Prior to its release in 2004, being ‘bundled’ with Microsoft Windows XP SP 2, Windows Firewall has come under fire due to compatibility issues with several applications on Internet sites (which led to most corporates opting out of the XP SP 2 upgrade) though being a positive shift from the accusation that Microsoft was not protecting its customers from viruses and worms, thanks to the ineffectiveness of its predecessor, the Internet Connection Firewall.
However, with Windows Vista, a significant number of concerns (especially raised by corporate) were addressed putting to rest the negative publicity (but publicity all the same) that its earliest versions raked up.

Now if you have any Microsoft operating system after XP, you can easily configure Windows Firewall to protect your system, and here’s how:

Although in some cases, the firewall is turned on by default in any of Microsoft’s operating systems, most customers are given the option to try other firewalls before using Windows Firewall. But in doing so, one must remember to turn OFF Windows Firewall before running any other firewall software.

Now, in order to check whether it is turned on or not, Click ‘Start’ and stop your mouse pointer at the ‘Settings’ tab, after which you can select the option ‘Control Panel’. Find ‘Windows Firewall’ from the list and then look for the tabs named ‘General’, ‘Exceptions’ and ‘Advanced’.
In the General tab, you will see two options such as ‘On (recommended)’ with a green shield bearing a tick mark and ‘Off (not recommended)’ with a red shield bearing a crossed mark.
From here on, all you have to do is select ‘On’, if you would like to use Windows Firewall, and then hit ‘Ok’.
And we’re done!