Ok I have had a new computer for about 2 months now. I originally had the Windows 98 Second Edition OS and now I have XP 2002. I used to be able to play a lot of online games, and didn't have a firewall or any of that garbage. Now with XP, it has a built in firewall or something, so no matter what game I try to play online, I can't connect to the host, or if I host, they can't connect to me. I tried disabling the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) that comes with XP, by going to the Advanced tab for the properties of my internet connection. This did absolutely nothing. If you'd like to know, I'm specifically trying to get Red Alert to work (I use Gamespy arcade but I get an error message everytime called "Proxy or Firewall Detected." It basically says my internal IP address differs from my external IP address, and that this is caused by firewalls, NAT proxies, or other unusual network configurations. I'm also trying to get the game Worms 2 to work, and I can't join or host any games there either. I am so desperate please please give me some advice on how to fix this. Thanks.

Do you have a router?

I don't know... What is a router and how do I determine if I have one?

a router is a little box that lets have have 4 computers on 1 connection

what type of connection are u using? modem/cable/dsl?

In the Network Settings, you should be able to fine the mini-firewall that XP by default assigns to your network. Also click on START | HELP to look for the mini-firewall and how to disable it.

Ok I'll answer the above posts in order after my last one: I see so that's a router! Yes I do have one which connects 4 computers in my house to the internet. How does this help me fix my computer though? I am using a cable connection. I already explained that I disabled the built in XP firewall and it didn't do anything at all. I tried searching for firewall in help, and found quite a few matches, and scanned through them and none seemed to help me. Thanks for the help so far guys. As you can tell I'm very very desperate! Thanks!! Also, I know I'm not the brightest of people when it comes to how computers work, but I'd like to know what a 'proxy' is (is that even the correct context for using the word in a sentence?) and whether it is related to this, as suggested by gamespy arcade (see first post).