PC Tools Firewall v3.0.0.25 beta

I guess it might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48719

 

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Interesting new features .

 

Does their "stealth mode" mean something else than the stealth mode any decent firewall offers?
I tried PCtools FW a couple of weeks ago in Vista, but I couldnt figure out why the pctoolsgui.exe (if I remember the process name correctly) had to use the processor continuously even if it was only sitting in the tray, so I went back to the original (LnS)
I wondered why my hard drive diod kept flashing all the time so I checked with Process monitor and noticed this.

But this sounds nice:

I will look at it when the beta has gone final.

 

Has anyone done any leak testing on the latest releases of PC Tools firewall?

 

Stealth mode ... finally achieved by PCtools ... (it used to fail GRC tests using previous versions).

Better late than never, for such a basic feature ...

 

What about outbound leak tests?

 

Yes, I want to see the outbound features tested.

When these would this FW's get into the formal testing stage? Some are never tested I hear? But I would bet PC Tools will get their's included!

I would guess after they leave beta mode?

Anybody know?

 

Hello Drew99GT

You can do it yourself by downloading the leaktests from this page, and then repost back with the results. I'm sure many will be interested to see your results.

Cheers.

 

Gentlemen:

When I get time I'll slide over to the PC tools forum and raise these questions. While there give me the rest of the questions to put to them if you want. I'll just do the in.out mail for you.

 

That is because the keeps checking the amount of data transfered to animate. There is an option in the settings to turn off display traffic information in tray icon. This should make the gui stay silent when minimized.

 

It's pretty light and stable in my end... great work PC Tools!

 

Thanks, I will have a look this week for sure....

 

It looks like it is time to have a play.

 

I can't get the pctfw service to run (after installs reboot). Same issue with the last (non beta) version. I used to use this firewall without error. Not sure why I am having this problem all of a sudden. Does anyone know if it has conflicts with Norton AV, Spyware Terminator, or Comodo Boclean?

 

the service generates a log file called FirewallWrapper.txt

is there anything in there that could help narrow down the problem ?

 

Thanks! I will remember that

 

I have just installed onto a VM. It certainly looks more interesting, with better options.
I have only had a quick look at this time, just to see the additions.(I installed in advanced mode)

Note that the SPI is not enabled by default, this needs to be enabled in: Settings~ filtering (I also disabled the "Generate rules automatically)



The advanced rules are also now per application: (rules created for each app~ the main filtering is still active)
These are from IE (on the VM)
General:-



Network rules (I allowed IE to make 4 connections, just to see the rules are created and popups given for each rule (there is an option in the popup to allow all connections for the app if prefered)



I will try and find time later to take a longer look

 

Generate rules automatically - might be a really bad description of what it is doing. It is not automatically creating rules for an application, it is automatically creating rules for the NDIS. So if you allow an application to do something, then a rule is automatically created for the NDIS driver.

If the white list is on, then that will generate rules for applications automatically.

 

Thanks. I will trying installing it again tonight, and she what is in that text file.

 

Although "Stealth" is not on top of my prorities, I did take a quick look at this.

I was at first getting unpredictable results, but another reboot appears to have made the firewall react predictably.

The "Stealth" mode is a blanket to drop unsolicted inbound (give no reply) to any port(I have only checked TCP SYN (connections)), but, if a rule is within the "Advanced rules(Internet zone)" to allow or block a specific port, then the "Stealth" is lost.
Let me explain:-
I have an application listening on port for inbound TCP connection (with Application Advanced rule to allow), PCTF is set to "Stealth", inbound attempts to connect are dropped. I then have to place a rule within the internet zone to allow this inbound, PCTF give me a warning that setting such a rule will break the "Stealth", I allow this, I can then connect in. But, when the application is not listening on port, the port is then shown as closed.

There are current default rules to block inbound to netbios, and rules to allow netbios for the local LAN, these rules also break the "stealth", these show as closed.(ports 137-139)

 

I have played with this one for a while last night, only problem I saw so far is the GUI has trouble "letting go" at Windows shutdown.. in other words, it hangs the shutdown up till I manually kill it, which is annoying. But otherwise it's kinda interesting. But I'm sure Stem will give it a much better workout that I could. Got the router going here and not much time to mess with it....

 

Yes I noticed also the GU problem at shutdown. A little bit annoying.

 

Hello Kerodo / Clweb,

Yes, the GUI not closing automatically is a problem on all my setups.

I have taken time to look at this firewall again, I have found that on my XP setup with the latest updates I was having some "inconsistency" as I reported. I have reverted back to an XP image from about 6 weeks ago, and the firewall is acting more as I would expect. I will spend some time over the weekend checking this out more, and will post back results.

I am not sure at this time if my previous problems/results are directly related to the windows updates (the firewall having problems with the MS updates?), or maybe possible problems with corruption on my test PC due to the MS updates. I will recheck by making windows updates on the test PC while PCtools firewall is installed and working (on first checks) correctly at the moment

 

Hello Stem et al:

I am interested in the results of Stem's test for sure.
I have latest updates to XP so if this FW is "out of sysnc" it is important for sure!

 

Hi Escalader,

I have just performed full updates from MS, I am seeing no problems due to this (before I updated, I checked my history, this did show 2 updates that failed on my last update, so possibly the problem was there?).
I am finding a slight slowdown in page loading since the windows updates, but not enough to complain about.

But, saying that, I would advise as with any beta install, to make HD image (if you have backup software)

Regards,