Handling Firewall Software on Windows

One thing to be aware of in creating a connected Windows screen saver is that personal or company firewall software may need to be trained to allow the saver to make its connection.

If the user has "Password protected" (or "Return to Welcome Screen" on XP) checked in the Screen Saver control panel, this can be problematic as the firewall alert window may appear behind the screen saver and lock up the computer. The best time to deal with firewall software is before the computer sleeps -- as the saver plays in the preview monitor of the Screen Saver control panel or as the user previews it by pressing the "Preview" button -- and we've added some functionality to ScreenTime to make handling firewalls safer.

The first time ScreenTime runs -- in the preview monitor of the Display Control panel, in preview mode, or as a screen saver -- it will automatically ping www.wc3.org to trigger the firewall software.

We recommend that you instruct the user to trigger this event at installation time. Build the screen saver installer to open the Display Control panel after installation and advise the user to select "Yes" when given the option to open the Display Control panel after a successful installation. Once the Display control panel opens and the preview monitor is visible, ScreenTime will connect to the internet and the firewall software will ask the user to approve access. Instruct the user to allow the screen saver .scr file access to the internet The path to the .scr file will be C:\Windows\System32\yourscreensavername.scr. This access is the same the user gives a browser, an email client, or any other web connected application and will enable your screen saver to interact with online content.

If your screen saver does not require an internet connection or online content, add a text file named "ping.txt" to your "Included" files in ScreenTime's Content panel. The text file should contain the text "1" (without the quotes) and that's it. When ScreenTime runs and finds this file it will NOT ping www.wc3.org and thus not trigger the Firewall software.

Other approaches for Firewall training:

Open the personal firewall software, ex.Norton Internet Security or Zone Alarm, and set it to allow the screen saver .scr file access to the internet as you would Internet Explorer, an email client, or any other web connected application. The path to the .scr file will be C:\Windows\System32\yourscreensavername.scr.
Open the screen saver control panel and preview the screen saver. When your saver attempts to connect to the internet, the personal Firewall software will open an alert window asking the end user to approve access. Select "Always Allow Access".
Let the computer timeout and launch the saver. When your saver attempts to connect to the internet the personal Firewall software will open an alert window asking the end user to approve access. If the user has passwords enabled, this window may only appear momentarily over the screen saver. If this is the case, have your end user press "esc", or cntl-alt-del to quit the saver, return to the desktop, and show the alert window. Select "Always Allow Access".

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