another Windows Firewall Control?

Now it's doing it even when I'm on the actual laptop and click the WFC icon in the system tray. Sorry, have to delete and use something else until this gets fixed...

 

Link: -http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755604%28v=ws.10%29.aspx-

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules]

Did you use the updater or did you try a fresh install ? For some reason, it seems that on some computers the updater fails to update properly an old installation. In the future, instead of using the updater, please uninstall the previous version manually and choose to keep the current settings. Install the new version and uncheck that checkbox that creates the recommended optional rules. In this way, you will update manually, without any changes to your rules. The fastest way to launch the uninstaller is to Run the following command: wfc -uninstall

 

This was a fresh install and did NOT use the updater. What next?

 

Indeed. There is a problem when using the remote dektop connection because of the FastUserSwitching feature. WFC is singleton and runs only in one instance to avoid the situation when the program could be started multiple times and to avoid to see it in the tray area multiple times. On the log off of a user account, the service (wfcs.exe) sends a callback to the GUI (wfc.exe) to shutdown. This happens to be able to start WFC on the new logged in user account without having to exit manually from the first user account where it was initially started. There was a deadlock of the callbacks code which prevented this to happen, this is why the program got disabled. I have modified that part of the code. Now, when the user logs off, WFC will shut down automatically.

The good: It does not get disabled again.
The bad: You must restart WFC manually on the new logged in user.

I have compiled a new version which fixes this problem. Please, when you have time, download it and try it and let me know if this solves the problem that you reported.

Download URL: http://binisoft.org/download/fix/wfc.exe

I will try to find a workaround for this kind of scenarios.

Looking forward to hear from you.

P.S.: puff-m-d, please try this version too. It should fix your problem too.

Thank you all for your feedback and your support. I really appreciate this.

 

Good news. After hours of deep algorithm thinking , I have found a solution to have the singleton per user session. In this way, the application can start in multiple instances but only in different users account, not multiple times in the same user account. I have to do some more tests, but the troubles with FastUserSwitching are solved. The next version will include this improvement.

Thank you for your support.

 

That is great to hear!

I have been using the above test version for a few hours now and done a fair amount of managing rules with it, so far no problems. It is running good here.

Thanks for the hard work on your end as WFC just keeps getting better!

 

I don't know if this can be remedied in Windows programs (the coding I do is asp.net / C#) but one thing that drives me absolutely bonkers is that I can be reading the firewall popup, with my mouse hovering over the allow icon, and as soon as I go to click allow, another popup for a different program slips in and I actually click on allow for something else.

Is there a way to maintain focus on the current popup when you hover your mouse on it or am I the only one seeing this behavior?

Can you perhaps iterate the number of popups with the first one always being on top, until it's been dismissed, and the 2nd one is on top, until it's been dismissed, etc., etc.?

 

Yeah just came across this situation when setting up my ancient desktop with Windows Ei8ht. Some Windows Serivces kept trying to access the internet (surprisingly Explorer.exe was contacting Microsoft), after reading the pop-up for one of them, another just appeared over it. Can't blame the software though, I picture this as a positive in several situations as it allows me to instantly see the latest blocked attempt to access the internet. To view the other attempts, I can easily move the latest pop-up window out of the way.

@alexandrud
Although, one little problem is that in the case where it displays several blocked connection attempts, the 30 second timer doesn't stop for all of them once you hover over the latest attempt. This results in the earlier pop-ups automatically choosing "Block and remind me later" when that wasn't intended. Mind changing that?

 

Policy import/export bug or normal?

Just attempted copying over all my current firewall rules (528 rules) on a Laptop running Vista Ultimate x64-Bit to my ancient desktop running Ei8ht Pro x32-Bit and only 288 rules appeared in the list of rules after the process. Why is this? Does WFC automatically delete rules with (x86) in them when on a x32-Bit OS?

Also, just been experiencing some problems with Windows Update. With the profile set to "Medium Filtering" and notifications set to "Medium", I keep getting an error ("Windows could not search for new updates" code 80072EFD) when trying to check for updates, but I never get any pop-up notification from WFC. What rules do I need to set in WFC to let Windows Update function correctly? Changing the profile to "Low Filtering" allowed Windows Update to work, but that's not a safe solution.

Ps. Restoring the rules to the system default (330 rules, 16 of which are apparently invalid, according to WFC) and changing the profile and notifications settings to medium again (resetting changed profile to low and notifications to disabled) had no effect. Also, setting the notification level to "High" results in random svchost.exe pop-up requests to connect to the internet (not always after a connection failure in Windows Update).

Manage rules crashing bug:
On this my new x32-Bit Windows Ei8ght installation, scrolling upwards with my mouse wheel appears to be causing the Manage Rules window to close. This doesn't happen on my Vista x64-Bit installation for some odd reason.

--EDIT--

Noticed that ONLY when I rotate my mouse wheel upwards fast (more than ~4 clicks per second), that's when it crashes. But, if I scroll slowly (~1 click per second), it doesn't crash :O

 

The notification dialog is set to show on top of other windows to be sure that you don't miss it. If the notification dialog wouldn't be on top, it could appear under Window Exporer window or any other program and you wouldn't know of it's presence. The thing is that on Window, the latest window will be always on top of the previous top windows. I don't think that this behaviour can be changed. This situation is not a often one. I don't know what could be made in this direction.

The timer is removed if the user moves the mouse over the notification dialog. This applies for each notification dialog. From WFC you can increase that time to 1 minute or 5 minutes or even you can cancel the dismiss timer. The dismissed notification will be there again in 30 seconds if that program still needs to connect. I will try to remove that timer for all the active notifications if the user hovers the mouse inside of one of it.

There are differences between Vista rules and Windows 8 rules. Windows 8 has extra properties attached to a rule and this makes them incompatible. You should import rules from Windows 8 on Windows 8, from Vista to Vista. They are not fully compatible. WFC does nothing with the exported policy. It just uses the Windows Firewall API to import them. If the import is not a success, it is not something from WFC. I just call some methods from the Windows Firewall API. Nothing more. There is no filtering or something similar.

Windows Update uses svchost.exe to connect ot the Internet. The installer creates a rule for it as a recommended rule at installation if you choose to install the recommended rules. The rule name is "WFC - Windows Update". However, on Medium notification level you don't receive notifications for svchost.exe. You must use High level in the notifications tab.
You can manually create a rule for svchost.exe and then set the service Windows Update (wuauserv) manually from the editing window of the rule.

From what you're saying, there is no crash. Every window of WFC can be closed with on mouse middle button click. This happens when you click on the mouse wheel. Please check your mouse settings. It is possible that this middle mouse button gets pressed while scrolling and this closes the window. You can try this on every window of WFC, not just on the Manage Rules window. Please try this and let me know if the same happens.

 

Awesome!! Looking forward to the update

Alright, no big deal, the notifications do just fine in making new rules fast

Alright, uninstalled it, keeping the current rules, reinstalled it with the system rules and everything is working flawlessly again

Lol, that is indeed what was happening Was using an ergonomic Logitech mouse with my Vista computer and a small micrsoft mouse on the desktop; my big index finger kept submersing the middle button of the small mouse while scrolling up, resulting in the manage rules window closing. Will be taking it easy on the small mouse now

 

Version 3.8.0.4 available. Merry Christmas !

What's new:
- Improved: The singleton pattern was changed and the program can be now executed in multiple instances on different user accounts. This resolves the problem with the Fast User Switching and Remote Desktop Connection.
- Improved: The size of the program was reduced (20%) and the internal encryption algorithm was also changed to improve the execution speed of the program.
- Improved: The search algorithm of executable files was improved to increase the searching speed of executable files in a folder.
- Fixed: A notification dialog will close automatically if it is displayed under another notification dialog and the timer goes to 0. From now on, if the user hovers the mouse on a notification dialog, the time out will be removed for all the active notifications.
- Fixed: Some binding problems and a few possible NullReferenceException were fixed to increase the execution speed of the program.

Installation Notes
If you use the updater, please run the new exe file with administrative privileges when you execute it for the first time. Otherwise, due to a bug in the previous version, it will look like it started normally in the system tray, but, the service is not updated. If you plan a clean install, ignore this. Thank you for your understanding.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: d890d301498e4038700bdcbc16373f7a

Your feedback is welcome.

Celebrate the happiness that friends and family are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living. Happy holidays !
The author

 

Hello,

Very nice update! Ram and CPU usage both went down significantly on my machine. The entire program feels a lot snappier and responds faster when navigating through its different windows and functions. Great work and just in time for Christmas! Thanks for the excellent software!

Happy holidays to all!

 

In fact, my memory usage is down to only 52 meg in task manager and that is during the time I am managing rules. I am seeing it drop down to about 28 meg after a period of idle when the GUI has not been used in a while. I have seen some previous versions run as high as 150 to 200 meg memory range. CPU is almost null (even though before it was also extremely light on CPU).

 

I think I've found out the issue of the bug I have reported earlier. (The Disable the ability of other program to add firewall rules)

I think it is somehow related to the delay in opening for the first time bug.

When I opened an application that automatically add rules when opening it (it uses it's own service, example is Steam and My bluetooth app)

If I didn't open the Windows Firewall Control main window at least once, there is a chance that the rule will not be deleted.



If I did, WFC will remove the rule without any problems.

 

Oh, I forgot another tiny bug. When uninstalling from a Standard User Account, wfc.exe force closes. This does not happen when uninstalling from an Admin account.

 

Sorry for the late response. The holidays.

Indeed. That feature activates only on the first opening of the main window of WFC. This is already fixed and it will be included in the next version. Thank you for reporting this.

About "the delay in opening for the first time bug", there is no bug. The NET cache is not updated after some NET updates and this affects all the NET applications, not only WFC. If the NET cache is not updated, next time when you use a NET application it will rebuild all dependecies used by that program and this adds a delay when starting the program. This is a Microsoft problem, not a bug in WFC.

I can't reproduce this behaviour. The process wfc.exe is killed by taskkill.exe on uninstallation on all user accounts. This happens all the time or it was an isolated case ?

Thank you for your feedback and your support.

 

I think it's just an isolated case. Glad the feature is fixed.

 

I'm seeing delays of between 5-10 seconds for notifications. Any news on a fix? Thx

 

The algorithm is tweaked to provide the best performance. It depends on the number of the active connections. If the number of connection is lower, the responsiveness is fast, if the connections are too many, the responsiveness is slower.

Right now I am working to localize the program. It is 25% finished. From the next version, the program can be translated in any language very easy.

 

ok, thanks. Another question - it appears that the user permissions on the C:\Program Files\ Windows Firewall Control folder allow write permissions for Everyone. This is potentially a big security hole under certain circumstances. Is there a good reason for this? Thanks.

 

Version 3800. When I try to update (through the prog) the answer is: you have the latest version, no update. Normal?
Thanks.

 

I experienced the same when updating from 3.8.0.2 to 3.8.0.4.
I had to update manually then.

No big issue of course...

 

no but psychologically very disturbing....