Product Support

F-Secure Internet Security 2008 - Back to FAQ list

Internet Shield Firewall

Q6. What is firewall ‘packet logging’ and how can I use it?

Packet logging is a tool used for example to analyze network traffic and to gather evidence of illicit behavior. It consists of copying the payload and headers of all the network traffic the computer sees to a file which can be viewed later. The firewall logs the packets in a format that is readable by most network analysis tools.

If programs have problems accessing the Internet, it is useful to see what is happening on the firewall by creating a packet log. The log can be send to F-Secure support professionals for further analysis.

To turn on firewall packet logging, do as follows:

1. Open F-Secure Internet Security.
2. Click the Internet Shield tab.
3. Click on ‘Advanced’ to open the advanced dialog.
4. Click on ‘Logging’.
5. In ‘Logging time’ type 120 seconds and in ‘Max log file size’ type 2MB.
6. Click ‘Start logging’ to start the process.
7. A log file such as ‘Packetlog.0’ is created. In ‘Logging directory’ you can see the location where the log file is being saved (default C:\Program files\F-secure\FWES\logs).