another Windows Firewall Control?

Thanks a lot for your reply. I'll probably just continue to use FileZilla like this, I think it's better to lower WFC filtering each time I run it, than to store all my FTP passwords unencrypted.

 

Version 3.9.1.2 available.

What's new:
- Fixed: Duplicate notifications are displayed if the user creates a block rule which contains one or more remote IPv4 ranges.
- Fixed: Duplicate notifications are displayed if the user defines a remote port range for a block rule.
- Fixed: Some remote IPv6 variations are not properly validated in editing rule window. Now it is possible to set something like: fe80::/64, 2001::/128, etc.
- Improved: Various logic improvements.

Installation notes:
The same as usual. Nothing special.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 2a537d3d9570c197c4d81bdcfa5d52d3

Thank you for your feedback and your help,
Alexandru

 

Today I noticed (using 3.9.1.2) that I am not able to specify (local or remote) ports if the protocol is set to "Any".

I wanted to modify my TeamViewer rule having to allow remote port 5938 for as well TCP as UDP. So I thought on creating one rule with "Any" protocol and remote port 5938 instead of creating two rules with TCP and UDP protocol each.

Another idea would of course be to choose maybe "TCP and UDP" as option under "protocol".

 

This is not possible. The user can specify local and remote ports only if the protocol is set to TCP or UDP. "Any" includes some protocols that have nothing to do with ports and this is why you can't set local or remote ports for "Any". This is the way Windows Firewall works. If you try to do the same in WFwAS you have the same limitations. There is nothing that I can improve regarding this. Also, "TCP and UDP" is not supported. Unfortunately you must define two rules in the scenario that you described. This limitation is coming from Windows Firewall and is also a limitation of WFC.

 

OK, thank you for the background information.

 

Alexandru, just thought I'd mention this.
http://pete.akeo.ie/2011/11/free-code-signing-certificate-for-open.html

Saw it today when I was looking at his blog after downloading Rufus.
http://rufus.akeo.ie/

I know WFC is not open source, but just thought I'd pass on the reference.

 

Thank you but this not apply to WFC, because is not released as open source.

 

Version 3.9.1.4 available (updated 28.03.2013)

What's new:
- New: Added support for use FIPS compliant algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signing. In the previous versions, if the user enables the operating system to use only cryptographic algorithms that are FIPS 140 compliant, the program doesn't work.
- New: Added a default recommended rule for Windows Store to allow Modern UI applications to connect to the Internet in Windows 8.
- New: Added support for selecting IGMP, IPv6 and GRE protocols in Properties dialog when a rule is configured.
- Improved: Added the possibility to recreate the system recommended rules without reinstalling the program. On the Policy tab, press on the Restore Default text.
- Fixed: If the user unchecks "Disable the ability of other..." checkbox, creates a rule from WFwAS, and then enables back this feature, the rule from WFwAS is deleted, even if it was created while this feature was disabled.
- Fixed: The layout of Location items was changed in Properties dialog of a rule to fit long translation strings for some languages.
- Fixed: Akamai block rule blocks Windows Update in some scenarios. Some IP ranges from the rule were removed to restore compatibility.

Installation notes:
When using the updater, if you have installed a version older than v.3.9.1.0, make sure to execute the program with administrative privileges on the first run in order to launch the updater.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 5e04c8bd9eea04d7a55abf13bda41934

Your feedback is welcome. Thank you for your support.
The developer

 

On my old Vista Laptop (which I have yet to upgrade to a still-in-the-works custom copy of Windows Se7en), I appear to have yet again bumped into the same Windows Update error (80072EFD).



It appears that the Windows Update is attempting to use a different service other than the "Windows Update" service because other than the default system rules you created for blocking "VeriSign Global Registry Services", "Microsoft Limited", "Microsoft Internal Data Center" and "Akamai Technologies", I have no other enabled rules that block svchost.exe.

Changing the category to "Low Filtering" doesn't fix the problem, I had to disable the firewall filtering in order for Windows Update to successfully find an update.

On top of that, on my Surface Pro, I've been noticing connection problems when trying to access the Windows Store and the Windows Store Updates. Which system rules do I need to create to allow Windows Store to function correctly? Mind including them in your default system rules when installing on Windows 8 systems?

 

Regarding the Windows Update problem, it seems that one of the IP ranges defined in the rule named WFC - Akamai Technologies was conflicting again with Windows Update. I have removed that IP range and now everything works again.

Regarding Windows Store, you must add a new rule to allow TCP protocol on ports 80,443 for C:\Windows\System32\wwahost.exe in order to allow modern UI applications connect to the Internet. I have added this rule in the recommended rules set and is created only on Windows 8.

I recompiled version 3.9.1.4 and uploaded it on the website. Read my previous post about the new changes. These are very small improvements, this is why the version remains the same.

Have a nice day,
Alexandru

P.S.: If you need some of the new improvements, first uninstall your current version and keep your settings. Download and install the new recompiled version. Your rules will remain the same. If you don't care about such minor changes, you can wait for the next version. Thank you for your understanding.

 

Hello, I have a minor feature request/suggestion regarding the lock feature.
The current version is:
1. You lock the program with a password.
2. In order to change the settings of Windows Firewall, you click the tray icon, click the unlock icon and enter the password.
3. If you close, the program will remain unlocked, so to lock, you need to enter a password again .

My suggested method is to:
1. Set a password in the WFC control panel.
2. Enable lock.
3. If you want to change Windows Firewall settings, you click the icon tray.
4. You will then be prompt to unlock the program.
5. Do the changes and close. (WFC will remain locked).
6. If you click the tray again, a prompt will appear again to unlock the program.
7. To unlock the program fully (no more password in next access, there will be an unlock button).

I hope you take this into consideration.

 

I cant get the programme to run at all.I have windows firewall running ok,but upon installing WFC, i just get the exclamation tray icon that says cant connect to windows firewall control service.In services both windows and windows firecontrol services are strated and running.Just doesnt seem to want to run.The installation says it completed successfully.Any ideas why it wont run (using w7 64bit).I did have a wierd avast popup that seemed to think wfc service was a rootkit but i ignored that and set exclusion in avast.Rebooted and tried new installtion but still WFC cant connect.

 

From the screenshots that you posted, it seems that the Windows service (wfcs.exe) was not installed properly. It has no description. Let's try to do the following:

1. Let's manually uninstall WFC:

a) Run a CMD window with admin privileges and execute the following commands:

sc.exe stop wfcs
sc.exe delete wfcs
reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Windows Firewall Control" /f

b) Delete manually the installation folder and any other related files: wfc.exe and wfcs.exe.

Now your system should be clean of any WFC installation. Let's start again a clean installation.

2. Download the latest version from the website 3.9.1.4.
3. Disable Avast temporarily. I don't know why it gives a false positive.
4. Right click on the downloaded wfc.exe file. Select from the context menu "Run as administrator". This will launch the program with elevated privileges.
5. Install the program and wait until the Finish button becomes enabled.
6. After pressing the Finish button, the program should appear in the system tray area, next to the system clock. Does it appear ?
7. If you go in the installation folder you should have 3 files:
- wfc.exe = GUI application that runs in system tray
- wfcs.exe = Windows service which does the heavy work
- restore.dat = your set of rules at the installation time of WFC
Are these 3 files in the installation folder ? If not, during the installation, instead of the Finish button, an Abort button has appeared ? If the file wfc.exe is not there, try to copy manually the file in the installation folder and launch it from there. What happens now ?

8. Besides Avast, do you use any other security software ?
9. Please go to Event Viewer (run eventwr.msc). Under "Applications and Service logs" category, there is a subcategory named WFC. There are logged all errors from WFC. When you are there, on the right panel is a button named "Save all events as...". Use this button to export an *.evtx file and send it to us to check it.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Have a nice day,
Alexandru

 

Thanks for reply.Ive followed instructions except i actually uninstalled avast ,so i had no av running.I dont have any other realtime av running not even windows defender.Followed instructions but still no go.The installation doesnt put any shortcuts on desktop or startmenu either even though its ticked in installer.I only have 2 files in program folder.Ive sent event viewer full log to you at support.
thanks

 

Hmmm, do you have User Account Control (UAC) enabled? If so, temporarily disable it via action center, uninstall Windows Firewall Control using the same procedure Alexandru posted then reinstall it and see what pops up.

Also, I highly recommend you switch to Microsoft Security Essentials for all your anti-virus/anti-spyware/anti-malware needs.

@alexandrud

Have a minor suggestion for improving WFC. Currently, when a notification appears, the user can can click the "^" button to customize most aspects of the firewall rule, except the "Locations" aspect. Mind adding three check-boxes (eg "Private", "Public" and "Domain") that appear (by default, only the ones checked under the "Rules" tab should be checked) when the user clicks the "^" button to customize the settings?

--EDIT--

Also seem to have bumped into a bug with Metro apps. I have the Netflix metro app installed and it's "Netflix.exe" executable in the following directory randomly results in a TCP outgoing notification, despite me having an "allow-all Soucre/Remote address and Local/Remote port on TCP protocol" rule for this executable.

C:\program files\windowsapps\4df9e0f8.netflix_1.7.0.39_x64__mcm4njqhnhss8

Could characters in the directory path be causing confusion?

 

Hi..
No i dont have uac enabled.Always switch it off.Im always trying different avs ( kingsoft cloud was my favourite for a while) and uninstalled avast as i find version 8 is impacting my system (i3) more than previous versions.Ive also repaired winsock etc but still no go.

 

may i ask a question ?

is there a way to backup my firewall settings before installing windows firewall control ?

and in case restore them when i uninstall windows firewall control?

thanks

 

No, the path is ok. Do you have only one rule which allows all connections for this executable file, but you still receive notifications for it ?

The setup will do this automatically at installation. It will save a file named restore.dat in the program folder which contains your rules before installation of the program. If you will uninstall WFC, from the uninstall dialog you can choose to restore your previous rules, keep the current rules or reset to the default Windows Firewall rules. So, to answer your both questions, this is done automatically. You can find more about installation and uninstallation of Windows Firewall Control on this tutorial.

 

but sometime the uninstaller doesn't work
should i run like an administrator?
may i ask you how can a small program(gem) like your firewall need so much ram?


greetings
and thanks for the answer

 

Yes, I have only 1 rule for the executable, this 1 rule is configured to allow ALL TCP protocol connections, though, I still randomly get the connection blocked notification; usually when the Surface Pro goes idle or just wakes up.

It runs in real-time and has to continuously check Windows Firewall logs to determine whether or not it should display a notification for a connection attempt. May I ask what's your definition of "much ram"? It's currently consuming ~55 MB of RAM (both its wfc.exe and wfcs.exe processes) out of 4 GB on my Surface Pro running Windows 8, though, it seems to only consume ~46 MB of RAM out of 8 GB on my old Laptop that's running Vista.

 

If I open Task Manager, I see that Microsoft Word uses 42MB for a document with 3 pages, Skype uses 51MB even if it is in idle mode, Internet Explorer uses 47MB when reading my mail, so I don't think WFC uses so much memory. Remember that WFC is a WPF application and .NET programs have a bigger memory footprint than native executables. Old versions of WFC have used WinForms technology and the memory consumption was low, but there were other problems, like DPI scalling. When 1GB ram costs 10$, the memory is not a problem. CPU usage counts. You can't expect a program from 2013 to use 2-3MB RAM like we were used in Windows XP when we had computers with 64MB RAM.

I think it has something to do with Windows returning from sleep state and firewall rules having different ids. I will check this.

 

i agree
how much ram does it conusume in a laptop or pc?
in a laptop ram is not cheap
i noticed 120 mb?
more the smart security 6 or comodo suite or even avas
it's too much i guess
maybe because it's not compiled in C

by the way with a low ram consume it's a GEM

 

BUG REPORT:
Hello, I noticed a minor bug.
Steps:
1. Enable password lock.
2. Reboot Windows.
3. DON'T Left click, instead, right click on the tray, and you can change the profile status.
HOWEVER, if you open the control panel first, the profile became grayed.

 

The uninstaller works fine and is able to uninstall the program even if the installation fails. Regarding the memory consumption, the memory used by WFC varies between 10MB up to 50MB RAM on x86 operating system and 10MB up to 70MB RAM on x64 operating systems. The high memory usage appear when Manage Rules window is open because a lot of objects are loaded into memory, but will decrease to around 20-30 after closing it. I never saw 120MB RAM used by WFC, but my guess is that on some systems, where NGEN cache is messed up, the framework will rebuild all dependencies every time a NET application runs and this will increase the memory used by the program.

Indeed, I can reproduce it. It is already fixed and it will be included in the next release. Thank you for reporting this.

 

Hello, since clicking "Manage Rules" in right click context menu does nothing when WFC is locked, you might as well gray out that option.