Isn't almost every commercial firewall using Windows Filtering Protocol? Then they are not much different to the internal program. And I said that every program can willi nilly set rules in the windows firewall, afaik. That is not secure at all.
TinyWall will be updated shortly, just waiting for my new code signing certificate before uploading. Still not the big update I began working on long ago, but at least it will restore full support to current versions of Windows, most problematic being v1903. For those who ask(ed): TinyWall not being updated does not make it insecure. It is not an IDS or antivirus software that needs constant definition updates to be able to deflect attacks. It will continue to work perfectly even in the absence of updates unless Microsoft breaks something, which happened now with Win10 v1903.
This is mostly good news. I love using TW and did so until I ran into a couple of glitches starting in 1809, and TW with1903 being fully incompatible. Do you have any idea if/when it will become usable in 1903+? I was never concerned about any bigger update, just that it is fully functional in newer versions of Windows 10.
I've been using it all this time with 1809 and tbh I'm not sure what glitches you were having (aside from the usual problems due to using Windows Firewall, but those were present in earlier Windows versions too), so I'm not sure the update will help with that. But the issue with 1903 is obvious and that will be solved. When? It all depends when identity verification for my new certificate completes. It could be anything from today to a couple of days.
Thanks for your speedy reply. I was unable to install certain AV software no matter what method I used, e.g. process, window, etc.. Will patiently await a certification for 1903. Hope you are well. You were missed on the forums.
I got the forms from the CA, and apparently I need to visit a notary office now to verify my identity. Duh... this used to be so much simpler. I'll see if I can get that done tomorrow or maybe the day after tomorrow. Yes I am well, thanks for worrying. Fortunately my hiatus has nothing to do with my health, I was just more motivated to work on other projects. But I'll keep occasionally fixing whatever needs to be done to keep TinyWall working (like now with v1903), and who knows, maybe someday I'll finish its bigger upgrade.
TinyWall 2.1.9 is out. Beside the well-needed fix for Win10 1903, a few small things went into it as well, namely: a new whitelisting possibility, a fix for the auto-updater to support TLS 1.2 and newer, and of course an updated digital certificate and databases. You need TinyWall 2.1.9 or later to be compatible with Windows 10 v1903. In case you have Windows 10 v1903 already installed, you will need to manually uninstall the previous version of TinyWall, restart the computer once, then install the newest TinyWall. In case your computer is not yet "upgraded" to Windows 10 v1903, the recommended and easiest procedure is to simply update TinyWall before updating Windows. In this case you can simply use the built-in updater of TinyWall as usual.
Cool, I did use TinyWall in the past. But where can you download it from? Did you update your site, because it still shows me TinyWall version 2.1. I didn't know it worked like this, is this because TW uses a driver?
> download TinyWall 2.1 from https://tinywall.pados.hu/download.php = > https://tinywall.pados.hu/changelog.txt
Off-topic, but was asked; Eset firewall integrates into network adapters. Have windows firewall "service" disabled. Nice to see TinyWall back in service.
The site does not show the patch number (except for the changelog, as hinted by bjm_), but the newest version is always on the site. Alternatively, you can use the built-in updater if you have any previous version installed. TinyWall does not use a driver. So strictly speaking, having a valid digital certificate is optional (at least technically), but it does come with some advantages, both for me and for users. Sorry, I won't. You'd still need admin privileges to run TinyWall anyway. Also, since many programs are installed to different folders on different computers, the rulesets wouldn't be portable either (at least not generally). Which is why TinyWall prevents other applications from modifying your firewall rules, improving on the security of the default Windows Firewall.
And this may be the first best reason for using TinyWall, but certainly not the only one. Thanks @ultim
I tried Simplywall and WFC after the Win10 1903 update. These are good firewalls but TinyWall is just awesome. I'm really glad it works again. Big thanks ultim
Staying true the original purpose of this thread, here is a test build of TinyWall if somebody would like to help out with testing. When I started working on TinyWall3 long ago (before my long pause), I got *very* far. So far, that a week ago when I again dug deep into the code, I was surprised how many things were already done and relatively clean. As a result, I've been very active the past week, working on TW3 almost every evening and basically through the weekend, and now I have a beta build. This build contains some huge internal changes, and there are probably regressions. This is the point I've been working up to to start gutting out the service core and finally replace Windows Firewall with a direct interface to the Windows Filtering Platform, which I've announced back in 2016, and I have great hopes it will solve most of the known annoyances of TinyWall. Note though, this build still builds on top of Windows Firewall, and at best it only has feature parity with 2.1 (minus the regressions). But if all goes well, the *next* beta release will build on top of WFP. I have already completed my WFP library/interop layer in 2017, so if this build is relatively solid, all I need to do is swap out the current parts for it. Anyway, a few important notes: - This is a beta build for testers. Don't install it in the hopes that you will get the cool features earlier, because they aren't there yet. This is all preparatory work for the new stuff. - The settings and database formats have changed. Export your settings before installing the beta so that you can re-import them again when you switch back to the current stable release. - Some of the built-in rules have changed. If you're on pre-Win10, please provide feedback if the special exceptions still work and do their job correctly. - This release is not digitally signed on purpose. Only official stable releases will be signed. Click here for beta download link
Been so long, "abandon" as most reviewers say on so many web-site. How long will you stay on the project this time? When I feel like it?
This is not like antivirus software that needs constant updates to stay effective, nor a browser that needs regular patching to fix leaks. With other words, TinyWall 2.1 is just as good now as it was in the beginning. Only with Windows 10 1903 did it start to show problems, and I fixed it within 3 months of its release. While you can argue that was somewhat slow (1903 market share has reached 6% by then), I don't think those 3 months are a good enough reason to generally abandon the project if otherwise you like TinyWall. Or are you mad at me that I don't provide e-mail support? That used to be the case even in the older days. For the record, TinyWall is about 8 years old now, and it is still seeing updates to keep it working. That is not something you can tell about most hobby projects. I'm sorry I didn't bring feature updates while everything was still working perfectly. But when something broke, I fixed it. And now even a greater update is on its way.
Not mad at all. Sorry I don't walk on egg shells to worry about "feelings". Just stating a fact. I have made a donation about 8 Year ago, expecting the product to evolve you know like the effort put in to Bini soft (WFC), the most popular firewall here?
TinyWall has evolved a lot in those 8 years, it reached the current point over 5-6 years of work, where development was active. "Just stating the fact." Implying that TinyWall did not evolve in the past 8 years is simply false and wrong, because it did, and a lot. And now it will do that again, as you'll shortly see. As for Binisoft, it used to be a paid/freemium software until not even that long ago... just something to think about. And TW was the first to think of and implement multiple features that you can find in free firewalls today, so it was very innovative in addition. Anyway, once TW3 is out, I think it will become more advanced in multiple aspects, probably with the GUI as one of the few exceptions. But then, I know there are many people who prefer the GUI of TinyWall, even if not everybody, but that comes down to just personal preferences, nothing more.
