Working with Firewalls
If firewall software is running on the Windows Media Center PC, the software may prevent Windows Media Center applications and ActiveX controls in HTML applications from accessing the Internet. Most firewall software will prevent access if an applications or control attempts to access the Internet through a port that the user has not opened. Although most firewall software will display a dialog box that lets the user choose whether to allow access, the dialog box appears behind the Windows Media Center shell, preventing the user from seeing it. Because Windows Media Center must wait for the dialog box to be dismissed before continuing, Windows Media Center will appear to be unresponsive.
If your Windows Media Center application needs to access the Internet through a port that the user has not opened, your setup program must create a firewall exception when the application is installed, or it must instruct the user on how to do this manually. For more information on how to create a firewall exception with Windows Firewall, search the MSDN Web site.
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