Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by alexandrud, May 20, 2013.

  1. marzametal

    marzametal Registered Member

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    I just checked my RAM for current version on W7HP running as Standard User Account...
    wfc.exe is at 63MB
    wfcs.exe is at 19MB
     
  2. co22

    co22 Registered Member

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    ok after restart wfc.exe go to 25mb and wfcs.exe go to 19 MB
    but after open main window wfc.exe go to around 60 MB
    and i just added only a few rule manully other is windows built in rule
     
  3. Alpengreis

    Alpengreis Registered Member

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  4. co22

    co22 Registered Member

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  5. clubhouse1

    clubhouse1 Registered Member

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    I'm confused..This latest version is showing pop-ups for programs that already have a rule..As an example tweaking dot coms registry backup, a pop-up appears asking allow\block, I select block. Next time I use it the pop-up appears again asking allow\block, I check and see the rule block is already there..And this is happening on several programs..Never had this problem before. I've installed the previous version and all is normal now.
     
  6. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    You just can't switch the programming language after 5 years of development. This means to write it again from scratch. The RAM usage will decrease after a few minutes (10-20) to the initial values when the garbage collector cleans the memory. The RAM usage that you have is very normal for a .NET application. Take a look at Firefox, Chrome, Skype, etc, and you will see that they use even more memory. Modern software can't use the same memory amount that Windows 98 applications did 15 years ago.
    Do you have this behavior with version 4.5.4.5 or 4.5.4.4 ?
     
  7. CHEFKOCH

    CHEFKOCH Registered Member

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    The ram usage is depending how many firewall rules you use and on which settings, with my rules I get around 100+ MB. The problem is that logging need a lot of processing power which can't be reduced that much, maybe a few MB.
     
  8. Big Mike

    Big Mike Registered Member

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    Hi,
    is it possible by any chance to handle incoming requests with the notification system of Windows Firewall Control?
    By default I get the windows notifications which lack many options to configure the incoming rules.
    Kind regards
     
  9. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    WFC was developed to configure outbound control. By default, inbound access is blocked by Windows Firewall and this is how it should remain. Displaying notifications for inbound connections is just a waste of time because you will see there thousands of blocked attempts from the Internet and anyway, you want them blocked.
     
  10. jwcca

    jwcca Registered Member

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    Not 100% true, I have video monitoring security software that would allow me to connect remotely from a phone, tablet or PC to view what's going on in and around my home. The problem that I have right now is that the remote connection attempt fails (times out). My only option is to upload video files to an FTP server and log in there. This wastes bandwidth. (the Alert process does send e-mails OK)

    The culprit seems to be the firewall built into the Huawei 'wingle' (a wireless dongle-terrible name I know) and a problem configuring a 'Virtual Server' connection to allow an inbound request though to the video software running on the home PC. (i.e. Windows firewall never sees the inbound request). Huawei has not responded to my requests for help, assuming that this could be set up, their 'Help' file is useless. However the alternative would be to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a 4G 'dongle' which doesn't have a biult-in firewall and a compatible router that I could configure to accept/pass through validated inbound requests.
     
  11. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Have you checked the Connections Log ? Do you see there any blocked inbound connections to the "monitoring security software" or its modules ? If you use a router, probably you have to create a port forwarding otherwise your inbound requests will not reach the software that runs on a specific machine from your home network. The question is, does it work if you disable Windows Firewall ? If not, then inbound notifications from WFC will not help either.
     
  12. jwcca

    jwcca Registered Member

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    Hi Alexandru,
    Basically I was just disputing your claim that all inbound access should be blocked. There are cases where inbound should be passed through.

    No, there's nothing in the WFC connections log. That's what I was trying to say about the Huawei, it's a cellular modem/wi-fi router capable of allowing up to 10 wireless devices to connect to the internet. The 'port forwarding' which you refer to is, I believe, what Huawei calls 'Virtual Server'.
    It's the Huawei that's preventing inbound requests from ever reaching the PC. Huawei doesn't provide any logs, so I can't dig deeper.

    When I contacted Bell Canada (my ISP who sold me the device) I was asked if I could connect outbound to the internet and as long as that was true they don't care about inbound requests and won't try to get an answer from Huawei. The other ISPs serving my area are also on the Huawei bandwagon, so I'm pretty much stuck.

    The problem is that their 'Help' file is useless, it doesn't explain anything. It's help text is simply a longer text of the column headings, except there's one, probably critical field that doesn't even have the verbose text, I just have to guess, and my guesses haven't provided the desired results. And, if it's a bug in their firmware, then even a 'correct guess' would be no good.
     
  13. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    The default behavior of Windows Firewall regarding inbound access is to block all inbound access unless there is a specific rule that allows inbound connections for a program. What I meant to say, is that the last thing that we want, from a security point of view, is to allow the user to choose in a WFC notification dialog to allow all the programs that request inbound access. Block rules have no sense since a program without a block rule is anyway blocked. So, having a notification dialog which displays inbound blocked connections is a bad idea since the user will be tempted to click on the Allow button just to dismiss the annoying notification. For the rare occasions when a program really needs inbound access, experienced users will know anyway what they have to do.

    But I do not agree with the idea to display notifications for inbound blocked connections because many users create allow rules for all notifications that they see just to close them. :(
     
  14. jwcca

    jwcca Registered Member

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    When trying to get inbound access I did set up Allow rules and even turned WF off (for a brief few seconds) but neither helped.

    But I love your app for dealing with the outbound access rules, :), thanks,

    J
     
  15. Sid.D

    Sid.D Registered Member

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    Thanks for fixing the framework errors that were occurring in Windows log files, did not see it in the patch notes.

    SD

     
  16. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    - Removed: The detection of insertion of USB drives was removed due to the errors that may appear on some systems in Windows Reliability Monitor related to wfcs.exe. <-- This is the one.
     
  17. Sid.D

    Sid.D Registered Member

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    Ah, had no idea it was to do with usb. Thanks.
     
  18. Big Mike

    Big Mike Registered Member

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    Actually I use temporary network shares for file exchange, so from time to time I need a temporary firewall rule for inbound connections. But I understand and accept your point.
     
  19. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Windows Firewall Control v.4.5.5.0

    Change log:
    - Improved: The visual theme of the program was updated to use system themes colors. With the previous versions, the program was unusable when high contrast themes were used because of the custom styles.
    - Bug: Notifications are not displayed even if the advanced notification setting "Use allow rules when searching for matching rules" is disabled. The check box does not trigger the corresponding setting in the service. (Alpengreis - Post 1972)

    Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc4setup.exe
    SHA1: 057f848e2d990655404d58ce58638f62c469f162

    Have a great weekend,
    Alexandru

    Thank you for your feedback. If I missed something, just remind me and I will fix/implement it.
     
  20. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes I agree, I noticed that RAM usage always decreases after a while.
     
  21. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    BTW, how can I give Steam access to the web?

    http://store.steampowered.com/about/
     
  22. Alpengreis

    Alpengreis Registered Member

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    I have tested also the new final. I confirm: the bug is - as in the beta (which I had for testing) - fixed!

    Thank you very much, good job (as always)!

    Have a nice weekend too.

    Alpengreis
     
  23. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    To clarify, I'm running it via Sandboxie, and "click on a program window to allow" does add the rule, but network access still doesn't work.
     
  24. Alpengreis

    Alpengreis Registered Member

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    In the connection log of WFC you should see what is blocked (yet).
     
  25. tcarrbrion

    tcarrbrion Registered Member

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    I am having trouble running WFC latest version with Windows 10 threshold 2. I have just done a clean install of the new version of Windows 10. WFC appears to install correctly and the icon appears in the notification area. However the wfc.exe program does nothing when run and clicking or right clicking on the notification icon does nothing. Attempting to uninstall it does nothing. Running as administrator does not help. I had it running fine before reinstalling Windows. I can find no errors in the event log.

    I upgraded my other PC to the new WIndows 10 and WFC works fine on that. I wonder if it because the new install has never had .net 4.5 installed on it.

    Thanks.
     
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