Remote Desktop through Linksys and ZoneAlarm

[kcnychief]

Hello all.

I have RDC working through my Linksys Router, WRT54GS. That works great, I got the full version of Zone Alarm Professional, but can't find anywhere in there that I can control ports or anything. I wouldn't be connecting from any one location, so I can't add an IP in the trusted zone. Has anyone tried this or have any insight on it?

 

[mvakula]

I have the same setup at home. I only RDP to my home PC from work. So in my case I added a trusted IP to get this to work. I don't recommend doing this, but what you need to do (granted the router is setup correctly), is go to the Firewall section of ZA. Then you will see a tab called 'expert rules' (I think that is the name, it's the last tab on the top right). Create a new rule, set the settings appropriately, make sure you set source IP and destination IP to any.

Suggestion: I would suggest that you change the default RDP port of 3389 to something higher. Anyone doing a port scan of your IP would easily be able to determine that RDP is running if left as default (and if the port forward for this port is enabled on your router). Generally port scanners will not scan high port ranges. Ports 1-1024 are for commercial use. Generally anything above 1024 is OK to use (as long as it's not currently being used by another app). I would suggest setting it to a port above 30,000. This is because generally no apps will use this port and anyone running a port scan usually will not scan this high. In my case I leave remote management on for my router. My password is strong and is set as a passphrase. I do this because I only enable the RDP port when I need access and disable it when I am done. It's an extra 20sec. of tinkering but for the security it's priceless.

 

[Mastershakes]

Here you are:

http://www.ualberta.ca/CNS/TR/remoted_host.html

Zone Alarm is excellent software. XP's SP2 Firewall is good as well. Getting RD to work properly with ZA is not as easy, but it's possible. It's making me think maybe ZA is a good idea. However the SP2 Firewall provides ample security for my needs.

Good luck with the article, some of the pix are broken, but it should get you going.

Oh, changing the default RD port:

1. Start Registry Editor.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber
3. On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Decimal.
4. Type the new port number, and then click OK.
5. Quit Registry Editor.