PERSONAL FIREWALLS AND PING

As broadband access becomes increasingly available and affordable for homes and businesses, Windows computer users are growing more concerned about the safety of their computers on these permanent Internet connections. So much so, that many Windows users now install a personal firewall product on their computers to stop possible intrusion from the outside world.

One of the most common network troubleshooting tools at Windows users' disposal is the Ping.exe tool, which is used to verify connectivity with another computer using the TCP/IP protocol stack. However, personal firewall products can cause some interference with the ping utility, as they may block the ICMP Echo or Echo Reply packets required for ping to work. Rather than ping returning a standard network connection message, you may instead get this message:

PING: transmit failed, error code 10050

If you receive this message while you are testing connectivity with ping, you must reconfigure the personal firewall program to allow the ICMP Echo and Echo Reply packets to transmit. Otherwise, you may be forced to disable\uninstall the firewall, which leaves your computer vulnerable to outside threats. Most security software vendors have specific resolutions for this problem, so contact the manufacturer for instructions on allowing ping to operate effectively.