TinyWall Firewall

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by ultim, Oct 12, 2011.

  1. Mr.X

    Mr.X Registered Member

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    Working good on W8.1
     
  2. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Hi Deathmaw,

    Indeed, this sounds like you need to try .13. Please let me know if you still have problems after installing .13.

    Yes, this is a known thing. So called "UWP" apps have their version in their paths, so when you update these apps, the path changes, and you'd need to delete the old rule and create a new one. There will be explicit support for these kinds of apps in a future version of TW to remedy this. Until then, when the path changes, delete the old rules and add the new application version by using the "Whitelist by window" feature. I'll admit I haven't tried whether this feature works with UWP apps (so do let me know if it doesn't), but if it does, it is both easier and much safer than using autolearn.

    This is something different, and many things puzzle me. Why is the path not mapped to a drive letter path? Do you by chance use a volume mounted to a subdirectory instead of having a drive letter assigned? And most importantly, why does the path change every time you launch the app instead of every time it is updated? Or is it updated that often?
     
  3. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Thanks :thumb:
     
  4. gmw

    gmw Registered Member

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    As before: Windows 10 x64 1903

    I just upgraded from beta 12 to beta 13, and this time took very careful note of the user interface before and after. I can definitely confirm that (just like when I upgraded from 11 to 12): the upgrade did not keep user interface settings (window size and layout, "Enable global hotkeys" setting and so on are lost). But it does keep the list of application and special exceptions, which are the most important things.

    ultim, this is no big deal, but you seemed surprised this didn't work when I went from 11 to 12.
     
  5. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    I've installed v.2.99.13 on Win 7 (64-)...at this time no issue.
     
  6. Deathmaw

    Deathmaw Registered Member

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    Is .13 on the previous page? I just see .12 but than notice it says "- Fix occasional high CPU usage" so typo?

    Nope no volume mounted to a directory, nothing like that, I assume Windows is moving and running the exe's from some other location as an Anti-Cheat measure, at least that was what I assumed was the case for Gears 5 and Halo as for Darksiders a singleplayer I've no clue.

    Did a quick google and its at least popped up with another firewall https://forum.eset.com/topic/20935-xbox-pass-firewall-asks-constantly-about-new-rule-by-a-game/ and I had the issue with COMODO as well, every launch it would pop-up that I needed to re-allow.
     
  7. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Yes, I am surprised and I would expect that to work. I'll look into it.

    Hi Ichito! Long time no see. Nice to see you again :)

    Same link. The file behind the download link in the .12 post was updated with .13.

    I would love to test and see if I can do something about this, but atm I have none of these games, so it might take a bit of time. Anyway, duly noted.
     
  8. Deathmaw

    Deathmaw Registered Member

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    They are all part of PC Game Pass if you happen to have that.
     
  9. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    OK thanks. I'm sure you have read about the Avast scandal, that has made me even more paranoid. I'm also quite sure that browsers like Chrome, Edge and Opera are doing some heavy tracking in the background, I don't trust them.

    But anway, I have tried the new TinyWall and you have done a great job, it works just fine. I honestly don't remember why I switched from TW to WFC years ago. But now I've switched back because of a bug in WFC.

    I love the "whitelist by process" feature, this was lacking in WFC. I will write another post with feedback, but this is about minor stuff. But TW is clearly a keeper. And I didn't even have to uninstall WFC or disable the Win Firewall.
     
  10. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Thanks @Mr.X - Been wanting to integrate this firewall onto my own 8.1

    I use a script that make use of 8.1 virtual Wi Fi to tie in wireless handset to it and was waiting until some additional improvements or bugfixes advanced along a little more until I use TW.

    It can be a real pain tieing in the additional adapter settings just right so that all goes smooth.

    Thanks Again. 8.1 here.
     
  11. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Watch out there. If Windows Firewall is not disabled, then TW will create some rules in it to make sure TW can work as expected. Now, you also have WFC running, and I think WFC has a Windows Firewall protection feature similar to TW v2, so that might conflict with TW's rule creation in Windows Firewall. I haven't tried it though. Please remember the general advice: Only enable at most 1 extra firewall in addition to Windows Firewall.
     
  12. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I haven't notice anything weird. I have put WFC in "Low Filtering" mode which means that TinyWall is doing the outbound blocking. Of course I still have "Secure Rules" enabled which means that third party apps can't add any rules.

    But the thing is, I'm guessing that the rules that TW makes are the same ones that WFC has already added and those are still enabled. Also, I still make use of WFC's logging system, where you can see all allowed and blocked connections. But let's say I disable the Win Firewall, I suppose that TW will then take over the job?
     
  13. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Ok, I think I understand your setup. So TW controls the outbound connections, and both TW and WFC control the inbound connections (in which case a connection will be blocked if either TW or WFC blocks it). I'm not sure what the advantage of this setup is, but, whatever. Is the only reason so that you can have the connection logging of WFC? TW also has connection logging, where you can see all allowed and blocked connections. What is the reason you don't like TW's?
     
  14. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes exactly, if it works, it works. So both WFC and TW are blocking incoming connections, and TW blocks the outgoing. WFC had this annoying bug that it couldn't make outbound rules when apps were running under Sandboxie's supervision, so TW solves that.

    The logging system from WFC is a bit more comprehensive, it shows you the last 500 blocked and allowed connections. So they actually make a good combo. What I love about both WFC and TW is the simplicity, they are easy to understand.
     
  15. tcarrbrion

    tcarrbrion Registered Member

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    I am using the new beta version and finding it great. However, I have no need for inbound access. It would be nice if the default rule was "Allow outgoing UDP and TCP traffic". I have changed lots of rules to be this.
     
  16. tcarrbrion

    tcarrbrion Registered Member

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    What would be useful would be an indication of any inbound rules on the list of application exceptions.
     
  17. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Hi tcarrbrion,
    This default is unlikely to change in the future. A lot of thought went into the current default, and in fact the default has already changed (I think 2x) in the history of TinyWall. I can offer you a quick tip though in case you didn't know it, you can click on the popup of a newly added exception to quickly get to its settings dialog. This helps you change the default options very fast in comparison to having to load the Settings window every time.

    Noted, and will be implemented when a GUI overhaul is on the table.
     
  18. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    I don't know what happened, but I'm getting a lot of requests about Windows Store app support for TinyWall in the past 3 weeks. The strange thing is, there was no gradual ramp-up in these requests, they just started rolling in suddenly like crazy. This might have to do with the support-end of Win7 (more people migrating to Win10), but this is just a guess. This makes me boost the priority of Windows Store support in TinyWall, and now I'm seriously considering implementing that before v3, and making it part of the new major version. I'll be travelling again Wed-Fri, giving me ample time to think and research this more.
     
  19. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Do you have any ideas about how the GUI will look? I must say that the current one is already quite good, but a bit more pretty would be nice, perhaps like NetLimiter.

    https://www.netlimiter.com/products/nl4

    I don't get it, do you need to rebuild the app to make it compatible with the Win Store?
     
  20. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    No. This is not about whether TinyWall itself runs as a UWP app. It is about handling UWP apps differently during whitelisting.
     
  21. tcarrbrion

    tcarrbrion Registered Member

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    The problem with UWP apps is that the install into a different data directory each new version so it is hard to whitelist them. Windows Defender has the same problem. The current version is installed in:

    C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Platform\4.18.2001.7-0

    but the number changes about one a month at an unpredictable time. As Windows defender relies on internet access to function properly this is not good. As wildcards are not supported an automatic way of adding a new rule is required.
     
  22. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    OK I see, I completely misunderstood. Didn't even know you could control UWP apps. I'm not really into them, but as I switch to Win 10 I will probably make use of some, like Instagram to get access to direct messaging.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/instagram/9nblggh5l9xt?
     
  23. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Another problem with UWP apps is that you have to distribute your software through Windows Store. If TinyWall uses a Windows service, then you can't distribute the Windows service through Windows Store.
     
  24. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Only if TW wanted itself to be a UWP app. That is not what we're talking about.
     
  25. ultim

    ultim Developer

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    Okay, so here's a bit of a status update. The previous beta seems to work really well and so it could have been the final release. But as I said earlier, I was seriously contemplating adding just one more major feature to TW v3, specifically, explicit support for UWP apps. Now, due to the time elapsed, you have probably guessed already that's what I've been working on. I've got all the technical bits figured out, the feature implemented in the firewall engine, the rule configuration dialog, special handling of UWP app windows, and the process dialog. I've still got work to do on the connection dialog, then I need to spin up some VMs and test on multiple OSs. With some luck I'll have something to show this weekend.
     
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