Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

The only IP where WFC should be allowed to connect is 66.198.240.5, and only when it checks for updates. Other connection attempts should be blocked, as they are generated by the operating system, not by WFC code. However, in the notification dialog context (when a new notification is displayed), WFC checks if the program has a digital signature. On other cases, the operating system checks if there is a valid certificate for WFC, or even referenced assemblies may check for a valid digital certificate. All these are made in the name of wfc.exe even if I don't trigger such verifications from WFC code. One thing is sure, WFC doesn't do any hidden activity on your system.

No, WFC can't display the service name because this information is not available.

If you have a new provider, different than the existing providers, I can add it into WFC list. In the past, this was editable, but many users didn't know the alternatives, so I made this as combo box with some predefined providers.

 

I'm using the latest version and Windows 10 (1607) 64bit.

My problem is that while i block "explorer.exe" apparently it can't be blocked no matter what.

Continues to connect to IPs like 191.232.139.141 (Microsoft Dublin) and others like Akamai.

The STRANGE is that it shows in Connections LOG both in Blocked and Allowed log connections. Very strange.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

 

Any news on this problem as it has happened again, I also noticed that when you re-activate the registration in the My Account page the notification settings go to disabled and not at Medium were it originally was.
Do any other settings get adjusted as well?? Getting to be a pain why Registration keeps going missing

 

While the program is not activated the notifications system is disabled. If you activate it, the notification level remains disabled until you switch it.

The program code regarding the activation is unchanged between these two versions and the activation status should not be affected.

1. The activation status is kept in Windows Registry under this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{WD2827D4-F8E0-B379-I229-D89D12E4642A}\Activation Code

Make sure that WFC is not prevented to write/read this registry key by a 3rd party security software that you may use, usually an antivirus. Check this key after you activate the software and again after it appears to be unregistered. Is it unchanged or is it different ?

2. Do you use any software like CCleaner or similar "cleaners" ? CCleaner is known to delete stuff that it shouldn't. Maybe this key is removed in the process.

I will do some more tests to see if I can reproduce it. It didn't happened on my side.

 

I have the same problem. Since version 4.8.7.0 the activation is lost after a reboot.
The registry key does not change after activation.

 

Below you can download the last two previous versions:

http://binisoft.org/download/old/4860/wfc4setup.exe
http://binisoft.org/download/old/4850/wfc4setup.exe

Please try with these two versions and please let me know if you still have the same problem.

I still don't know what have in common the operating systems where this happens. I still can't reproduce this problem with version 4.8.7.0. which works fine on my Windows 10 test machines.

Looking forward for your feedback.

 

and another thing
rules panel do not display localized package DisplayName for windows uwp apps
making harder to identify rules for packaged apps
ex: for Cortana name is show as @{Microsoft.AccountsControl_10.0.14393.206_neutral__cw5n1h2txyewy?ms-resource://Microsoft.AccountsControl/Resources/DisplayName}
default windows firewall interface display app name
there is a problem with secure rules feature when importing groups WFC disable(or delete)
original apps rules because it cannot phrase group names

and a minor thing at uninstall winevent log entry WFC is not removed

 

These rules appear the same in WFwAS and WFC on my system. This is how Windows Firewall API provides them. I can't do anything about this.

To protect those Windows 10 rules, add the following group name in the list of authorized group names: @ (just a simple @) I will mention this in the user manual.

During a Windows session you can't remove and recreate the same event log (the same name, here WFC). Instead of requiring the user to restart the computer for a second installation, I decided to leave the WFC log. This is a known issue and an accepted workaround.

 

@alexandrud

In MOST cases, the thing with the "@" seems so - mostly it's the same in WFC and WFwAS - unfortunately not always!

It's possible to have a rule with "@" in WFC and with "resolved APP name" in WFwAS!

See here for example ...





I believe, this is the case, if you let Win manage and or create such rules automatically ... then it's even possible that you have some "generations" of such rules and the current are resolved ...

 

I'm running Win10 version 1511 on several machines - the WFC tray icon is frequently not showing up on system boot since this weeks Windows Update. Is anyone else seeing this? The process & service are running - just no tray icon...

is there any way to open the GUI when the tray icon isn't displayed? or to manually start the tray icon

Thanks

 

I had this behaviour too (earlier). You could try to deinstall and reinstall WFC. Here that had helped. So it would be better to really resolve this problem instead adding a workaround.

Also it seems this has nothing direct to do with WFC itself, this seems a generally Win problem with such "Start Jobs".

 

Indeed, but the problem still has no solution from my side since these names are retrieved like this from Windows Firewall API. I can't resolve the app names. No solution yet.

Check your antivirus, also Windows Defender. Try to add wfc.exe and wfcs.exe in the exclusions list of any security software that you use. Also, disable the auto start from WFC and use an alternative way of automatically start it at Windows start-up. For example, through Task Scheduler. See if this works.

 

I have extended the code to log some more info in the Windows service to see more clearly what is going on.

1. When you have time, please download and install the beta version 4.8.7.2 and check the activation status after an restart. How does it appear ?

Download URL: http://binisoft.org/download/beta/wfc4setup.exe

2. Go to the WFC event log and see if there is any new event logged, especially the Event ID 490. Please export the log and send it to support@binisoft.org to take a look.

3. Try to set the Startup type of Windows Firewall Control Service to Delayed Start. This will give the service a little delay during the boot time which may help with this problem.

 

What is the road map of WFC now that is quite complete in terms of features and very stable?
Beside small modifications and fixes do you have something in mind?

 

@Alpengreis @alexandrud

Thanks for the tips guys

 

i cannot install WFC on win 10 x64 - got this message :
https://postimg.org/image/lp3zj3z19/
what can i do ? i try to repair netframe but no success

 

I have updated a little bit the beta version which is now version 4.8.7.2.

Download URL:
http://binisoft.org/download/beta/wfc4setup.exe

You should not receive anymore that kind of exception. More related to that exception can be read here:
http://george.chiramattel.com/blog/2007/09/deflatestream-block-length-does-not-match.html

It worked without this workaround in the past years and never had any reports about a similar problem. Anyway, this should fix the error.

Please let me know if this solves the problem on your side, as I can't reproduce it on my test machines.

 

Thanks so much , it really fix the problem , now is ok

 

Thank you for your feedback. I will include this fix in the next official release.

 

Sorry for the late reply.

I was testing these old versions and everything worked.

I will try the beta version in the next days.

 

I'm using the latest official version and Windows 10 64bit.

Many times the green Firewall control icon on the bottom line of my desktop doesn't respond. If i hover it, it shows Windows Firewall Control but it can't be clicked or anything.

If i reboot it works fine.

Thanks

 

Here are two generally suggestions for this or similar problems:

1) Workaround: change start of "Windows Firewall Control Service" to "Delayed Start" to give more time for the service start while booting.

2) Clean solution: reinstall WFC (was helpful here on my system for similar problem).

Good to know: this seems NOT a WFC problem - this seems a problem of Win with services. So all can be good and (for example) after a Win Update, you can "immediately" have such a behaviour.

Good Luck.

 

Hi,

Yes with #2 solution it seems to be working fine for 1 day now. This is not so important but i wonder if apart from the icon not working, does it protect ? Or the firewall also stops ?

Thanks

 

WFC is just a front end. Windows Firewall ensures the filtering and has the firewall rules. So, even if WFC is not running, the firewall protects your computer.

 

Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

WFC v4.8.7.0 won't create a rule if executable for which the rule is being created has a % (percentage) sign in its file path.

For instance, the rule is created and saved for C:\test\Chromium\ChromiumPortable.exe, but wouldn't be created for C:\%test\Chromium\ChromiumPortable.exe

I'm a fan of portable applications and some of my portable executables have paths like path\%Program Files%\name.exe and I can't create firewall rules for such applications.

I haven't tested if other unusual path characters, other than %, cause problems for WFC.

Is it possible to fix this issue?