How to Restore Your Windows Firewall Default Settings

By Lawrence C. Miller, CISSP from Home Networking Do-It-Yourself For Dummies

There are a lot of settings that can be configured in Windows Firewall, but Windows 7 allows you to easily restore the default settings. When you lose track of what you’ve configured, the risk with Windows Firewall is that you may have inadvertently opened a big security hole in your Windows 7 home network. To undo your changes and reset Windows Firewall to its default configuration, follow these steps:

Enlarge 1 Open the Windows Control Panel, and then click System and Security. The System and Security window appears.	Enlarge 2 Click Windows Firewall. The Windows Firewall window appears.	Enlarge 3 In the left pane, click Restore defaults. The Restore defaults window appears.
Enlarge 4 Click the Restore defaults button. The Restore Defaults Confirmation dialog box appears.	Enlarge 5 Confirm that you want to restore your Windows Firewall to its default settings by clicking Yes. Windows 7 restores Windows Firewall to the default settings.