If you have the Saint Mary's-provided Bitdefender security software installed on your personally-owned computer, Bitdefender's firewall blocks access to the Saint Mary's network drives. We have reported this to Bitdefender as an issue affecting our faculty, staff, and students, but the problem has not been corrected with an update yet.

To access your Saint Mary's network drives from your personally-owned computer with Bitdefender installed, you need to disable Bitdefender's firewall and enable the Windows firewall on your computer.

Part 1: Disable the Bitdefender Firewall:

1. Open the Bitdefender program.

2. In the main Bitdefender window (which should say Your device is protected), click on View Features.

   OR

   In the main Bitdefender window (which should say You are safe), click on Protection.

3. Click on the switch under Firewall to turn the Bitdefender Firewall Off.

4. Close the Bitdefender window.

Bitdefender may say that your device is at risk because the firewall is disabled. You may re-enable the Bitdefender firewall at any time, but be aware that the Bitdefender firewall will prevent access to your Saint Mary's network drives.

Part 2: Enable the Windows Defender Firewall:

These instructions are for enabling the Windows firewall in Windows 10, but the various Windows versions will use similar steps. Your computer may have the Windows Defender Firewall automatically enabled, but you should definitely check to be certain. The important thing is that the Windows firewall on your computer should be turned on.

1. From the Start menu, select Settings.

2. In the search bar at the top of the window, type windows firewall.

3. Select Windows Firewall from the list that appears.

4. In the left column of the Windows Defender Firewall window, click on Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off.

5. Under Private network settings, make sure that Turn on Windows Defender Firewall is selected.

6. Under Public network settings, make sure that Turn on Windows Defender Firewall is selected.

7. Click OK.

8. Close the Windows Defender Firewall window.