How to Enable or Disable Windows Firewall in Windows 10

Turned on by default Windows Firewall protects your computer from external threats. Although Windows Firewall is not an anti-virus program and is not capable of identifying the viruses it blocks the communication from any external source that it cannot recognize and finds suspicious.

It is strongly recommended that you always keep Windows Firewall enabled in order to keep your PC protected from the threats. However many times any third-party anti-virus program that also has a built-in comparatively stronger firewall automatically disables or prompts you to disable Windows Firewall in order to perform normally.

Considering the above situation learning how to enable or disable Windows Firewall becomes important and the steps given below are there to help you with that:

1. Use an administrator account to sign-in to your Windows 10 computer.
2. Once on the desktop screen right-click the Start button.
3. From the context menu that comes up click Control Panel.

4. On the opened Control Panel window ensure that View by is set to Category from the top-right corner and click the System and Security category.

5. From the System and Security window click Windows Firewall.

6. From the left pane of the Windows Firewall window click the Turn Windows Firewall on or off link.

7. From the Customize Settings window click to select the Turn off Windows Firewall (not recommended) radio buttons under the Private network settings and Public network settings profile types.

8. Click OK from the bottom to save the changes and then close the opened window.
9. To re-enable Windows Firewall follow the above steps from 1 to 8 while selecting the Turn on Windows Firewall radio buttons under the Private network settings and Public network settings profile types when on step 7.