Your firewall and antivirus are software programs that protect your device from malicious attacks and threats. However sometimes they can also block or interfere with your Ethernet connection. You should check if your firewall and antivirus settings are allowing your Ethernet network to access the internet and communicate with other devices. You can do this by going to the Control Panel on Windows or the System Preferences on Mac and looking for your firewall and antivirus settings under the Security section. You can also try temporarily disabling your firewall and antivirus and seeing if that solves your Ethernet connection problem." 1 How to improve Ethernet speed and performance "Ethernet speed and performance can affect how fast and smooth you can browse the web stream videos play games download files and more. Here are some tips on how to improve Ethernet speed and performance: