibsons
Shields Up! website and run a port probe test, Windows XP shows all the major ports as stealthed. That's as good as it gets. No complaints here on the security side. Unfortunately, this terrific firewall interferes with some IRC functions, namely Identd and DCC. Fortunately the fixes are very simple. Follow this illustrated tutorial and you'll have a fully functional IRC in no time, as well as a functional firewall.
If you have a router, do not follow this procedure for forwarding ports. You need to follow the
tutorial for forwarding ports when using a router.
