I would pay 10$ for WFC, is cheap and much "better" considering your requirements (except it uses Win filtering platform) than any free solution https://msdn.microsoft.com/es-es/library/windows/desktop/aa366510(v=vs.85).aspx
Yes it's pretty good, but it's not easy to configure at all. So that's why it's best to either use a Win Firewall control tool, or to stick with third party firewalls, who are sometimes a bit more robust, and less easy to bypass.
TW = V. nice BUT for even better security, make a system disk image every week, & retain each such image for at least 6 weeks.
O.K. I make a disk image every day, just about. I did have one problem when turning on one of the external drives that I use for backup. No USB sound and could not access the drive. Tried to reboot and nothing there too. Had to just turn off the computer and then turn it on again. Then I got the USB sound and could do the backup. Yes, my fingers are crossed edit: after considering your post, maybe I should just give up looking and use the Windows firewall.
Why not just Windows Firewall and learn how to use it then tighten it by creating custom rules...? All we need is shipped with the OS.
Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings , then you can start creating or disabling rules.
Windows Firewall does suffer from some disadvantages. It can't innately distinguish dynamic forking (hollowed processes), it doesn't have a self-protection mode, and a malware running a script like "netsh Advfirewall add allowedprogram- (Whatever)"- can essentially create a rule for itself.
Not the purpose of a firewall. To tamper it, one malware should be able to pass several Windows protections measures (not impossible of course), and obviously the user had to allow the malware on his system in the first place. AFAIK, suspicious rules aren't become invisible, if you are used to your WinFW rules, you can pinpoint them quite easily. My point is on a properly set and monitored system with a careful user, WinFW is good enough; but if not... even the most powerful security soft will be useless.
Actually detecting dynamic forking is an essential component of Firewalls. Apps like WFC and Tinywall have no issue with it. And yes, you can certainly see a malware-created rule- but does this mean that the user must inspect the list of rules daily to verify? Windows Firewall does have a place (I guess), but there are easier and more elegant solutions available.
Stupidest advice from today I have read. I read a lot of them from you lately. With just vanilla Windows Firewall, you can only block what you know and even that I am not so sure how persistent it will be. Default deny, not that way!
noobiest reply ever... You clearly shows you never even tried custom settings and customization...As several times already, you oppose others without giving substances... go troll someone else, im not interested. AFAIK, aren't WFC being just a WinFW GUI? To me a Firewall is just something monitoring outbound/inbound connections; i don't need the extra-stuff ; now if we talk about IDS/IPS and other traffic analyzing it is an other topic. if a user is using a bandwidth monitoring tool, and he see weird traffic and connections, then at least he should check. it is what i do. in my case, WinFW's Policies are reset, all profiles are set to block inbound/outbound connections, then i disable what is unneeded...So no softs/processes should go out unless i made a specific rule for it, not even Windows Updates. Since Process Hollowing will never happen on my system; i don't see (yet) how something suspicious can even go out if it can't even take root on my system...and even if i feel something is wrong, i Rollback RX to a clean state with a reboot. Sure i don't deny the fact but you know me enough that i like challenges
Agree with guest. A firewall job is to filter traffic, nothing more, software that has extra features that is marketed as a firewall is basically adding bloat. Basically if malware has privileges to add firewall rules for itself then you have already lost the battle. WFC works well with its secure rules feature tho so it would remove those rules afterwards, however that functionality is above what a firewall should do. Oh and yeah I started this thread, I if you havent guessed did happily settle with WFC
What guest was telling, he is making a windows firewall 2 way without any help from a controller. That is the stupidest thing anyone can do! And even more stupid to recommend it to others. It is NOT the way to go! Sure one can make all necessary, like copy from the TW rules etc. or elsewhere, but what paranoia it will cause to any security minding person? I guess next thing he comes to reply is with having some sort of front end GUI. Should be quite easy to program. But trying to reinvent the wheel is not what I recommend. It takes MUCH more than that to make a true controller like TinyWall or like I think WFC too is.
Chrcol- Actually as you are using WFC and not WF you agree with me! With something like WFC if you run across a Pony or a python keylogger you will be alerted before your data is transmitted out without the user needing to add anything in the way of rules. With WF you would be pretty much lost.
Not so hard to do...Why would you need a controller when you set WinFW to block all outbound connection? when a soft/process needing outbound connection (and is blocked by default), i just create a rule to let it go out...simple as that... (check the screenshot) It took me 1-2 hours at most to reset, block and reconstruct rules to fit my needs; then every new rules take 1-2mn to implement. It is not because you can't handle WinFW alone , that others can't... is it so hard to go in WinFW and customize rules...if it is for you , so you will never understand my point of view. If the user do it without knowing/trying to learn what he does (for example copy the rules of someone else) , you are right, it is stupid. but in my case, it is not. Do you need to rely all the time on 3rd party softwares when you can do the same yourself? I don't think so...i prefer get some skills and knowledge by learning what is already offered than be an assisted...just my opinion. Who cares about a true controller if it is not even implemented at kernel level, add processes that consume resources for nothing, add potential surface attacks vectors, will surely need updates to fix various bugs & issues, etc...Are you kidding me?! I rather ask MS to give me an alert option for every outbound processes (legit or not) rather than those controllers you are so found of... About WFC, AFAIK (i used it for a while before) is just a GUI for WinFW with added customized rules oriented towards security, it doesn't have special features a true 3rd party FW like Symantec EP or at a lesser extent Comodo FW have. And honestly if you want a true firewall , go buy an hardware one. Anyway if you have a malware already on your system you are done to me, so this debate is pointless. In a home environment a 3rd party firewall isn't needed; the only thing that matters is that if you can block threats to get in your system, you don't have to worry about outbound suspicious connections. What the controllers allows you to do? manually block a unwanted/suspicious outbund connection (like a keylogger or RAT), right? But the true question is "how the malware get in your system at the first place?" , if it is in your system, it could disable any programs you have, so what the point of a 3rd party controller? I played with some RAT, they usually add visible rules in WinFW, i just had to disable the rule.
here is a little course on setting rules in WF http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/128791.aspx and then these are the rules I also set in WF. Stop Windows 10 spying on you using just Windows Firewall. http://winaero.com/blog/stop-windows-10-spying-on-you-using-just-windows-firewall/ just download and run the batch file. check your WF and you will see the newly added rules. one thing though. it seems new insider builds seems to reset your WF rules back to default. as an extra freebie of info here is how to use win 10 godmodes. http://betanews.com/2015/08/03/how-to-activate-windows-10s-secret-god-modes/ just helps find your way around.
FWIW: "The best free firewall 2016..." http://www.techradar.com/news/softw...-2015-stop-malware-before-it-gets-you-1284587
That tells newbies how to enter into Windows firewall rule settings and how to block known programs. There you can also of course change WF to default deny outgoing connections. One needs some knowledge that not many have. These rules can be used as an example: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/beta-testing-tinywall.309739/page-37#post-2430342 You will have to be logged into the forum to see those rules in the jpg picture. The links I posted in the neighboring posts are dead now. However as I have told, it will be stupid to do so. Windows firewall offers no rule tampering protection on its own. It is the wrong way to go into 2-way firewalling, believe me.