RBE971: I lost the ability to change my firewall settings after Firmware(9.12.4.1) update

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mjmbama25 wrote:

I have used port forwarding before but have never used it to block ports?  So what am i missing?

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The router Firewall has a default setting of:

• Do not accept any connections from the internet. None.  There are two ways to allow connections through the router:
  • Forward ports to devices on the LAN.  These are "one to one" definitions.  Specific UDP/IP ports can be forwarded to one IP address on the LAN. For example if a person has three web servers on the LAN, port 80 can be forwarded to only one of them.  Different ports can be forwarded to port 80 on different devices.
  • Enable OpenVPN Host on the router.  This will accept connections from OpenVPN Clients on the internet to provide access to devices on the LAN (including the router).  There is an option to allow OpenVPN Clients to access the internet through the router.  (For example, if a person is in a geographic area that does not allow web access to YouTube but the router is in an area that does.)
• Do not block any connections to the internet from devices on the LAN.  Any device can connect to any port on any IP address.  The Block Services security feature can be used to prevent specific devices from making certain internet connections.  The block can be turned on and off with a schedule.  Many users attempt to use Block Services and Block Sites as a form of Parental Controls and find that their children easily evade these attempts. (sigh)

The screen shot that was attached appears to from a typical computer Firewall (Windows, iMac, etc.) which has entries for "In" and "out" and also for "Private" and "Public" networks.

Caveat:  I have no experience with WiFi routers from other vendors.  How they handle Firewall rules may differ from how the Netgear routers do.