FYI - Firewall exceptions for Microsoft Security Essentials, even with no firewall

[wtg]

Just wanted to provide a little FYI in case others run into this.

I have Microsoft's standard firewall disabled on my PC but do run Microsoft Security Essentials, which includes an anti-malware service. While trying to set up NextPVR I found that I was unable to view status on my installed device - via setup or the tray icon - and when I tried to record anything, the recording failed with an error in the log: "System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:8968"

It sounds like a normal firewall issue, but since I have the firewall service disabled, it took me a while to figure out the trouble. There were no errors in the Microsoft Event Log of any kind. It turns out, it was the anti-malware service included with MS Security Essentials. Disabling the service I could immediately see my device status and record without trouble. To run the service and still have everything work, I had to add exceptions for NextPVR.exe and NRecord.exe to the Windows Firewall exception list, even though the firewall service isn't running. Apparently the anti-malware service uses the same list.

Anyway, hopefully this post will help others that run into the same problem.

[pcostanza]

I've run into a few problems recently with my PCH and wondered if the problem was related to an recent upgrade Essentials did. I still am not sure but for me, I just changed the port to a different one and it worked. So, if it worked for the new port, why not the old?
For what it's worth, I have my firewall set to enable. I think, but am not sure, that when you install NPVR, it sets the firewall exception.

[wtg]

The NPVR exceptions weren't already added during my install, but perhaps that's because I had the firewall disabled. When I looked at the exception list I saw that others apps have added their exceptions automatically, despite always being disabled on this machine. Probably a good idea if npvr adds the exceptions regardless, since you never know when someone's going to enable the firewall later. Then again, perhaps the MS anti-malware tool prevented the firewall changes during install too.