another Windows Firewall Control?

On the other hand it is very easy to manually set the IP ranges.
I have set up the "block Akamai" rule with these IP ranges:

92.122.212.0-92.122.219.255,
92.123.96.0-92.123.111.255,
95.100.0.0-95.100.15.255,
23.0.0.0-23.15.255.255,
23.32.0.0-23.61.255.255,
23.63.0.0-23.67.255.255

No more interference with Windows Update so far.

 

What is the reason behind adding these Akamai Blocklists ?

 

Thank you, Broadway

 

You can read below a forum post regarding this topic. No one knows why svchost.exe needs to connect to different locations on the Internet and what data is sent from your computer to Microsoft. The idea is that it shouldn't connect while the user didn't requested these connections:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=292995

 

see my #1401 post on this thread for at least one of the reasons why svchost connects to akamai

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2168127&postcount=1401

I personally don't mind it so I did create an exception

 

Version 3.8.2.2 available.

What's new:
- Updated: The notification dialog was updated to not steal the focus. It will be still displayed on top of other windows, but if you use a text editor or other program you will not be interrupted anymore.
- New: The columns visibility in Manage Rules can now be set from the a context menu placed on the columns header.
- New: The order and the visibility of the columns in Manage Rules window will be saved on window closing and automatically restored on window loading.
- Improved: Removed some obsolete checks from the notifications system to improve the speed of the notifications.
- Fixed: The Akamai rule was updated to avoid conflicts with Windows Update.
- Removed: The full access for all users in the installation folder was removed.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 2ae1ac9f0be4342ab699b496484f075b

Your feedback is welcome. Thank you for your support.

Alexandru

 

if I/we update to the new version of the program (without uninstalling/reinstalling) will the permission on the installation directory be removed as well? or will that be done only on a fresh install

 

Only on a clean install.
1. Delete manually any exiting "WFC - xxx" rules.
2. Uninstall WFC and choose to keep current settings.
3. Install the new version.

In this way, everything will be updated.

 

May I suggest few things? Pretty small suggestions:

I think the Check if a new version is available needs to be exposed a little bit more.



And the no-new-version message need to be shortened.



One of the following alone will suffice:

- Windows Firewall Control is up to date.
- You are using the latest version.
- No new version is available at this time.

Good luck.

 

I'm not using any anitvirus. Yes an allow all for System even notifies me with a notification. I applied a block all and so far no notification yet, but it was random to begin with. This only occurs on my Win8 laptop, on my Win7 desktop I don't see the same behavior. On another note I notice there is no way to create a "System" rule unless you happen to already have another previous entry and your only option is to duplicate and edit a new one.

 

Wow that was quick! I always have the manage rules window open and it's nice to be able to fit only the columns I need visible on my screen.

 

Yes. I will think about these.

Strange, because if you create a rule to allow all connections for System for any protocol for any ports, it would not be blocked. A new notification can't be created if there isn't a connection blocked. I have changed some logic in the notification system in the last version to avoid this situations. Please update to version 3.8.2.2 and see if the problem persists. Regarding the System, you can't create directly a rule for it because is not a file. It is a convention. But, you can create any rule and manually change the Program to System and you will have a rule for System.

 

With the latest version (fresh install on a system that has never had it) if I get a prompt about activation clicking the No button causes the window to just keep coming back over and over and over again until I click Yes and then leave the activation screen.

 

When you click on the No button it instructs the window to close. There is no recursivity or other thing that is involved. Please try this on another machine to see if this problem persists. Unfortunately, I can't reproduce this behavior.

 

I've got an odd one, & wondering if anyone can duplicate.

With WFC set to Medium Filtering, I cannot get this clip http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html to play successfully in Mozilla browsers (SeaMonkey 2.17, Firefox 18.)?

No problems with the browsers, I can load sites, I can play any other clips I have run into, but with ted.com, it fails.

Chrome works. IE9 works.

But not Mozilla?

I've tried my regular Profiles, I've created new, clean Profiles, I've tried (Mozilla) Safe Mode.
I get the player, the player controls, it says "Optimizing video quality", but that's the extent of it. No playback.

Maybe I'm being thick as a brick, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9JEPeeohYs, which does work, but I'm baffled.

Drop WFC to Low Filtering, & then Mozilla starts working as if nothing had been the matter.


Win7 x64
WFC 3.8.2.2
Flash 11.5.502.146

 

Found something.
Or actually I've lost something.

Something like "wfc.exe".

When I installed, originally, & with every update since (AFAIK), WFC has been installed in:

> C:\DEV\FIREWALL\Windows Firewall Control

But that directory is now empty.
Seeing that, but knowing that wfc.exe is still running, I know something is up.
Now I see WFC is installed here:

> E:\Program Files\Windows Firewall Control\wfc.exe

(E: is my system drive though I try not to install anything there.)

Not sure how WFC ended up there? Perhaps I installed it while using a different User account? (Happen to have two different Users open at the moment & not unusual that I would have two open simultaneously.)

(Perhaps this is also related to my crashing when attempting to open Rules?)

 

Oh, & the reason I realized any of this is because I thought I'd drop back to 3.8.2.0 & see if the situation with ted.com was the same.

I knew I was at 3.8.2.2 but when I went to install 3.8.2.0, it said, "Windows Firewall Control 3.8.2.0 is already installed.".

It was then I was like, huh?
Immediate thought was some sort of version mismatch between my installed WFC .exe's, but when I went to look, they were not there at all.

And with that I discovered (the 3.8.2.2 version at) E:\Program Files\Windows Firewall Control\wfc.exe.

 

Uninstalled.

On reinstall, even though I specifically changed the instalDir, WFC, said no way jose, & put it into E:

(Rules still crashes, but perhaps it is related. Remember, the last time I checked 3.7.x was still able to successfully open Rules. Only since 3.8.x has it begun crashing.)

Nonetheless, ted.com still will not play when WFC is set to Medium Filtering, so something is obviously (& has been) screwed up.

Suggestions? Areas to manually check (to make sure that they don't exist or for wrong values)?

 

Recently began re-noticing an old bug again; every time MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (v1.70.0.110) blocks a malicious connection attempt by Google Chrome, WFC shows a pop-up notification of Chrome's connection to that malicious IP address being blocked.

BTW, this randomly occurred when browsing through some Mini Display Port (DP) to VGA cables (for my upcoming Surface Pro ) in Google Images.

PS. I have the "Hover Zoom" Chrome extension installed, which loads full size images (withouth navigating away from the current page) as I place my pointer over them; that's why I got the alert randomly.

 

Reg scan for "wfc.exe":
(When I uninstalled above, it said something about "compatibility" ...)

 

I just tried to play this video on Firefox 18 with Medium Filtering and Low Filtering. The video doesn't play no matter what profile I used in WFC. It works in IE9. This has nothing to do with WFC, maybe with the FlashPlayer plugin for NonIE browsers which doesn't load the video from that website.

The Program Files folder is the default recommended path by the installer. Probably you uninstalled an old version and then you installed a new version and you didn't pay attention. This is the only way in which the file wfc.exe could have been copied in that folder.

I will check this. Usually, an old version can't be installed on a newer one.

From the screenshot it seems that you didn't change the installation folder.
Regarding the crash when opening Manage Rules window, please try to rest your policy to the default one. This will reset your rules to a default working state. Please check if this helps.

 

What rule have you defined for chrome.exe ? It is possible that the connection that is blocked doesn't fit with an existing rule and this is why you see a new notification. I will check this too.

 

> I just tried to play this video on Firefox 18 with Medium Filtering and Low
> Filtering. The video doesn't play no matter what profile I used in WFC.

Strange it plays straight away (in SeaMonkey) when I drop to Low.
I didn't actually test the FF end, though I will try that tonight.

> This has nothing to do with WFC, maybe with the FlashPlayer plugin for
> NonIE browsers which doesn't load the video from that website.

I think I caught an "fpdownload..." (on an XP machine) which would be fpdownload.macromedia.com, so is "Flash" downloading something (or attempting, being blocked by WFC) from Adobe, behind the scenes for this particular sites clips to work?

The (strings) "Macromedia Flash Certificate Authority" & then "Flash Player Asset Cache" were found in two recent files in:

E:\Documents and Settings\therube\Application Data\Adobe\Flash Player\AssetCache\T98RLF7V\

Named like: FFED7ABF745E67D4FA1BBED81ED0DA48E262E5F5.swz

?

In addition to the Flash plugin itself (a .dll in the case of non-IE, & an .ocx for IE), there are other files, .exe, in the Flash instalDir; FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe (which I'm pretty sure I am not using) & FlashUtil32_11_5_502_146_Plugin.exe (says its the installer/setup?).

Virtually all installs of late have been updates. And as I recall each time it did correctly identify my instalDir that I had chosen.

Could have missed it yesterday, or thought I had selected my wanted instalDir, but didn't actually get it? I'll try again this evening, paying full attention.

> Usually, an old version can't be installed on a newer one.

At that point, it didn't (or I stopped, don't recall) the install, but in any case, somewhere, even though 3.8.2.2 was installed, it was still retaining data about 3.8.2.0.

Yes, I had done that before, & yesterday too, when uninstalling, prior to reinstalling 3.8.2.2. I have no problem in doing that.

I'd like to start out once again, fresh. Uninstall. Verify that nothing is left behind, disk or Registry. Where specifically should I be looking to check?

 

Maybe it´s just some issue with Firefox. With first try it didn´t start the video, but when I refreshed the page it started. This with FF 19b4.

 

> I didn't actually test the FF end, though I will try that tonight.

Medium, I get nothing.
Low, it plays.

While it is playing, if I switch from Low to Medium, a short time later playback stops.

> Could have missed it yesterday, or thought I had selected my wanted instalDir,
> but didn't actually get it? I'll try again this evening, paying full attention.

I must have missed the click yesterday when I was installing.
Reinstalling today, it did go into my specified instalDir.