another Windows Firewall Control?

Yes, it can detect and show notifications for any program that is blocked with the condition that you must use "Medium Filtering" profile and have "Learning Mode" enabled.

Since version 2.9, when a user wants to uninstall the program he has the following options, like in the screen below. This is an update to version 2.9. Prior versions does not have this feature.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/193/uninstallp.png

When Learning Mode is enabled, you can run mmc (Microsoft Management Console), and from File select Add/Remove Snap In... and then from that list select Event Viewer. After the snap-in is loaded, navigate to Windows Logs and then Security. Now you can see the system logs for every blocked connection. None is missed. Windows Firewall catches all of them with no exception. Windows Firewall Control reads them and shows notifications to the user when Learning Mode is enabled. The logging system already exists, there is no need for a new one. Just need to look into the right place. Also, using auditpol, can be traced all security events that occurs in Windows Firewall, but for the purposes of WFC, I only need to watch for events 5157 for Windows 7 and event 5152 for Windows Vista. If you choose auditing all security events, that log can get thousands of entries in just an hour. No need for such a thing. WFC is simple and efective add-on to the default firewall. I wished a tool like this to already existed, but there is not, that is why I started this project.

 

Hi alex, your app does a great job of establishing/adding the scheduled task for starting up with Windows in the Task Scheduler. You might want to do the same in the event viewer by creating a custom event for Windows Firewall Control on the 5157 or 5152 events. I know that the events are in the Security log but some users may want the dedicated Custom View for Windows Firewall Control which will only show 5157 or 5152, depending on which OS one is using. If some users had this, they wouldn't have to filter the Security log for the events because they could look under the heading Custom Veiws > Windows Firewall Control > blocked events. I personally don't have a need for it but I could see where some users might.

 

The newest version is working very well for me. Thank you for your efforts, alexandrud

 

thanks
but learning mode to me is disabled
no pop up , it block every programs , without pop up , 100% unless

the learning mode is off because i guess did not make a donation
but the program doesn't work to me

 

Is an idea for a future version. I don't say no, but right now is not a priority.

Learning Mode is a feature that is offered to our registered users, that is why that menu item is disabled for you. Learning Mode will show you the pop-ups, otherwise Medium Filtering will block any program that has no rule to allow it. Which part of the program does not work for you ?

 

in short the w7 firewall did not ask me if i want to allow or deny a program to connect to the net

how can i set the program to force windows 7 to pop up every time a program try to connect to the net

 

I don't understand. Off course that Windows Firewall, nor Windows 7 itself, will not pop-up you, but Windows Firewall Control (WFC) will do that for blocked connections if Learning Mode is enabled in WFC. You can not force Windows 7 to pop-up notifications with a feature that it does not have. You can enable "Learning Mode" which is a component of WFC to do that, but only if you are a registered user. To become a registered user, yes, you are right, a donation of 10$ must be made to sustain this project. If you don't need such a feature, like Learning Mode with pop-ups, you can still use the program, but without pop-ups.

 

WFC paid keeps asking me to allow POP Peeper. But it is already allowed.
This isnt the only time I get the same message on a rule that is already added.
For instance when I open skype the outgoing connection blocked window pops up no matter what I do.. It keeps popping up repeatedly.
Suggestions?

 

Version 2.9.3 has been released.

 

What's new in version 2.9.3

√ Implemented an alternative reading mode of security events to avoid the unhandled exception, "Length cannot be less than zero", raised on some computers where, due the fact that security logs are locked off from non-admins, the security event logs cannot be read.

The program can be downloaded from: http://binisoft.org/wfc.php

I want to thank you all for your support, suggestions, feedback and for your patience until I have fixed all the errors that occured for some of you. If you have in mind new features, and can be done, I will be glad to improve Windows Firewall Control and make a better program. Thank you.

 

Can these newer versions be installed over the top of 2.9.2? If yes, what is the proper way of doing it?

 

Since version 2.6, the program can update itself if an old version is found. Let's assume that you download a new version on your harddrive, and you already have the program installed to a folder. Just execute the new "wfc.exe" and it will replace the old one automatically, in the location where it was previously installed. There is no need to close the old version from system tray, the update procedure will know what to do.

The only thing to remember is that this executable file must be named "wfc.exe" not "wfc(1).exe" or other names. That's all.

 

Thank you for the update alexandrud, as well as providing a nifty little tool that augments the Windows firewall very nicely

Again I would suggest, if you can provide it, the option for the user for fixing at least the protocol and remote port(s) when a rule is created from a pop-up. For me the rules are too wide open, and even though I can go in and tighten them afterward, this is a bit cumbersome in comparison. Thanks again!

 

I will think on a solution. Maybe two textboxes, on the notification form, and if they are left uncompleted, create a rule for all ports, if a user types a port number, just for that specified port.

 

Sure, sounds good, or even if one can select the port that appears in the form, as an example when a browser attempts to connect to remote port 80 or 443, then no typing should be required?

 

Doesn't work like that for me. I downloaded the new version to an external hard drive. Launched it from there, it detected 2.9.2 and asked to update. I agreed. It left 2.9.2 running along with 2.9.3. I killed the 2.9.2 wfc.exe and left 2.9.3 wfc.exe. I checked the properties of the running 2.9.3 process and it stated it's location was where I had downloaded it to. I exited the 2.9.3 process and copied 2.9.3 to the directory where 2.9.2 is installed and allowed it to overwrite it. I then right clicked, run as administrator and it updated.

 

After you installed version 2.9.2 into a folder, did you moved the executable file to another folder, or at time when you executed 2.9.3, the old version was still in the first installation folder ? The update function uses the Windows registry to find the previous installation path, and then it replaces the old "wfc.exe". It does not search the harddisk to find a file named "wfc.exe" to replace it. First time when you executed the version 2.9.3 did you executed it with administrative privileges ?

 

2.9.2 was never moved from the original installation directory, System32.
The downloaded 2.9.3 was officially downloaded to the Downloads directory, scanned, unblocked and moved to the USB external hard drive.
I did right click, Run as admin on the 2.9.3 installation file which was on my USB external hard drive.

 

Well this app is great. But i have problem with learning mode.. It dosent pop-up with eny alerts. I have allowed svchost.exe and smss.exe but no luck..
Medium filtering stops all internet connections. Im registered user.
Sometimes when il go thru medium filter options to allow program it says that it has allready created rule for that specific program, even when it's entirelly different program that im trying to add.

So, should the learning mode work like when im trying to update say antivirus it would alert with pop up with the specific program?

With low filtering net works, with medium it dosent. Unless i manually allow program.

Hope i didnt sound too difficult

Edit: Found problem when excecuting installation .exe heres picture..
Somehow im not seeing ''i accept'' nor ''deny'' options. Ive downloaded excutable for numerous times so it's not corrupted. Also mae sure all those services are enabled that you have isted on ur homepage. Repair installed net. frameworks 4. Cleaned registery, restarted comp. Disabled security apps. I know problem aint your program, it's my comp. Dont know what to do..

 

@Yanick,

is the executable actually named: "wfc.exe" or is it something like: "wfc(1).exe"? It should be the first. If it is registered then you can see the options as shown in my screenshot.

*EDIT* you should probably also uninstall any previous version before upgrading to the newest.

 

Yea, it's wfc.exe. Well the problem seems to be because i didnt use english language in windows 7 ultimate, so i changed to english and problem was partially resolved.. Now i could see half of the buttons in that screen i posted, but learning mode didnt work. So, i uninstalled and installed again, first tho i went control panel --> display and choosed 100% (normal). Was using medium 125% before which was why the text didnt appear. With 100% magnification evrything was fine. Learning mode works now Only problem is that cant use the windows with my language or wfc dosent work + have to use the low size of items.

*Edit*: Always unistalled first

 

It seems that Microsoft has changed the name of some parameters of "auditpol.exe" in versions of Windows that are not in english. Because WFC uses references to the english version of Windows, on french, spanish, finnish, etc, the Learning Mode will fail to activate. In the next days, I will try to fix this problem with Windows versions that are not in english. Thank you for your patience.

 

Okay so that explains it then why i had trouble
Good luck with fix!
Thanks for the support, quality stuff!

 

I have the same problem, that learning mode isn't working. German version of Windows 7 Home Premium here.

Also i have a question: How do i create a rule to allow "System" to go through the Firewall? It says to allow svchost and System on the WFC homepage. svchost was no problem because it is a .exe file in the system32 dir. But how do i allow just "System" ?

 

Create a rule and instead of the path of executable file, write System. We are sorry to hear that Learning Mode is not working on the german version of Windows, we are currently working on a version that will include german language, and other international languages. Until now, we finished, french and finnish. Today and tommorow we will add support for german and spanish. As soon as the support for these languages will be done, we will publish the new version 2.9.4. Thank you for your patience.