Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by alexandrud, May 20, 2013.

  1. Special

    Special Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2016
    Posts:
    454
    Location:
    .
    Here comes the bloat.
     
  2. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2005
    Posts:
    3,418
    Location:
    Slovakia
    Indeed, highly unlikely, since Emsisoft gave up on firewall business completely and made it very clear. :D

    We can exclude companies, which have a firewall integrated and also big names, they would not consider WFC as a notable player. I was thinking, maybe Avira? Its "firewall" is a joke.
     
  3. guest

    guest Guest

    Indeed, it is said WFC was bought the 21 march 2018, my last day at Emsisoft was the 16th and i didn't heard anything about adding a firewall control to EAM, so i guess it is some other companies.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 3, 2018
  4. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Posts:
    1,103
    Location:
    Lunar module
    Updates will no longer be.
    Analyze the Сonnection Logs for outbound and inbound connections that have been blocked, and create relevant enabling rules for them.
     
  5. ZeroDay

    ZeroDay Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2011
    Posts:
    716
    Location:
    UK
    I'm thinking Avira too.
     
  6. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2015
    Posts:
    1,920
    Time to think about alternatives to WFC ... ... ...
     
  7. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2007
    Posts:
    11,126
    Location:
    U.S.A. (South)
    Question is where do you begin and is it so necessary for most users.

    Seems it's been quite ok with how far it's came in spite of occasional ins and outs that go along with any software.

    This is been a pretty feature-rich front end with Developer support for however long. And IMHO completely within reason.

    The mystery quiz of the day is, who or what vendor :cool:
     
  8. Cache

    Cache Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2016
    Posts:
    445
    Location:
    Mercia
    Personally I can't see any reason to change, WFC it's fine as it is. It will certainly be interesting to see who bought it though.
     
  9. Special

    Special Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2016
    Posts:
    454
    Location:
    .
    Because eventually, WFC will be integrated in a different security product in the near future... so unless you want a new AV.
     
  10. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2015
    Posts:
    1,920
    Yep, that's why I'm interested in alternatives to WFC. Personally, I couldn't care less who has acquired Binisoft. All I'm interested in is WFC, and this app has ceased to exist with Binisoft's acquisition.
     
  11. AmigaBoy

    AmigaBoy Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2015
    Posts:
    205
  12. imuade

    imuade Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2016
    Posts:
    751
    Location:
    Italy
  13. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2007
    Posts:
    11,126
    Location:
    U.S.A. (South)
    The point is well taken, however WFC in it's current/even previous versions seem it's still going to be quite an act to follow and/or replace.

    I personally didn't realize how far back this program went until checking early thread timestamps on topic titles.

    It's been educational to follow these discussions over the past many months and especially recent weeks.
     
  14. Kob

    Kob Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 2011
    Posts:
    39
    Does anyone know a reasonable method to backup this WFC thread?
    It contains a substantial body of knowledge that I would not want to lose.
     
  15. Velocet

    Velocet Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2018
    Posts:
    5
    Location:
    Germany
    Sad to hear that WFC will be integrated in another product but great to hear that you will have a job in integrating it. Best wishes for your future.

    Would be great to open source WFC v5.x so that another developer could take over development.
     
  16. Victek

    Victek Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2007
    Posts:
    6,219
    Location:
    USA
    Ceased to exist?
     
  17. JimboW

    JimboW Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Posts:
    280
    Terrible news. Integrated into another security product means a bloated mess more than likely. This is a sad day indeed. I’ve been using this from day dot, it’s one of the first things I put on a fresh install and one of even sometimes only software running real-time in the tray. It has been invaluable to me. Thanks for such a lightweight and quality software and by far the best one of its kind by a big margin. I hope it continues to work for a long time to come because I for one will miss it. First thing I do is delete all Windows firewall rules let WFC add its minimum ruleset (Windows Update, Time service etc.) set to medium filtering then add WFC to right-click context menu for easy creation of rules. Saved me a lot of time. I guess I’ll be back to doing this manually when the time comes. All the best for the future alexandrud and I hope to still see you around and thanks again for the quality software.


    No need to rush for a replacement guys as it still works for now. It’s a front end for the Windows Firewall so you’ll still get updates from Microsoft lol
     
  18. Special

    Special Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2016
    Posts:
    454
    Location:
    .
    It's not going anywhere, even if Alexandrud decides to not frequent here anymore in favor of their new company's own forums, why would this thread get deleted? The binaries though, you might want to backup the latest of those with the hashes, I can see those poofing over night.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2018
  19. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2011
    Posts:
    2,412
    Location:
    Romania
    The current version is available for download and does work with Windows 7 and more recent versions of Windows. It is a front-end for Windows Firewall, not a firewall by itself. So, it does not need security patches or other updates. If I take a look back in time, in the past years, only few minor features were added to WFC, while the most functionality (handling the firewall rules, connections log, notifications, lock mode, etc) is there since the very first years of development. Basically, WFC had the same features over the past 6 years. So, WFC can be still used for another 6 years, unless Microsoft does not remove the support for Windows Firewall API.

    If WFC would have been open source, the donations would have been even less and WFC would have been way beyond of the current state. Big companies, which have revenues from other sources can afford to invest in open source projects. As a single developer you can't continue to support an open source project indefinitely, so it eventually gets abandoned because you can't make a living just by writing code for free. This really takes a lot of time. You have to pay the rent, the bills, you need a vacation from time to time, etc, things which you can't do without financial resources. Also, nobody is interested to acquire an open source project.
     
  20. chrcol

    chrcol Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2006
    Posts:
    982
    Location:
    UK
    Is there any planned expiry of existing users been able to continue to activate the product?

    Not sure what the obsession is with companies wanting one big bloated product instead of separate packages for each specific task. The integration doesnt excite me.
     
  21. chrcol

    chrcol Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2006
    Posts:
    982
    Location:
    UK
    Why tho? there is no technical need for updates for this program to work, it doesnt rely on signatures, and is a front end for the underlying windows firewall.

    The only issue I see is if in future the activation function stops working, then of course the program will no longer be useable on new windows installations.
     
  22. chrcol

    chrcol Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2006
    Posts:
    982
    Location:
    UK
    It may be integrated, but why would that stop you using the existing binaries as standalone?
     
  23. guest

    guest Guest

    Hello

    I was thinking that now that the original project has ended, is it possible to release a free-for-all(all features enabled, read notifications) installer/setup?
    Sort of a parting gift?

    Thank you
     
  24. chrcol

    chrcol Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2006
    Posts:
    982
    Location:
    UK
    Why would the new owner allow that?
     
  25. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2011
    Posts:
    2,412
    Location:
    Romania
    The existing registered users will be able to activate WFC. The website will not disappear. However, in the future, when the new product will be ready, the new owner may decide to offer only that version.
    I can't decide this. Currently, this is an unanswered question.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2018
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.