Norton, McAfee, ZoneAlarm, Freedom, BlackIce, and Microsoft ISA server are some of the most common brands of firewall software. If you have any of these installed on your machine, you most likely are using a software firewall.
In addition, you may be using a firewall if you have a personal network router between your computer and the Internet. In order to access media over the Internet you may need to enable port forwarding on your personal network router. If this is a home network, you can examine the router configuration by using the instructions that came with the router for administering port forwarding. If this is a corporate network, you will have to speak with your network administrator.
Instructions for allowing media through software firewalls follow, based on the Windows operating system. :
Norton Firewall:
1. Close RealPlayer.
2. Double-click the Norton Firewall icon in the Windows task bar.
3. Click the Configure button on the right side.
4. Click the Program Control tab at the top.
5. Locate RealPlayer or RealOne Player.
6. Highlight and click Remove.
7. Close Norton Personal Firewall.
8. Open RealPlayer and you will get a prompt to grant access to the Internet.
9. Choose Permit and check Always use this action.
10. Restart the computer.
If you are still receiving a "Service Unavailable" error, contact Norton at http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/ to find out how to configure it correctly.
McAfee Personal Firewall:
There are two possible methods for McAfee Personal Firewall. You need only choose one:
First method:
1. Double-click the firewall icon in the Windows task bar.
2. From the left side, click on Internet Applications.
3. Click New Allowed Application.
4. Locate RealPlay.exe (C:\Program Files\real\realplayer\).
5. Click RealPlay.exe, then click Open.
6. Close the McAfee Personal Firewall.
7. Restart the computer.
Second method:
1. Double-click the firewall icon in the system tray.
2. Click Internet Applications from the left side.
3. Locate and remove RealPlayer from the list. Close McAfee Personal Firewall.
4. The next time you run RealPlayer, you will be prompted by McAfee to allow or deny access to the Internet. Choose Allow.
McAfee Security Center:
1. Close RealPlayer and any other programs that you have open.
2. Double-click the Security Center icon in the Windows task bar.
3. Click Personal Firewall on the left side.
4. Click View the Internet Applications List.
5. Click New Allowed Application.
6. Locate RealPlay.exe (C:\Program Files\real\realplayer\).
7. Click RealPlay.exe, then click Open.
8. Close the McAfee Personal Firewall.
9. Close McAfee Security Center.
10. Right-click the McAfee icon next to the clock and click on disable Personal privacy services.
If you are still receiving a "Service Unavailable" error, contact McAfee at http://us.mcafee.com/root/support.asp to find out how to configure it correctly.
ZoneAlarm:
1. Open ZoneAlarm.
2. Click Program Control.
3. Click on Programs.
4. Scroll down the list to RealPlayer.
5. Next to RealPlayer in the Access column, both Trusted and Internet must have checkmarks in them. If you have a ? or an X in Trusted or Internet, then click the ? or X and choose Allow. This will change the ? or X into a checkmark.
6. You should now be able to sign into RealPlayer.
If you are still receiving a "Service Unavailable" error, contact Zone Labs at http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/support.jsp to find out how to configure it correctly.
Freedom:
1. Close RealPlayer.
2. Double-click the system tray icon in the Windows task bar.
3. Click Firewall.
4. Click Internet Access Rules.
5. Locate RealPlayer or realplayer.exe.
6. Click the RealPlayer icon and set to Allow.
If you are still receiving a "Service Unavailable" error, contact Freedom at http://www.freedom.net/support/ to find out how to configure it correctly.
For BlackIce, check their support site at https://iss.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iss.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php.
