Emsa Port Blocker - Readme.txt
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Important Installation Notes: 
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This product requires the VB6 Runtime, which should be downloaded from Microsoft at:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb60pro/Redist/sp5/WIN98Me/EN-US/vbrun60sp5.exe (1 MB)

Please install the runtime before running the program. In some cases you may be prompted to reboot once
after installing the runtime.
[ Some systems may not need the runtime or have it already installed. If you get any errors when starting
the program, the missing runtime is likely to be the cause. ]

WinXP and above, users: Good news - The program may run on XP and above without the need to install the vb
runtime because it usually comes with the operating system.
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Emsa Port Blocker - TCP Port blocking utility for Windows 98/ME/NT/XP/2000/2003 
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This program is FREEWARE. Please refer to the license.txt file for more information.

(NT Compatibility notice: The program runs under Windows NT4 but the Gui may not appear correctly.)


Emsa Port Blocker is a TCP blocking utility. What it does, is blocking unwanted tcp access from/to your computer.
It is not a firewall, but up to some extent it could be regarded as a similar tool. Its purpose is to prohibit
TCP access on certain ports and ip addresses. IT can also be used as a TCP monitor because it shows TCP connections
currently active on the machine.

This program works two ways. It can be configured to block access to certain local ports, but it can also 
prohibit access to specified remote ports as well. For example, you may try adding the port '80' to remote
blocked ports. You'll immediately notice that you have disabled your browser's capability from accessing the
www. You can use this program to block unauthorized access to certain ports on your computer, for example network
ports like TCP 135 or 139 and so on. You can also use the configuration to permit connections between local IP's,
or block even those as desired. The program comes with a function allowing to detect local ip's and adding them
to the 'allowed' IP list.

Functions:
- When first started up, the program shows a list of TCP connections on your machine.If you don't see anything
there, try opening browser and visit some site and you'll see them.
- By unchecking the 'Show only connected' checkbox the program will also show tcp connections in other states,
like LISTENING and so on.
- The left hand list is versatile and its meaning depends on the last button clicked - check the label above
to see what the list is currently displaying.
- To add items to a particular list, type into the textbox below and click on add. Make sure you enter valid 
data (valid ip addresses/ valid port numbers).To delete one item, select it in the list and click on 'Delete'.
- To view Allowed IP Addresses, click on the corresponding button. By default, here you will see your local 
IP address (127.0.0.1). You may want to add all your local IP addresses to the allowed list. To do that, click
on the 'Add local IP's to Allowed' button. Then go to 'Allowed IP Addresses' and you will see them. You may
preview which are your local ip addesses by clicking on the 'Local IP Addresses' button
- To block a local port, click on 'Blocked Local Ports' and add one item to the list. For remote ports, same
thing, using the 'Blocked Remote Ports' button.

All settings take effect immediately and the configuration is also automatically saved in registry.

An additional use of this program could be the case when you have to remotely deploy a software firewall on a
remote computer. In most cases you can't do that - because what would happen is that the firewall asks for
reboot after installation, and then you'll permanently loose connection to the machine. By default,firewalls 
are set to learning mode, so at the next boot you will no longer be able to acces the machine! So then you 
will have to ask someone to log into the machine directly and configure or at least disable the firewall so 
you can get back in. If your need is to block certain TCP ports, our program may be used as a temporary solution 
until you manage to properly deploy a firewall on the remote machine.

Finally, an explanation on how the blocking works with this program. As long as the program runs, it constantly monitors the TCP connection table for changes. This is done each milisecond or so. Whenever a new client has 
connected, it checkes this against its current rules, and if a blocked port is used, it will immediately send 
command to the operating system to instantly terminate the connection. As you can see, this program is not a
firewall, this giving it some advantage in certain cases, which is that can usually be used on a machine with 
an existing firewall, if you don't want to reconfigure your firewall and find this tool usable for some purpose.
We recommend testing it thoroughly to see if it fits your purpose. Keep the program running and minimized in
systray to benefit from port protection.



Installation
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No Installation is required. Simply unzip the files, and run the main executable. Please read the included 
text files before actually running the executable.

If you have suggestions, bugs spotted, requests for new features, please email us. Thanks!

System requirements
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Any usual Windows machine with one mbyte of disk space will do. 800x600 min screen resolution.

Support and feedback
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Please refer to the license.txt file for information about support and feedback.
Email: support@e-systems.ro

License Information
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Please read the license.txt for licensing information.

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Emsa Port Blocker (c) 2004 EMSA Systems Ltd.
Web site : http://www.e-systems.ro/
