Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

hi guys .
just installed wfc on w10 to try it.
set on medium level.
i had to allow chrome to browse with it for example.ok no problem.

but i have a question. someone use sandboxie? it works apparently perfectly without errors messages and i want it functions as before downloading wfc.
should i allow some ".exe" or other files of sandboxie? apparently without touching anything it works

thanks in advance

 

Yes.
C:\program files\sandboxie\sandboxiecrypto.exe
C:\program files\sandboxie\license.exe

 

Hey alexandrud and others.

I don't know what those 3 check boxes of Advanced notification settings are exactly used. Please may you explain them with some examples? Thanks in advance

 

When a connection is blocked, WFC searches through the existing rules to see if there is a matching rule. A matching rule is a rule that contains the details of the connection that was blocked. If such a rule is found then it means that the user already blocked or allowed that program and a new notification should not be displayed again. If there is no rule that matches the details of the blocked connection, then the blocked connection details is displayed as a new notification. You should use the default settings for advanced notifications and depending on your scenario to combine them.

 

thank you very much. so "license" is for updates i suppose,right?
and crypto? thank you

 

and could someone tell me how can i allow apps like "mail" or other apps from the windows store? than you

 

I'm appreciated. Everything is clarified except that red sentence. Nothing comes to my mind about any scenario.

Suppose there are 6 rules defined (a, b & c = allow rule, d = block rule, e & f = disable rule). And check box for "Use allow rules when searching for matching rules...." only is checked. A connection tries to be established but WFC blocks it and searches through those a, b & c rules only to find matching rule? And there will be a block notification even if the connection matches the d rule?

 

Hi J4NY4R - I "think" you're asking a 'what-if'' question, but in case this actually IS happening to you then my guess is that you have your "NOTIFICATIONS" set to HIGH. I have the same settings you posited BUT my NOTIFICATIONS are set to MEDIUM and I don't ever get a block notification if there's was a Block rule for the connection. The Blocked connection simply gets logged with NO notification. hth

Peace. Alan

 

Hi Alan.

You do think right. It's kinda what - if question and I'm trying to understand the logic of WFC. For some reasons I prefer to set notification level as high. alexandrud explained almost everything well but I am observing something weird during my play with settings. With "medium filtering" + "high notification level" + "Use allow rules when searching for matching rules...." + "a matching block rule already defined", it is expected that WFC searches through allow rules only and because there is no matching rule among allow rules, a block notification pops up. But WFC acts in another way. No notification is displayed. I don't know if it's a bug or I have not understood alexandrud completely.

 

Well THAT sounds like it SHOULD be. With Notifications set to HIGH even if an outbound connection is successfully blocked (witness the Connection Log) you'll still get a Blocked Notification.
Forget the what if now. Enact your what if scenario, upon getting the Blocked Notification dismiss it and check the Connection Log to confirm that the "Blocked Rule" you had created DID, IN FACT, work. Then switch your Notifications to Medium. Why get notifications for successful blocks?

 

The only difference between high and medium notification level is for svchost.exe and System. There will not be any notification for their connections in medium level and it's not my desire. You won't get any notification for successful blocked connection (with block rules defined) in both medium and high level.

Hope alexandrud clarify advanced notification settings...

 

New
Ok then. I got nothing else. Do or do not, but what ifs can really drag on.

 

The notification system is not sooo easy to understand.

The actual title of the notifications is now ...

"Notifications level specifies which blocked outbound connections should be displayed to the user"

I sent the following suggestion already to the developer to change this to ...

"Notifications level specifies which blocked outbound connections should be displayed to the user. If a related block rule is active, no notifications will be displayed - except if the rule is a generic rule and the related option is enabled in advanced notifications settings."

... or something like that. So it would be a bit easier to understand.

 

Alpengreis, don't you have an idea about the first option "Use allow rules when searching for matching rules..."? I played with it but couldn't see any difference between checked and unchecked...

 

@J4NY4R

The Advanced Notifications Settings option "Use allow rules" means:

This option is important in connection with other programs with has influence of outgoing connections too. WFC says here "Use allow rules when searching for matching rules. Recommended for compatibility with other security programs if duplicate notifications are displayed."

This means if WFC find a related allow rule in your Windows Firewall (created within Windows Firewall, WFC or whatever) - AND another Security Application/Program blocks this connection, WFC does not generate a Notification (would be unnecessary anyway, because you will probably block this connection with your other Security Program).

 

WFC does not search through allow rules only with the configuration that you describe. It always search first through the block rules. The behavior is correct. You have a block rule and a blocked connection that matches the rule, it is normal to not see a new notification.

1. "Use allow rules when searching for matching rules" - is useful when a 3rd party software (like PeerBlock) may block some connections. So, even if you have an allow rule for your browser some websites may be blocked by PeerBlock. This generates new blocked connections events in the Security log. In this case, WFC should not display a new notification because the program is already allowed by a rule. This setting has a meaning only if you use another security programs that may block connections. All blocked connections are logged into the same place, even if the connections are blocked by Windows Firewall or by a different software.

2. "Use generic block rule" - The matching takes into consideration also the block rules defined for all programs. Normally, when searching for matching block rules, WFC looks for rules defined for the same path as the blocked connection.

3. "Use disabled rules" - It takes into consideration also the disabled rules.

 

Bravo, Alexandrud! Sounds like "that's that.".

 

New WFC user.

On the connections page, I am no longer getting any blocked or allowed connections to view. It was working before I hit the clear log button. I am running WFC manually as a standard user, but presumably this is the privileges it would have if autostarted as well.

The blocked and allowed connections do show up in the Windows Firewall log.

I restarted but still nothing shows up.

 

Windows Firewall Control v.4.7.0.0

Change log:
- New: Connections Log and Rules Panel are now displayed as two different windows. Now the user can see both of them in the same time.
- New: Added new icon shortcuts for Rules Panel and Connections Log in Main Panel.
- New: Added global hot key support for Connections Log window. It can be also launched with "wfc -cp" from the Run dialog.
- Removed: New Rules Wizard was removed due to the new refactoring.
- Updated: "Jump to rules" functionality from Connections Log was updated and renamed to "Search rules".
- Improved: The loading time and memory usage in Rules Panel was improved due to code refactoring.
- Fixed: The Log Connections check boxes from Connections Log appear as checked when reopening Connections Log window, even if they were previously both unchecked.
- Fixed: Columns sizes from Connections Log data grid are restored to default values if the saved values are not integer values.
- Fixed: Blocked and allowed connections are displayed with green color in Connections Log. The default neutral color was restored for Connections Log.

Modified translation strings:
720 = Search rules
722 = View Windows Firewall connections log

Removed translation strings:
832 = Jump to rules

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc4setup.exe
SHA1: 39aea27cd7d925505aaf27899ea9f8b50bd00d09

Best regards,
Alexandru

Looking forward for your feedback regarding the new changes.

 

If I could edit my previous post (about connections not appearing), I'd just do that. From my point of view, it is not really a problem worth worrying about, I'm just reporting it happened and wondering if there is an easy fix.

I'm currently setting up a new box, and the installation I'm using now will eventually be wiped.

 

WooooooHOOOOOOOOOO! IT'S GREAT !!!
Thanks, Alexandrud.

 

Thank you very much alexandrud!

Customize and create option from Connections Log context menu isn't working at all. Is there anybody else with this problem?

 

Nice separate windows for rules and logs.
Persistent custom grid widths.
THANKS!

 

+1

 

Same here