I had to block ports > 1024 because of various file sharing programs which would use whatever ports they could to share files and suck up the bandwidth of the internet connection.
You didn't say in which direction you blocked these ports.
This also blocked FTP working properly.
Reading the above information it would seem that there's no way to block file sharing while letting FTP clients work properly, as both rely on random port numbers > 1024.
There's practically no way to block file sharing and still have an Internet connection. The file sharing protocols are extremely creating about finding whatever path you leave open. They'll use port 80 if they have to.
It's better not to try to block file sharing, but to throttle it using some form of qos on those ports. If you block, the file sharing programs will just hunt until they find open ports. If you throttle, they'll just think you have a slow connection.
Is my thinking correct? Can anyone think of a solution to this problem?
The solution to your problem isn't found in the firewall. It's found in establishing policies about Internet use and then enforcing them, by firing people if necessary.
-- Jefferson Ogata <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> NOAA Computer Incident Response Team (N-CIRT) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
