opening a specific port (tcp & udp; any remote ports/ip's; any programs; any profile; any computers) in windows firewall (vista home premium x64) doesn't take effect.
when I turn off the firewall, the port is open as tested with www.yougetsignal.com.
no blocking rules exist.
I have dynamic ip's from my isp (but am testing on current ip's).
what am I missing?
thanks for any help!

thanks for your reply and sorry, if I had been too unspecific.
my problem was, even though I had opened the port, www.yougetsignal.com would show it as not be accessible.

I have now the issue resolved - the port had been associated with a java-based game, and java had been blocked for all ports. so I allowed java for the same port and www.yougetsignal.com could access it.
this was my first experience with port forwarding and I had expected that a port would be open for a telnet or www.yougetsignal.com request no matter what the application is written in.