Newbie to linux here. I'm one of those xp refugees!

I installed Xubuntu 14.04 a few days ago and downloaded from the Software Center the GUFW. I simply turned it "on" (deny incoming and allow outgoing).

I saw a post on ubuntu forum that showed how to see the firewall status from the terminal. I did this and got the following:

Status: active
Logging: on (low)
Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing), disabled (routed)
New profiles: skip

The post had shown what to expect and it was just as above except it did not have the "disabled (routed)" part.

I can't find out what that means and was concerned something was wrong? Any explanation of this would be appreciated. Also, please remember that I am newbie

It refers to rules in the FORWARD chain in the iptables firewall and possibly the ip_forward kernel setting. It's only relevant if you use your system as a router, which I presume you don't.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not very familiar with firewalls, so I don't really understand any of that. But, yes I don't use my system as a router.

Maybe I should be more clear: Is the status readout with the "disabled (routed)" a normal status for what I did (i.e. simply turned it on with GUFW with just the default "deny incoming, allow outgoing") or is this unusual or in any way enabling or disabling something that it wasn't supposed to, given what I did?

Thanks again.

No, it's not at all unusual. Disabling routing and/or blocking all forwarding is the best (most secure) firewall setting for a non-router.

Thank you. That's very reassuring.

It's odd, though, that all the examples of what readout you will get on status verbose I have seen on web don't include the " disabled (routed)" part. This Xubuntu 14.04 was just released a few weeks ago, so maybe that is a new inclusion in the report now.