Internet Security and Personal Firewalls

Internet security and firewall software, such as Norton Internet Security or ZoneAlarm, is designed to keep your home network safe from viruses or damaging attacks.  As a side effect, some Internet security software might designate the Slingbox as a "hostile" device on your network. If you are running these software programs, consult the software manufacturer's user manual to find out how you can designate the Slingbox as a safe or trusted device.

Windows Firewall Help

You may see an alert appear while running the SlingPlayer or Slingbox Setup Wizard related to personal security or firewall software, which may look like the following:

OR

OR

OR

If you see such a warning, you want to grant or permit access for your Slingbox to work properly. If you accidentally block the SlingPlayer software, we recommend you consult your firewall support materials or documentation to grant access to the SlingPlayer. As a courtesy we have provided sample steps to grant access for McAfee Personal Firewall Plus, Zone Alarm, and Norton Personal Firewall. For other applications, the steps may be similar.  Consult the links below for more specific information for each of these firewalls.

IMPORTANT NOTE for Windows XP SP1 users: if you are running the SP1 edition of Windows XP, see the notes below to learn more about your security settings. If you are unsure which version of Windows XP you are running, you may want to read these tips as well.

Windows XP SP1 Users

First, view the Windows Control Panel and then browse to your Network Connections:

Find your Local Area Connection, and push your right mouse button, which will show you several options:

Select Properties, then view the Advanced tab. You must uncheck the "Protect my computer..." option, as follows:

After you close this window, your SlingPlayer and Slingbox should function normally.

Mac OS X Firewall Help

To modify the firewall built in to Mac OS X to allow your Slingbox to be found and used:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. In System Preferences, click Sharing.
3. Click the Firewall tab. (In order to change the settings here, you may be required to click the padlock at the bottom of the window and authenticate with an Administrator's password).
4. Click Advanced and then deselect Block UDP Traffic, if it’s checked.

If you have an additional firewall product from another company, see the documentation that came with it for more information.