Private Firewall Updated (again)

I just had a problem with PF (latest version) a couple of days back.

Following a reboot (performed twice with same results) I would get a message that PF had to close due an (unidentified) issue. The GUI and tray icon would then close.
When manually started (immediately following the above) the same problem arose.

A reboot didn't help as the same sequence of events occurred.

This did not happen on my wife's setup. (Win XP Pro SP3 on both)
Earlier that day I had updated Firefox,Thunderbird and Flash Player on both machines and they ran for several hours before I decided to reboot both later that evening.

I've reported the issue to Greg at PF so he can have his folks research the issue. I've gone back to OA which (though it doesn't ordinarily run quite as lightly as PF on my setup) is still my overall first choice when it comes to a FW/HIPS/Anti-Logger solution.

 

You might try (a) uninstall PFW, (b) re-install PFW.

 

I thought about it but opted to just reinstall OA for the time being...but Greg knows I'll be back as I have great respect for him as well as PF and its team.

 

I've been noticing a steady build-up of RAM usage by PFGUI.exe (up to around 100MB) after been logged on for a couple of hours, for example.
I've been cleaning this up by using System Explorer's "Process Memory Usage Clean-up" utility, which gets it back to around 10MB e.g.
Was just wondering if anyone else is seeing this, and if this is normal and usual, or is it a memory leak issue, or is only my set-up?
On Windows 7 HP 32bit, with Vipre 2012 AV, and SecureAnywhere Complete 8.0.1.8 with Privatefirewall 7.0.25.5

 

Mine stays right around 18165k

 

YES

 

How do I set outbound traffic to 'ask' for permission first in PFW?

 

Does This means that those screensavers applications that I set a rule to deny, will NOT be able to access the internet or "call home'?

Screenshot:

http://tinypic.com/r/2ed9ra1/5

 

No, you have to set it in the "APPLICATIONS" instead of the "PROCESS MONITOR".

 

Hmmm..I don't seem to find it in the "Application"....??

 

It must be active to show in the "Applications" tab. Anyway, you'll obtain the same effect if you select "deny", "apply to all warnings" and "remember this setting" in the pop-up that will show the first time that it tries to connect to internet.

 

Thanks..but it would be kinda "difficult" to see it active, in the "Applications", since the application is a screensaver. Is there a way I can Block my PC using Private Firewall to the Site, if I know the I.P. of the URL tro the Site?

 

You could add the IP or URL to the "Blocked Sites/IP Addresses" section on the main GUI window.

 

On another note:

Recently, I after installing PrivateFirewall, the Videos that are played on Windows media Player and Real Player, seems "jittery" on certain parts of the video.
This has Never happened to me before with those 2 players, prior to the installation of PrivateFirewall, that is my ONLY complain so far with this Firewall.
Anyone has the same problem?

 

I have been PFW user since yesterday.
So far I consider this a good firewall & HIPS.

But I think 3 new features would help a lot.
[1] Option to put an alert always on top.

[2] User configurable list of file extensions to consider as executables.
(I found that .bat is treated as a executable, but I want a bunch of scripts like .py|.ahk|.au3 etc to be intercepted.)

[3] Related to [2], PFW doesn't check a change to .bat script if the behavior of the script had already been allowed.
(For example:
original "test.bat" has a line
mkdir c:\aaa
Execution of this batch was intercepted.
Then add one line to the "test.bat"
mkdir c:\aaa
mkdir c:\bbb
The result was, both c:\aaa & c:\bbb were created with no alert.)

I want PFW to check a modification for scripts.

I'm not sure these ideas will really improve the security though...

 

Hi

New to Private Firewall (really new).

I want to learn how to block applications from accessing the internet.

As a for starter Avast 6 free has a section in its AvastUI.exe called Market in which products are advertised.

How do I go about blocking this please, so that I end up with a blank section.

Thank you for your help.

Terry

 

You first need to know which application is accessing the internet for "Market".

Then go to "Application" menu in the PrivateFirewall, find the application from the list, then right click, and choose Block or do whatever suits your need.

Beware that you can't specify destination IP/domains for filtering rules per application, if i'm correct.
But you can specify it in "Blocked Sites/IP address" section in the main window.

But, for example, if
the Avast's updater is also the fetcher for the "Market" and also they connect to the same destination.
in the situation like this, you can't/shouldn't block it's connection unless the different port is used for the "Market" purpose.

Seriously, why do you want to block such a small thing?

 

Hi id8

The answer to your question is this.

Blocking Market is not the issue. I am new to PrivateFirewall and it is quite different to Comodo from which I have migrated possibly permanently.

I know how to block Market in Comodo and I wanted to learn how to do it in PF.

I had already done what you had suggested but it did not work. When I did it again AND REBOOTED it did work, whereas in Comodo it does not need a reboot.

Your help is effectively allowing me to compare PF & CIS

Thanks

Terry

 

Hello Terry.

I thought you were lazy enough to not want to read help file!
I was wondering like "why a person with more than 500 post in this forum can't figure out this?"

But now I understand that there was a valid point why you posted

I also didn't know that blocking required a reboot as I have never done it myself.

Anyway, it's nice to know you could do the same thing you could do with the Comodo.
I myself recently switched from Comodo to PrivateFirewall, and I think you will like PFW unless you were too reliant on Comodo's highly configurable Directory Portection / Registry Protection / Process Guard / Sandbox features.

 

If you go to privacyware.com website, you can navigate & submit a Support Ticket (at bottom). http://www.privacyware.com/support_ticket.html
Greg will answer you promptly!

 

To add on Privacyware's excellent support, my GF ord......suggested me to post this and, as you can imagine, my alternatives are fairly limited. This is part of her reply to an email from Greg Salvato. It was about a minor issue after PF unexpectedly shutted down once:

Thank you very much Greg! I did what you said and everything seems to work right now. The crash itself doesn't bother me much, it's something that can happen from time to time when switching acccounts if you are running similar security apps like PF's Process Monitor, Rapport and Avira's Pro Activ. In fact I can't believe I'm running the three without issues and almost zero impact in my PC's performance! PF in particular is the lightest, more stable and more efficient security app that I have used in my life. If some day it ceases to be free I will purchase it in a blink.

Thanks again!

I totally agree with her, PF is a gem and their support would be great if it was a paid product. For a free one, it is simply mind blowing.

 

Just a quick update to my earlier posts of November 10 & 11 and a couple of comments.

Reinstalled PF after some issues with OA resurfaced. (No need to hash that here.)

Imported the last rule set I had saved and updated a few to bring me up to date.

Running seamlessly and (as usual) very light on resources.

Also, regarding the comments above, I must totally concur. If there is a more helpful, friendly or responsive security app provider than Greg Salvato of PWI, (for a free or paid app), I've yet to come across them.

The combination of an effective, light, unbloated and well supported app makes PF hard to beat imho despite the very occasional growing pains along the way.

 

Latest update

RELEASE NOTES - 7.0.26.3, posted 2/9/2012 (uninstall/reboot of previous build is required for installation of 26.3)
- Updated drivers reviewed/signed by Microsoft Winqual.
- Added ability to define fw rule order.
- Addressed issue with avast.setup.
- Added IP address based filtering capability.
- Modified driver binding implementation to address possible related implications (i.e. lost Internet connection, system drag, etc.) of other driver conflicts/incompatibilities.
- Resolved failed Kill3f and fileacc1 leak tests.
- Modified logic for automated rule creation in relation to SPI (limits certain automatic rule creation to outbound only).
- Added ability to permanently remove publishers from the TP list.
- Added "Skip" button to Program Change alerts ("If this program changes frequently, select Skip to suppress further checks.").
- Added Delete and Insert key handling to Applications, Process Monitor, Trusted/Blocked sites, Trusted Publishers, Detected Processes and Parents lists.
- Added Next and Prev buttons to Applications.
- Addressed several minor bugs/defects.

 

Thanks.

 

Well, I hope, this version is better behaving, with Avast freeware,
had some issues, had to remove private firewall, so, has anyone got
both Avast freeware, and private firewall running together?

if so, what configuration setup are you running, or
what setting did you turn off or on in avast, or private firewall,
to make nice.

Last,
I notice this new version can do ip and url filtering,
can it do like a block list ? ( there are websites ) that offer,
block list ( like known malware sites ) and you can get there list,
and block all those IP address..etc..etc.

Thanks