Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

There is error catching when retrieving the Security Event log entries. It should log an event with ID 323 under WFC log in Event Viewer. However, if the Security log is corrupted somehow it may enter in this state that you had, without throwing an exception but waiting indefinitely. Did you change the default 20MB size of Security Event Log? I will do some more testing on my side to see if I can reproduce this on my test machines. Thank you for your feedback.

 

That would be perfect. Thank you for taking it into consideration.

 

I want to report what might be a potential bug. I am running v6.9.9.1 and it seems that I am unable to duplicate rules anymore. I don't know when this stopped working, I just know that on previous versions it was working. Restarted the WFC UI, running it with admin privileges, nothing helps, it just briefly shows a "Please wait" modal box and then nothing happens. There's no filters applied, no nothing, it simply doesn't want to create duplicates when using the "Create duplicate" command.
I find the command for duplicating rules very useful as it allows me to tweak parameters for similar rules.

 

WFC v6.9.9.1 cannot create a duplicate of only the topmost rule. Create a duplicate of any other rule (you will delete this duplicate later). Create a duplicate of the rule you want. Delete the unnecessary duplicate.
This bug is fixed in v6.9.9.2.

 

I see now, thank you for the information.

 

When pressing F1, WFC's help is context-sensitive and opens the relevant page in the online manual. However, this doesn't occur when the manual is in the installation folder - it is always opened at page 1. Perhaps this could be improved? Thanks.

 

The reason is not WFC. What page to open on is a property of the PDF viewer, possibly even customizable. If I close the PDF on page #21, the next time it will open on page #21, even if I use F1 or a button in the WFC interface.

 

Ok, I may have been wrong in saying it always opens on page 1. That's not the point. Last-viewed page is still the 'wrong' page.

I do believe a program can instruct a PDF document to open on a specific page (=context-sensitive) and override the last-viewed page, but only alexandrud can confirm. It is certainly possible with .chm help files. I also doubt PDF readers can interfere. They usually have preferences for desired layout, zoom etc. Not "which page you'd always like to see first".

 

I use PDF-XChange Viewer. It opens PDF documents on the page they were closed on. If I clear the list of recently opened documents in PDF-XChange Viewer, all documents will be opened on the first page on the first startup, and on the second startup they will be opened on the page they were closed on.
As I wrote earlier, this is configurable in the viewer, Page View -> Restore the previous page layout - if you disable this option, the document will always open on the first page. Similarly in other viewers.
Neither alexandrud nor WFC has anything to do with your viewer. Check the settings of your PDF viewer.

 

You are still missing the point of "context-sensitive".

 

I do understand it though I think it'd be difficult to achieve unless @alexandrud developed a built-in pdf viewer dedicated to read WFC manual. Let's see what @alexandrud has to say.

 

The reason why the context sensitive does not apply to a local PDF is that WFC executes the PDF file and the operating system uses the default PDF viewer to open the PDF file. In this case there is no support for command line parameters.

If the majority of users use Adobe Reader, I could add a check in WFC so that if Adobe Reader exists, launch the PDF like this:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /A "page=41" "C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Windows Firewall Control\Malwarebytes-WFC-User-Guide.pdf"

if not, then just execute "C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Windows Firewall Control\Malwarebytes-WFC-User-Guide.pdf" and let the OS pick the default PDF viewer. Is this an acceptable solution? And please do not propose X other PDF viewers to be included in this logic Adobe Reader only.

 

I don't use Adobe Reader, so I'll just switch to the onliine method which is context-sensitive. About .chm help: is this considered insecure or deprecated?

 

Check this out. Yes, .chm is insecure.

 

I doubt many users here use Adobe Reader so I'm sorry, I propose SumatraPDF and the option to browse and select the executable in case of a portable.

 

i havent instaled a pdf viewer since like 10 years as nowadays browsers registrer as pdf viewer (chrome, edge, firefox etc)

edit edge webview support it too

 

In this case, it remains at it is. Online user guide is context sensitive, local downloaded PDF is not

 

It's a very good decision

Somehow it seems to me that some unadvertised change made in v6.9.9.2 will scare away many users and they will continue to use v6.9.9.1. Apparently there are good reasons that compelled you to do so

 

Didn't change it, the log was working still fine with 6.9.9.1 - I know because I had to look up something just the day before - then came 6.9.9.2 with the mystery install error, and when it finally installed after uninstalling 6.9.9.1 the log didn't work anymore.

But when installed both of them gave the briefly flashing red text error in the install window. Both refused to install at all from the WFC main window GUI About > Check for new updates, had to download them separately. I have no idea what could it be, this lappy is pretty new and I've only installed latest Vcredistx64 and .Net updates pushed by Windows Update and some basic software not having anything to do with firewall or logs. Win11x64 Pro.

 

Windows Firewall Control v.6.9.9.3

Change log:
- Fixed: Create WFC recommended rules does not work in the latest installer.
- Fixed: After installation 'Auto refresh on open' is set by default to true in Connections Log instead of false.
- Improved: Added read only access to Rules Panel, Connections Log and Notifications for standard user accounts.
- Improved: Run button will start WFC under the user account which started the installer instead of the elevated user account.

Download location: https://binisoft.org/download/wfc6setup.exe
SHA256: 563756eb0b904d66cee3077145a331fb75f426755cbfd11b34ac32f0f644300e
SHA512: c276c75600907d47dc23fab408c71ef80985d6d17a90bb38b98dcbe5a12bab316d98d6f39e840a52f62073e670c16f5bcf9a1a4eeb69ce2664d31e5e10f4a156

I revisited the code and tried to improve the standard user accounts experience. Standard user accounts have now access back to Rules Panel, Connections Log, Main Panel and Notifications. All these dialogs are read only and do not allow creating/modifying/deleting firewall rules or alter Windows Firewall state. Standard user accounts can receive notifications and can create notifications exceptions only, not firewall rules. The experimental notifications exceptions with uppercase do not apply from standard user accounts since this will create firewall rules. Any action that requires elevated privileges is still not available if the program does not run under an elevated user account. Tray icons are again colored.

I revisited the installer code so that after the installation/update is performed, Run button will execute wfcUI.exe in the context of the current user not in the context of the elevated user account.

Thank you for your feedback and your support,
Alexandru Dicu

 

@alexandrud

Thank you VERY much for that new version of WFC - it's now MUCH better to handle in restricted mode!

Greetings

 

@alexandrud, thank you for implementing the read-only access to standard accounts. It is indeed a huge improvement over 6.9.9.2.

 

The 3rd time am trying this firewall. What caught my eye this time is

and I am looking for this in the Rules Panel and either I am getting old and senile or just not seeing it. Sphinx firewall has that Read only option and it is automatically configured for intended programs.I would like to use WFC as I am using MBAM pro.

 

The "Read only" option does not exist as a checkbox. This mode is enabled automatically if the program is started by a user with a regular account without administrator rights. In your case, your account has administrator rights.

 

I do not understand the question asked here.