Problem with Privatefirewall (Privacyware)

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by Quango, Oct 10, 2017.

  1. Quango

    Quango Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2017
    Posts:
    10
    Location:
    Norway
    Hi! I've been using PrivateFirewall (PF) for some time, and tend to use it in a conservative fashion, blocking as much as possible and accepting the hassle of allowing things manually every time, rarely creating any permanent rules. This includes system access like opening files, and so on. I keep the firewall on the most restrictive settings possible most of the time.

    There is a problem though, I'm trying to use a compiler that I can not get to work without setting the Process Monitor slider to "Off". The compiler suite wants to open a lot of processes since it is using GCC. I've allowed everything or set it to "ask", but something apparently keeps getting denied access, which means the compiler can not start.

    How can I find out what is happening?

    I have already tried Sysinternals ProcMon while (successfully) running the compiler with PrivateFirewall off, to see all the processes that the compiler wants to start. I've made sure all those processes are added to PrivateFirewall's process monitor, and have permissions set to "Ask", but it doesn't help. As soon as I move the PF process monitor slider back to "Medium" or "High", the compiler will not work. Unfortunately, the compiler doesn't give any useful information either, it just thinks it has run out of memory (bogus).

    Please help me diagnose this problem, or recommend a different free firewall that is as good and fine grained (or even more fine grained) as PrivateFirewall. I'm on Win10 64-bit.
     
  2. imuade

    imuade Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    Location:
    Italy
    PrivateFirewall is no loger developed, so it can cause problems on the latest versions of Windows 10.
    The only full alternative is Comodo Firewall (many Wilders users, including myself, use it with cruelsister's settings https://malwaretips.com/threads/comodo-firewall-10-setup.67954/).
    If you want a front-end for Windows Firewall, you can try Windows Firewall Control by Binisoft (it can set WF to block any outgoing connection unless you manually allow them)
     
  3. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    Poland - Cracow
    It can be problem caused not by PFW but by system...try disable protection or whole PFW in systray.
    And now about PFW - in Advanced Application Settings (File/Settings/Advanced) window you find the list of parent processes...try to add your compiler and make it "allow". In settings you can also add your compiler to the list of trusted. Maybe such trick can help you.
     
  4. Quango

    Quango Registered Member

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    Oct 10, 2017
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    10
    Location:
    Norway
    I've read that Comodo has been doing shady things in the past, such as collecting information on its users without their consent, which is really why I'm still using the outdated PersonalFirewall. I'm really looking for a HIPS btw, so Windows firewall won't cut it either.

    Like I said, I tried this, and it doesn't help. Very puzzling. It makes no sense to me. Another weird thing is that if I turn PFW off, start compilation, and then while the compilation is running I turn PFW back on, the compilation still keeps running and finishes. So it would seem it is a single process that is being blocked that stops the compilation from starting. However, I have not a single Deny permission set in PFW, only Ask. I have also verified that it has nothing to do with blocking network access.

    Does anybody know if PrivateFirewall has some kind of hidden internal list of settings for processes/applications that are not shown in the user interface? Like maybe in the Windows registry?
     
  5. trott3r

    trott3r Registered Member

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    Location:
    UK
    If not commodo then there is outpost firewall but that is unsupported now.
     
  6. jadinolf

    jadinolf Registered Member

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    Sep 2, 2006
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    1,047
    Location:
    Southern California
    Sigh :(
    outpost.jpg
     
  7. soewhaty

    soewhaty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2014
    Posts:
    74
    The number one reason why I unrooted it (if that's even psbl post-install) after I used it for 6 days. In that regard PFW, though outdated, is a much better alternative. Just my 2 cents.

    As to your issue - haven't gone thru the whole thread so sorry if this has been covered but here it goes - export your rules/settings for psbl later restoration. Then go in the main UI and try the 'Reset settings to default' button (or sth like that). As far as I remember it was this blue button with a circle arrow. Doing that resets all traffic/process rules. This way you start from 0 and you have the chance to have you compiler force the needed prompt, which you hopefully this time will allow. Hope that helps.
     
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