Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

To answer your questions:
1. I am using the latest version 4.0.9.7 (downloaded on 15th Jun 2014, from your website)
2. Yes, I see the entry named, "Windows Firewall Control" in the services list.
3. The question is not applicable, as the software was NEVER installed on my PC. Further, during installation, no Abort option popped up. I guess, I have already uploaded the screen-shot with my previous post (please let me know whether you have seen it or not).
4. While trying to perform a manual un-installation, the command prompt showed:
http://s28.postimg.org/f9tmm7n0d/WFC_1.png
5. Already downloaded, as mentioned earlier.
6. Tried installing with elevated administrative privilege, without any effect! The same message, as I shared in my earlier post.
7. An "Exit" button appears, but it says that installation was unsuccessful.
http://s11.postimg.org/7qjahm45f/Binisoft_Failed_Install.png
8. Already explained.
9. My version of windows is Windows 7 x64 (with all updates installed)
10. There is only ONE user account on my PC - i.e. myself (with Admin Rights)
11. I haven't disabled any windows services. And yes, Windows Firewall is up and working.
12. I use Kaspersky Antivirus 2014 with Windows Firewall (with advanced settings). I also use Malwarebytes Anti-malware's on-demand scan (i.e. free version) once a week.
13. Here you go: https://www.mediafire.com/?dawa2sz3ract9mi

Anything else you need to know?

 

DrSogaBan, do you have DotNet 4.0 installed on your system?

 

@alexandrud

Windows Firewall Control 4 and problem with 360 Total Security

1. Run 360 Total Security along side Windows Firewall Control 4

2. In 360 Total Security, run a "Speedup" check, Notice under "Startup Items" that "Windows Firewall Control.lnk" is displayed as an invalid shortcut.

The recommendation that 360 Total Security gives is to "Should delete"

I can see this being an issue, since some people might take the advice of 360 Total Security and then wonder why their Windows Firewall Control no longer works afterwards.

Here is a fix to this issue

Windows Firewall Control currently runs as a "Startup common" item, it should be changed to the following in order to fix this problem

Fix: Should be programmed to start from "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Run

Value entry should look like this:

Name: Windows Firewall Control.lnk
Type: REG_SZ
Data: "C:\Program Files\Windows Firewall Control\wfc.exe"

I have deselected "Start automatically at user login" in Windows Firewall Control and then added the above key under regedit, restarted my machine, then ran Speedup in 360 Total Security, and issue is no longer present.

Not only does it fix the issue with 360 Total Security, but it also eliminates the need to have the option "Start automatically at user login" in the Windows Firewall Control GUI.

Plus...

Having this new method present seems to also load Windows Firewall Control a lot faster at startup (At least on my machine).

Can you please look into this

Thanks

 

Yes KOB, I do have dotNet 4 and its updates installed on my system.

 

The proposed solution works only if you use an admin user account. If you use a standard user account, it will not have access to the HKLM key of Windows Registry and the program will not be started. That shortcut in the Startup folder works for all users and this was the only solution that really works. If we eliminate the checkbox from the GUI, how a user will be able to disable the startup of the program ? This should remain as an option somewhere in the application.

From the log file it seems that our service (wfcs.exe) does not even start on your computer. This happens when Windows Firewall service is not available. WFC makes some calls to Windows Firewall API which returns null objects. Please try to disable temporarily your antivirus and then try to restart Windows Firewall service and also Windows Firewall Control service. Execute then wfc.exe and see if it can connect to the service.

 

As per your instructions, here are what I did:
1. Uninstalled AV (not an issue since my KAV was already at the end of the trial)
2. Opened services.msc -> Turned off Windows Firewall and Windows Firewall Control
3. Turned them on again (btw, they were set to start 'automatic', in case you need to know)
4. Tried to install the application.
5. Got the same old message, telling me that the installation was unsuccessful (http://s11.postimg.org/7qjahm45f/Binisoft_Failed_Install.png)

 

When a BitDefender product is installed (tested the beta Total suite some days ago with firewall disabled and the freeware) ,at least on my PC-s ,the front end often fails to load.
If BitDefender is not used everything is ok

Except this ,it s rock solid (with Avast and Microsfts av-s it works just fine) ,4.0.9.7 is the best version i ve used until now.

It would be nice a page in the front end itself to show connections status ,ports opened and traffic amount made and such though.

 

Is there still an incompatibility with the newer versions of avast! Free and Avira Free, as mentioned here? - https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thre...wall-protection-on-windows-7-at-least.320638/

Or is this old news?

Basically what I want to know is, how does newer versions of avast! Free and Avira Free, run alongside Windows Firewall Control 4, will it work properly?

 

Having AppGuard creating inbound rules is breaking your/our Windows firewall.

You STATE: "Disable the ability of others programs to add firewall rules"
SO THIS IS FALSE? BECAUSE APPGUARD IS CREATING RULES

You and anyone that has AppGuard installed can see this breach.
Just tell me what you will do with this problem, simply ignore or continue to investigate.

I am sorry you think I am a hard ass, but need to protect!

I do see a lot of potential in this controller.

Thanks!

 

@2Much

Sorry but I haven't followed the whole thread but since version 4.0.9.x (not sure which one to be exact) I haven't had any Appguard Rules created anymore, so the "Disable the ability ...." in my case is working.

 

Can the developer provide me with any answer - whether I should forget about the program or there are some solution(s) to the troubles I am facing...

 

It's working for me too with the latest release with AppGuard. I have been using Steam lately also and while no rules are created I am seeing this warning in my event log, just after a Steam block:

GetFileName() failed!
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at WindowsFirewallControl.Proxy.ProxyServer.GetFileName(String appPath)

To clarify, I only see this when using Steam, not Appguard, and no rules are created.

 

With 4.0.9.6 and 4.0.9.7 Steam is FULLY under control and i like it.
Best front end for the windows firewall until now.

 

Strange, Steam is still injecting rules on mine, along with a handful of other programs :/ Is this because I'm using an administrator account?


Two minor feature suggestions, if possible/interested:

• Ctrl-Shift-Tab switches backwards between the windows (making it super-snappy to quickly switch back and forth between Rules and Log)
• In "Rules" page, clicking a cell and pressing F2 enables inline editing of data (without having to open full "Properties" window)

 

Ctrl-Shift-Tab ... yes, good suggestion IMHO!
F2 ... the question here is really whether this is possible. Would be really cool!

 

Quick question. If I see a process "Listening" on a Tcpview.exe screen shot, should this process have an allow rule defined?

 

Windows Firewall Control v.4.1.0.0

What's new:

- New: "Merge rules" option was added in the context menu of Manage Rules window. This option is enabled if multiple rules for the same program, direction and action are selected.
- New: Multiple selection was added in Connections Log. If multiple connections for the same program are selected the user can customize a merged rule before creating a new rule.
- Fixed: Temporary rules created through the notification dialog are deleted if "Disable the ability of other programs to add firewall rules" is enabled.
- Fixed: The Main Panel window freezes while checking for a new version is in progress.
- Fixed: The scroll bar position doesn't go to top in Manage Rules when the Display or Filter combo boxes are used to filter the rules and a column is sorted.
- Fixed: Temporary rules are not deleted on WFC restart.
- Improved: Ctrl+F will set focus to the Search box in Manage Rules window.
- Improved: The search function from Manage Rules works now also for Group name.
- Improved: The Rules Panel was redesigned from scratch to improve memory usage and allow further extensions. Obsolete code was removed and a lot of code was improved.

Installation notes: Just use the updater to upgrade to this new version.

The following translation strings are new and 794 is not used anymore:

Code:

830 = Merge rules
831 = Merged rule
832 = Jump to rules

794 = busy...

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc4setup.exe
SHA1: 40250ca427f0b350424a22c711155c1b48d59716

Thank you for your support and your feedback. Please let me know if you like the new features or if they still have to be tuned.

Have a great day,
Alexandru

Alpengreis: It works to resize the notification dialog. Just move the dialog to the top of the screen and then replace the height with 360. If the saved coordinates are in the bottom of the screen, when you set a bigger height it goes away from the screen and then the value is reset to the default one 306.

Stukalide: Pressing F2 to edit data in a cell will not be done. Because of the validations, the data grid must stay read-only.

redge76: Displaying the rules as a tree or with advanced filtering support like Excel has can't be done with the default data grid from NET 4.0. This would require a more advanced data grid (DevExpress maybe) but this will add dependencies to a lot of external assemblies. Also, a license for WPF controls from DevExpress costs a lot.

 

No, not necessarily. "Listening" is an unconnected state. In the Options menu you can hide/show all the "Listening" ones (Ctrl+U)

 

It works, thank you!

- This seems not yet fixed for INBOUND rules ...

- Also not fixed is the thing with single rule exporting with the unwanted rule-opening ...

- And what's with this ...
DNSBL check fails for IPv6 addresses. More and more sites, services and other things (including eg Google) use IPv6 and we should really have support for it.

You had said at the time, you need a suggestion.

I had the following suggestion ...

http://multirbl.valli.org/

... perhaps that would be what?

- And last but not least a suggestion for a new feature - PRINTING ...

Would be cool to have a direct print function. Maybe with selectable colums and selectable rules (selected rules or all rules).

Okay, thank you very much!

Alpengreis

 

We developed in the past a program that dealt with tabular data. We found out that exporting the tables to Excel and let the user manipulate / print the data from Excel was much more flexible and easier to implement - with the added benefit of minimizing future customers requests for additional fancy printing features

 

When upgrading 4.0.9.4 disappears activation program a button to activate the license is not active.

 

Okay, indeed it's not so important to have an included print function. I will try to import in LibreOffice Calc ...

Thanks!

Edit: With export as .csv it was an easy thing. Done for me

 

1. Inbound rules use the same validation rules as outbound rules. Which is the input which does not work ?
2. I am still working on a mechanism to avoid the opening the Properties view when using the Enter key. Until then you can also confirm the action with the Space key and this will not open the dialog.
3. I will try to make this optional somewhere, so the user can use custom providers for checking the files or addresses.
4. Printing ? Not a firewall feature actually. Exporting to csv the selected rules is a more feasible feature. I will think about it.

 

Yes, it's true - it's not inbound related ...

I do not post the complete range, because I have found out where the problem zones are. These ranges are invalid (should be valid) ...

169.255.255.255-172.15.255.255
192.169.0.0-198.17.255.255
198.51.101.0-203.0.112.255

Okay, sorry for my impatience - it's not a big thing of course!

Okay, would be perfect this way

I know, I make it now with .csv export and import in LibreOffice Calc. "Problem" solved
Of course, as internal function it would be even easier - but this is really not a must-have, that's clear!

Okay, thank you, Alexandrud!

Alpengreis

 

Have been a silent reader since the beginning and now i want to give back some help
Some phenomenon which i experienced if the GUI is not starting up:
Running a LARGE Hostsfile in combination with DNS service enabled blocks WFC from coming up/working.
@Alexander This is not a bug report Keep up the amazing work ! Thx !