I have NTLs 512k Broadband service, which is shared using ICS with my own and my sons PC, I used 2 network cards 1 for Net, 1 For lan which connect to his Network card through a hub. What my problem is, is I use nortons Internet security for my firewall, and ran through the wizard to allow my sons PC internet access. This all works fine until he wants to play CounterStrike, then nortons starts to go alert crazy with 700+ intrusion attempts because hes pinging servers. How do I allow his counterstrike to ping servers without disabling my firewall? I presume there must be a way to open up the ports, 27015 I believe.

Hi there, Yes, I've experienced this too with Unreal Tournament - the firewall is blocking the relevant TCP or UDP ports. First of all, check which rule is firing off, find out which port it is trying to access. You mentioned port 27015... this may be the port number for sending game info over only so I'm not sure how CounterStrike does a ping but a "normal" ping doesn't use a port number, it's known as an ICMP packet so check the firewall rules for this too. If you're seeing lots of failed attempts for port 27015 during attempted gameplay ( which subsequently fails ), then you'll need to open up that port. Be careful when opening up ports though - if they are blocked, it may be for a very good reason. That said, make one change at a time and note down which ones you did change - you'll save yourself a headache! Let us know how you get on, Best regards, James.