Firewalls are either computer programs or hardware that restrict access in to and out of a network. Most corporate networks have firewalls installed for added security. Many home users are now installing firewalls on their home networks as well.

Since firewalls block the vast majority of Internet traffic, in the past they have often prevented the W V W browser from being able to contact the W V W server, and thus prevented users who are on firewall networks from accessing W V W at all. This has been a particularly common problem in corporate environments.

Many home and corporate networks also use proxy servers. Basically, a proxy server is a computer on a network that all other computers on that network must communicate through in order to access the outside Internet. If a computer on a proxied network attempts to access the Internet directly it will be blocked. By requiring all computers on a network to go through a single server, a proxy server creates a single point of control for Internet traffic on that network and provides additional security as a result. Proxy servers also often provide a service called NAT or "Network Address Translation", which allows multiple computers to share a single Internet connection.

The W V W browser is able to "tunnel" through a firewall and/or proxy server and contact the W V W servers. It does this by using TCP port 443, also known as the SSL port. This is the same mechanism used by web browsers when accessing secure web sites (i.e. URLs beginning with "https://"). Since most people would like to be able to access secure web sites, even people on corporate networks, most firewalls allow applications to send data to the Internet over port 443. The W V W browser takes advantage of this by, in effect, pretending to be a web browser accessing a secure web site, in order to gain access to the outside Internet and make contact with the W V W servers.

The first time you launch a new installation of W V W, you will see an "Internet Configuration" dialog box where you can indicate the kind of connection you have to the Internet. There is an "automatic configuration" button, which allows the browser to automatically detect and use several kinds of standard Internet connection types. Consult your system administrator if you are not sure what type of Internet connection you have. Be sure to make a backup copy of your aworld.ini file before attempting to make any changes to it, as this file is essential for your W V W browser to work.