Firestorm Viewer: Firewall and Anti-Virus

    Firestorm is a wonderful feature filled viewer, complex at times, but with a little time and effort you can get the most out of your Second Life® experience by learning the basics of the settings. Outside of Firestorm (and any SL viewer) you probably will have to do some tweaking too for optimum efficiency and stability. In this modern age of worry over hackers, trojans, worms, viruses, phishers, scammers, and probably aliens, everything is getting complicated. Operating systems and anti-virus programs can hinder, stymie, and block, communications and installations of the Firestorm Viewer. One of the primary adjustments you will probably need to do is to exclude your viewer programs and folders from your firewall and anti-virus programs.

Firestorm.org provides good instruction for accomplishing this [Firestorm Whitelisting] for many anti-virus programs and your firewall. Some of it does need to be updated to the current release, filenames, folders, and also made just a little clearer. You need to make sure you add the correct filenames and folders and not just add exactly what they have listed there. Those are general directions, and some of it is outdated (or was, when I wrote this).

HOWEVER, even if you have already done this in the past, go back and check to make sure the exclusions are still there and are still correct. Many things have changed over the many versions of both Firestorm and your Operating System, and you need to be sure that everything is still valid. 

For example, if your current version of Firestorm is installed in the folder "firestorm_x64" make sure the exclusion is not set to "FirestormOS_x64" or some other name. You won't be needing the Firestorm.bin or Firstorm.exe in there if you are using a more modern release of the viewer; The filenames have changed too.

You should have the following files excluded in your firewall:

• firestorm-release64.exe (or firestorm-release.exe)
• slplugin.exe
• slvoice.exe
• dullahan_host.exe

You also need to exclude the cache folders from anti-virus and security scans. The firestorm link above shows you how to do that for many anti-virus programs. Like I said before, some parts of it need to be updated and made clearer, so be careful and make the changes you make fit your system and installation.

Windows 10 is not as user friendly as are previous Windows versions. It can be maddening to locate where to make these changes. They are not exactly logically laid out to the average person but are probably completely logical to the Microsoft programmers. Let me try to show you where these settings probably are and how to add exclusions to your Firewall and Security - at least how I did it on my computer system.

My system is:

• Windows 10 Home - V.21H1
• Windows Security/Defender & Firewall
• Firestorm Release 6.2.4.57588 (64 bit):

The short way to do this is to click on your Windows Security Icon on the taskbar (probably on the right under the up arrow "Show Hidden Icons" or use the search to find Windows Security. If you do that you can skip steps 1-5.

The long way to do it:

1. Click Start
2. Settings (Gear Icon)
3. Choose Update and Security
4. Select Windows Security
5. Click Open Windows Security
6. Select Virus & Threat Protection
7. Under Virus & Threat Protection Settings click "Manage Settings"
8. Scroll down on the right panel until you see "Exclusions"
9. Click on "Add or Remove Exclusions"
10. Click + Add an exclusion
11. Select Process
12. Add Firestorm-release64.exe
13. Repeat to add SLVoice.exe, slplugin.exe, and dullahan_host.exe.

Now we add the Firestorm Cache folder exclusions. The username is the account name you are logged into on your Windows 10 system. It might be Markham, Yuna, Roger, VIP, Junior, or whatever. Change the username to whatever your login name in Win10 is. Let's say mine is "Markham".

• Click + Add an exclusion
• Select Folder
• Navigate to and select: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Firestorm_x64
• (E.g.: C:\Users\Markham\AppData\Roaming\Firestorm_x64)
• I also excluded the following folder just in case something changes later in Win10 security:
• C:\Users\Markham\AppData\Local\Firestorm_x64

Now we move onto the Firewall Exclusions:

1. Select Firewall & Network Protection on the left panel
2. Click "Allow an app through firewall"
3. Click "Change Settings"
4. Now you can click "Allow another App"
5. Browse in path to C:\Program Files\Firestorm-releasex64
6. Click on firestorm-release64.exe
7. Repeat for slplugin.exe
8. Repeat for SLVoice.exe (even if you do not use SL Voice)
9. Browse again and go to C:\Program Files\Firestorm-releasex64\llplugin
10. Click on dullahan_host.exe

Whew! You are done. Congratulations! Now reboot your computer and you are good to go.

Good Luck and Happy SLing!

Markham Weatherwax