I imagined that what was in siketa's signature meant being some clue as what might be causing that user popup. Perhaps he thought that what he posted is normal to happen for people with TW? And thus thought justified to post such a mysterious question? It is not normal behaviour as TinyWall is a mature product long past the beta thing that this thread title may misleadingly suggest. EDIT: You should not add TinyWall as a guarded app! As usual you don't add security apps like AVs and firewalls there. Anyways I did a test. After adding TW as a guarded app, I noticed that the Connections window was not working as it should. So stay away from doing that. I did not get any UAC popups, so it may be the other software siketa is running. Or system being compromised.
Sorry for the confusion...I normally use AG but in the last couple of days have removed it temporary...
2.1.5 has been working better than the previous version. Only one time the icon did not show in the task bar (but was blocking, looking at the Windows firewall rules). No big deal. Host file was updated. Of course I don't file share, or need to unblock LAN traffic.
Yesterday when I fired up my office pc it got stuck with no display but the pc looks like running judging from the hdd led activity... wait for around a couples of minutes and thinking some thing must go wrong I'll force shut down by pushing the power button for 4 sec then I turn it up again and the windows load up fine this time... open chrome and notice I lost my internet connection... puzzling since I forgot that I use TW on it, check modem, router all is fine but still no internet connection... check tray bar nothing seems wrong... then I remember TW... but there's no TW tray icon... so manually run TW from all program and now the tray loaded up.. try to browse with chrome... and again no connection.. open up TW and found out all of my configuration is gone... so I have to do to configure all over again ... from scratch Anyone ever got this experience with new TW? Suddenly out of the blue it reset itself like the first time you install it?
I have not had that with the 2.1.5 version, but I am not surprised as TinyWall lost its settings in the previous version a few times. I could not pinpoint the culprit, but one possible suspect was Windows update. Something was of course wrong in your bootup if no display and I don't think TW was a culprit to that. Now make this first option to do. Go to Manage/Maintenance and 'Export Settings'. If in the future something like this happens again it is just a simple 'Import Settings' and 'Apply' to bring them back. I don't know if setting up a password and have TW locked would have saved you from this, but in my opinion password protection now works well in this new version.
I don't think TW was the culprit too, I guess my hard drive is starting to acting up as of today it ran kind of slow overall... I just suprised TW can lost all those setting Thanks Jarmo I'll try to make backup setting and try the password tomorrow
I'd love to become a massive fan of TW, but there's this one interface bug that annoys the hell out of me. Basically, after I whitelist a program (executable, window, process - doesn't matter), any left or right click on TW's tray icon brings up a window with a whitelisting prompt for the thing I've just whitelisted. :/ If I then click OK, a subsequent click on the tray icon will bring up TWO such windows. This makes usage super annoying. Any idea how to fix this?
In my experience it will happen if I clicked it when it show a ballon tips... so I had to click after the ballon tips disappeared
Well, this issue is still there, unfortunately, and it's incredibly annoying. I'm giving Comodo a spin now, shall probably revisit TW at some point in the future.
I would not go to Comodo just because something in rule making is annoying. I am sure you will find then popup things even more annoying, and perhaps also damaging to your Windows. Or even installing it. But each to his/her own. Usually I maybe install one internet going application at max in a month. And I have always found a way to whitelist an application with TinyWall, be it from program window or running processes or my preference the connections window.
Hi, we need an option to limit TinyWall to only one instance, or make that even the default behavior. Oh and the option to select & use a local "hosts" file (or blocklist) instead of the one from mvps... Please & Thanks!
There are 2 TinyWall.exe processes. I have understood that one is for the GUI (graphical user interface) and the other is the firewall service. I guess they could be named different but you can check it with Process Hacker (or Process Explorer etc. such tools) or even with Task Manager with the option to show all users processes. I am not using a customized hosts file, but what I understand is: If you untick 'General/Prevent modifications to hosts file', you should be able to put into %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts your own hosts file. And if you untick 'Domain-based malware and ad blocklist', TinyWall should not replace it. Also you don't need to allow TinyWall in Special Exceptions if you don't want hosts file updated with that mvps one. I am sure ultim could explain these better but as we have been getting used to, he does not often visit here in wilders.
The problem is that you can now start TinyWall.exe several times over and have x instances in the system tray. I only noticed by mistake one day after my cat walked over the keyboard and there were suddenly 20 tinywall icons! Yes i know about the manual hosts workaround and ok, i will also email him those points. Many programs, like "total commander" for example, have a "only one copy/instance at a time" option.
TW gui starts with Windows start. It might be hidden if you have not changed the settings. Beats me how a cat can start so many. Maybe that metro option on Windows 8.1? From desktop view you should be able to remove the controller start icon if it is there. Since starting the gui is not needed. I did notice as a test that you can kill the gui with 'Quit' despite TW settings being password protected. That is not a setting so it is ok to happen I think. Anyways quitting the gui is not needed as it does not take any significant cpu that I have noticed, unless you have some TinyWall window open of course.
>Beats me how a cat can start so many. Just for you, that's what happened when the cat pawed the enter key, tinywall.exe was started several times over: http://abload.de/img/wallmlskf.gif With a "allow only one instance" this wouldn't have happened and that's what i mean.
I'm happy to report that you were absolutely right. Over the last couple of days I've tried Comodo, PrivateFirewall, Online Armor and a few others. All of them did some things right and many things wrong. Meanwhile, TW does exactly what it's supposed to do - no bullshit, no nonsense. My original post was critical of TW, but now I see things in a much wider perspective. I've decided to stick with TW despite the interface flaws.
Two questions: 1. Do TW rules still apply even if TW client is not running? I'm concerned about the Windows startup phase, when network traffic might happen before TW starts. 2. I've created an exception for Dropbox to allow unrestricted in/out traffic, but TW is still blocking its UDP port 17500 attempts. Is there some sort of a meta-rule causing this?
is anyone else getting the message, 'communication with tinywall service encountered an error' whenever they try to add exceptions to applications? or because the configuration is constantly changing? i don't know what to do.... and it happened ever since i've updated my windows 8 laptop. please help
I have also often thought about the condition of Windows firewall before the TinyWall controller service starts. Note I mean the service and not the gui that starts later. Will Windows firewall be at it's default install setting, allowing all outgoing and prompting for inbound accesses? That is not of course much blocking for the early start services. Or will it be at blocking outgoing and incoming of anything that is not whitelisted. But even if that, what are the Windows firewall rules before TW service starts, at the windows startup time. ultim, most likely, as a TinyWall programmer, could give us a reply.
I'll try asking again. Ever since Tinywall updated, I keep getting messages like 'communication with the Tinywall service encountered an error' or 'the configuration has changed while you modified the preferences. to prevent losing settings, please make your changes again' whenever I try to add exceptions to processes. It's to the point where I can't even access the internet unless I uninstall the damned thing since Tinywall won't allow me to change modes, even if it says firewall disabled or auto-learning, nothing gets through to the internet. I'm at a complete loss and I could really use some help... please and thank you.
I do hope someones who may have experienced same as you might post here. If I was such a person I would have replied of course. EDIT: I would uninstall TinyWall if the windows update somehow might have broken the TW controller? Export settings first of course. And then reinstall it. Just one thought what to do.
Meanwhile, I have found something from TinyWall system rules that I don't like, in fact I hate it. In the process of updating my spreadsheet of the TW 2.1.5 system rules I found a serious security weakening. These are for 2.1.4 http://www.saunalahti.fi/~jarmos3/TinyWall_rules.jpg The Generic host process is allowed only for the special services. In TW 2.1.5 this rule has been added to Windows Update 'Special exception': TCP Outbound Ports out TCP * 443,80 * C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe,* That means that the process is allowed to all possible services/programs to those remote TCP ports! With the restrictions in 2.1.4 one could be sure that other services were not allowed. And also there was safety in knowing what services were allowed, in case they might be exploited etc. I know there are 3rd party firewalls that allow svchost.exe also out and then have to depend on the hips part to compensate for the weakened packet filtering protection. This new rule came I think for Windows 8.1 windows update problem, maybe with that metro UI. If no better solution could have been found than this, then at least a new special exception for Windows 8.1 should have been added. Now the only solution, at least for me, is to disable Windows Update exception and use it only to check from time to time if MS is feeding new updates. I guess it is better than allowing all outgoing. EDIT: The easiest way to correct the system rules back to 2.1.4 safety is to disable that special exception. And then add an application exception: Select a process svchost.exe and 'Choose a service... ' wuauserv. 'Allow only specified ports' and put * to 'Out TCP' field (80,443 could probably do what is needed instead of *).
