another Windows Firewall Control?

What you do is highly appreciated, alexandrud.

 

FINAL VERSION 3.3.0.0 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

What's new in the new version
√ New: The program has now two components: wfc.exe (GUI) and wfcs.exe (Windows Service).
√ New: Administrative privileges are no more required to run the program because all the tasks are done by the WFCS service under LocalSystem account. Elevated privileges are still required at installation or update.
√ New: Multiple rules can have the same name.
√ New: Multiple selection in Manage Rules is supported.
√ New: Multiple deletion in Manage Rules is supported.
√ New: The state of Manage Rules is saved on close and restored on reopen.
√ New: Editing of a rule in Manage Rules supports the adding of a description.
√ New: A notification alert allows the user to choose a rule name before create the new rule.
√ New: Validations of the parameters of a new rule are made before it's creation.
√ New: Selection of multiple executable files from the same folder is now allowed. In this way a user can create multiple firewall rules, all together, for programs which require to allow/block multiple executable files.
√ New: Learning Mode has a new item: "Enable notifications for system applications". If this one is checked you will receive notifications including for "System" and "svchost.exe". If this remains unchecked you will receive notifications only for other programs.
√ Improved: Learning Mode can remember the blocking rules previously created. If a user creates a rule to block something, he won't be notified again for the same connection.
√ Improved: Start with Windows does not use Task Scheduler anymore.
√ Improved: Lock feature does not rely on GroupPolicy anymore or Windows Registry entries.
√ Improved: When searching for invalid rules, if they are found, they are automatically selected.
√ Improved: Due to the use of Windows Presentation Foundation, the program has no more problems with the scaling on high DPI settings.
√ And many many more...

System Requirements
√ Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.0
√ Compatible with all 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows 8 Customer Preview, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
√ The following Windows services are required to be enabled for Windows Firewall Control to run: "Windows Firewall", "TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper", "Workstation" and "DNS Client".

Known Limitations
√ Windows Firewall have some incompatibility problems with "avast! Web Shield" enabled.
√ Due to the multiple system configurations and software installed there may be incompatibility problems. Please report them all and help improving Windows Firewall Control.

Installation notes
√ Because the new version was rewritten from scratch, it requires a new activation code because the licensing system was also changed. Registered users can generate a new activation code from their account. Users of version 3.2.0.0 beta don't need to activate it again.
√ A clean install is recommended even if the new version can update previous versions.

Shortcut Keys:
√ In any window, press Esc key to close it.
√ In any window press Enter to continue.
In notification window:
√ Press on program name to open the application folder.
√ Press on remote address to start a WHOIS query in your default browser.
In Main window:
√ Press on "Windows Firewall" string to open Windows Firewall Control Panel applet.
In Manage Rules window:
√ Double click on a rule to edit it's properties.
√ Press delete key on the keyboard to delete selected rules.

Product page: http://binisoft.org/wfc.php
Direct link: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe

Please share your thoughts about the new version. Any feedback is welcome.
Thank you all for your support !

 

ATTENTION: alexandrud

1. Does your firewall support System/Core application protection?

2. Does it cause Punkbuster to be blocked, even when allowing, and cause Punkbuster to cause problems like so many other firewalls do?

3. It it 100% freeware?

4. How come Softpedia says, "Last Updated: January 9th, 2013"? That's very old.

5. Cheers

 

1. Yes it does.
2. The permission in the Windows Firewall is set automatically at PB setup. If it is not working, with a little tweaking it can be allowed properly.
3. Tricky question ? Don't you know already the answer ?
4. Firstly I updated the website, then I posted here, and the last thing I did was to submit the new PAD file to Softpedia. And the PAD file is processed on Softpedia in a few hours. Check it again later on this day. It will be updated soon. Also on MajorGeeks.
5. Thank for your thoughts.

 

Video Update

I have created a new video to present the new version 3.3.0.0. It was uploaded on YouTube and it has 14 minutes. This video presents all the features of the new version, including the activation process.

You can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riWffNaofhU

Thank you for your support,
Alexandru

 

I installed via the update button & ran the installation over top. No problems, huge improvements in this program since I last used it, great job!

I hope that your good work goes on improving this lightweight GUI to Windows firewall.

Thanks.

 

Hi Alexandru,
I've just finished watching the video you made and found it very informative. Great job! (although the music was a bit bland )
You also doing a great job with your program. I was looking for a light firewall for Windows 7 and luckily came across this thread where I found out about Windows Firewall Control.

May I suggest a few features for future versions?

- Add an option of "Allow for now and ask me again later" to the popup window. You already have "Allow this program", "Block this program" and "Block for now and ask me later", so I think the option I suggest would fit there, and be useful for when you want to temporarily allow a program to access but don't want to create a full blown rule for it. I don't know if its possible to do that with the underlying Windows built in firewall, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway.
- Add a new column to the "Manage rules" window: "Application name". So in the "Program" column you would have for example "C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe" and on the new "Application name" column you would see "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services". I'm suggesting this because sometimes executables' names are not very descriptive and the application name would tell you more precisely which program it is.
- Add an option to only show the process name (e.g. excel.exe) instead of the full path which is usually truncated unless you maximize the window. Maybe you can show the full path as a tooltip on mouse over.

Thanks a lot, keep up the good work

 

. In Manage Rules it seems at least to me that pg up/dn keys doesn't work well (same to home/end keys) - in the open windows works well only.
. Is it suitable to do a list of blocked/allowed app. in the session? Maybe here will be useful a shortcut to 'networktools.nl' like in previous version.

 

Ive always used third party firewalls which switch windows firewall off and never really looked at windows (7) firewall.Upon installing AWFC today I notice in the logs that theres profiles for private,public,all,and domain ,with some application ,having a combination of the above profiles.I opened windows 7 firewall and noticed its on for public and private.Now i just use this laptop in the house.Would it be recommended to turn off public profiles or doesnt it matter?.Also what is domain profile and all profile?,and would it be better (or make no difference)to use just one type profile if running windows 7 firewall together with AWFC?
tia

 

In this case it won't be a later again because the program is already allowed and an event for a blocked connection for this, will not exists. It would be more suitable to create a temporarly rule, for example 5 minutes, and after that time expires, WFC could delete the rule automatically. But in this case, if you have an active connection it will be stopped. Maybe "Allow until restart" of the program or the system, what do you think ?

This is not a good idea. Many applications don't even have a program description. Also, the Firewall API doesn't provide such data. The only way in which I could do such a thing is to iterate through every rule, and for each program's path, I have to read the program description from every executable file. This will consume even more CPU and will be make "Manage Rules" to load very low. I have implemented the support for custom rule names for this reason. It is up to the user to create rules with appropriate description to be meaningful for him.

There are tooltips showing the full path. They are enabled only when the current text is trimmed by ... (3 points). The trimming occurs when the text is larger than the column width. The columns will not resize if the program is sized too little. For this exist the horizontal scrollbar. I think that the full path is more useful in that column instead of simple "excel.exe", "svchost.exe", etc. Even WFwAS contains the full path in that column.

Indeed. I will fix this in the next version.

Please be more specifically. A list with all active rules ? Do you mean a list of active connections with the possibility to press on a button to see information about remote IP ? At what session did you think about ?

Please read this:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb736287(v=vs.85).aspx

 

I'll try.

> A list with all active rules ?
No.

> Do you mean a list of active connections with the possibility to press on a button to see information about remote IP ?
No.

> At what session did you think about ?
User login session.

When I open a log I can see all blocked (maybe all allowed ) connections done by WFC in a opened session. If there is a 'Shortcut (in 'Shortcuts' tab) to 'networktools.nl', user can check IP info about (copy/past).

I'm thinking in a "Blocked Events Log" something like this here (with basic info).

 

Alex, I noticed you did not provide DIRECT answers to some of my questions, which makes me wary and I will not be using your firewall. Besides, there are many FREEWARE ones out there so I don't want to pay money for yours. And I don't want to trial your demo with Lock Application and Shell Integration disabled. As I said, there are many FREEWARE firewalls out there, so you may find yourself struggling a lot to make a profit or a living from this product.

Best wishes anyway. Cheers.

 

Now I get it. Such a list I can do. It will take a little time, because it will require a new view. In the future version I will implement it.

Trial and demo are two separate things, and nobody forced you to try nothing. Shell Integration is enabled for all users.
And yes, Learning Mode and Locking features are available only for registered users who have helped me to improve this software. It took a lot of my spare time to develop this project.

The license for Visual Studio, the website hosting, the domain name, a performant computer, all of these cost money. As gratitude to the people who help me paying all these, I provide some extra features for them. We talk about 10$ for unlimited activations, no upgrading fees, no special offers and so on.

Excuse me for beeing so rude with the hunks people. Try to develop a software and then come back and give lectures about fairness.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. These were mine.

 

Well worth $10 donation imo for the amount of work gone into it ,for those that want a nice simple firewall.Ill certainly be recommending it to my friends and neighbours anyway.

 

I don't have a paypal so i can't get the extra things because i can't pay that bad.

Greats,

darts

 

Yes, that'd be great. The option could be "Allow temporarily until next program start" or something similar

Ok, I see now why it's inefficient to do that.


One more suggestion (I hope I'm not being too demanding):
- Add the remote host name in the popup window instead of just the IP address. Also, split the port number to another line (and, if possible, add port name). So instead of displaying:

"Remote: 199.15.160.100:80"

it would display as:

"Remote host: www.deviantart.com (199.15.160.100)
Remote Port: 80 (http)"

What do you think? Could it be done?

Finally, I spotted a tiny grammatical error in the interface. Where it says "Customize this rule before create it", it should be "Customize this rule before creating it". (BTW, English is not my native language either, so I may have mistakes of my own on my posts )

 

This is my opinion as well

 

Much appreciated your diligence and efforts.

 

I don't use this, due to me being a beginner. But I did donate, as I sort of know the time and energy it takes to make a product that everyone likes.
Best of luck to you!

 

Unfortunately, C# does not provide a fast way to lookup host names. I did want to implement this feature long time ago, but resolving the host name by using the IP address can take up to 5 seconds when using C# functions. That's why I choosed to start a WHOIS query in the default browser by using networktools.nl website. Who doesn't want to see the website name next to the IP address ? I will do a new research to see if can be done without using external components.

"Allow until the system restart" or "Allow until program restart" will be the new command. Also I will implement, finally, the log view where a user can see the last programs that were blocked by Windows Firewall. Last hour, last day, last 100 entries. I will see which is more appropriate.

 

OK, I didn't know you wanted to implement that feature before but couldn't for technical reasons. I hope it can be done now
I know very little about programming, but a quick Google search about C# Reverse DNS lookup turned up this Stack Overflow page which might be of some help:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6353176/converting-ip-address-to-host-name-via-dns-gethostentry

Great!!! Thanks a lot!

This too is a very useful addition! I'd say that the longer the period (one day or longer), the better. As long as it doesn't impact performance, of course. Will it include the reason why the connection was blocked?

Thanks,
city_zen

 

@alexandrud
Are you planning on using the "service" approach for compatibility reasons in your other software?

 

Do you refer to USB Flash Drives Control ? I have in plan to update it too when I will have enough time. For the moment, WFC is the main priority.

But I don't think is a good idea to implement a Windows service for every piece of software. Maybe, in the future, I will incorporate both of them into the same security application.

 

Just asking . Although I agree that not all software must be implemented as service. Thanks.