So, for those who’ve been demanding that Microsoft offer a fully functional two-way firewall, your request has been granted. In articles about the December CTP Build 5270, I’ve seen vague references to this new feature, but to my knowledge no one has yet published any details. So consider this a scoop. After installing Windows Vista Build 5270 and examining all security options in Control Panel, you might conclude that the Windows Firewall hasn’t changed at all. To get to the more powerful functionality, the bare-bones Control Panel applet won’t do; you need to create a custom Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe); load the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in; and point it at your local computer. When you do, you see a well-organized interface for controlling all firewall settings. Here’s a snippet: