Closing an Open Port

In the tip titled Scanning Your System for Open Ports you discover how to see what ports are open on your computer. If you want to close an open port, you can do so by using the Windows Firewall (Windows Defender Firewall for Windows 10). For example, let's say you want to close port 5500 for all inbound connections. Perform the steps outlined below.

1. Open Windows Firewall by going to Start | Control Panel | Windows Firewall. If you are using Windows 10, type "Windows Defender Firewall" (without the quotes) in the Search box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. Windows Defender Firewall opening screen.

2. On the left, click the "Advanced Settings" link. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. Windows Defender Firewall advanced settings.

3. On the left, click the "Inbound Rules" link. Windows displays a list of all the firewall's inbound rules.
4. Right-click the "Inbound Rules" link, and from the resulting Context menu select "New Rule." Windows displays the first step of the New Inbound Rule Wizard. (See Figure 3.)



Figure 3. Step 1 of the New Inbound Rule Wizard.

5. Since you want to close a particular port, click the Port radio button and click Next. The wizard allows you to specify which port you want to affect. (See Figure 4.)



Figure 4. Step 2 of the New Inbound Rule Wizard.

6. You want the rule to apply to TCP, so click that radio button and also type "5500" (without quote marks) into the text box. Then click Next to move to the next wizard step. (See Figure 5.)



Figure 5. Step 3 of the New Inbound Rule Wizard.

7. Click the Block the Connection radio button and click Next to display the next wizard step. (See Figure 6.)



Figure 6. Step 4 of the New Inbound Rule Wizard.

8. Ensure that all three checkboxes are marked and again click Next to move on. (See Figure 7.)



Figure 7. Step 5 of the New Inbound Rule Wizard.

9. Type in a name for the rule and optionally type a description, then click Finish.

Port 5500 is now closed and cannot be used by any service.

 This tip (13105) applies to Windows 7 and 10.