another Windows Firewall Control?

I found the problem. Off course, it is Adobe Flash Player. I used Medium Filtering profile and Medium level of notifications. After I tried to play that video again in Firefox, I received a notification about a blocked connection for:

C:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash\flashplayerplugin_11_5_502_146.exe

After I created a rule to allow it, the video was loading and playing in Firefox 18. If I deleted the rule and refreshed the page, then again, it won't play anymore. All these, with Medium Filtering profile. Yesterday I couldn't verify this because I was in a location with a very stupid proxy which blocks a lot of things and I wasn't able to find this.

This path applies for Windows 8 x64. If you use x86 operating system, then, the location of flashplayerplugin_11_5_502_146.exe is a little bit different.

 

Indeed, it is a small bug. I found it and it is now fixed. The next version will solve this problem. If this is too annoying please use version 3.8.2.1 available for download here: http://binisoft.org/download/3821/wfc.exe This version is compatible with MBAM.

Good news:
The log view is back on track. The next version will include a new view where the user can see recently blocked connections, from which he can create new rules based on the log.

 

Awesome! Looking forward to the update

 

Just began noticing a Windows Update search error (code 8024402F) on my ancient desktop computer (running WinEi8ht) with WFC set to Medium Filtering and Medium Notifications. I changed WFC's configuration to Low Filtering, same thing happend, changed it to No Filtering, and the update search error was gone. Any suggestions on which rule I chould modify (or search for)? A "WFC - Windows Update" rule is listed and it has the following key configurations:

Program: C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe
Service: Windows Update
Profiles: Domain, Private, Public
Protocol: TCP
Local Ports: All Ports
Remote ports: All Ports
Remote address: Any
Direction: Outbound

 

Have you updated to Version 3.8.2.2 because of

Please note when upgrading

 

Yes, I followed those instructions when updating to v3.8.2.2 on the desktop.

 

Sorry to hear this, but as you can understand, if there was a problem with one of the "standard" rules conflicting with Windows Update a lot of people (including myself) would be complaining.

What has changed on this machine ?
Maybe you created a rule accidentally ?
What if you remove again all WFC - ?? rules and reinstall ?
What if you change the WFC Notification Level to High, does it generate a Notification while checking for updates ?
Have you tried to open the Windows Update webpage on your PC ?
Link: -http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx-

Have you added the windows update sites to your Trusted sites ??

 

On Low Filtering profile, outbound connections that are not blocked by a rule, are allowed. If Windows Update doesn't work in Low Filtering profile either, it may be possible that you have deleted/added some wrong rules for svchost.exe ?

1. Try to reset to the default policy and see if the problem persists.
2. Switch to High notification level to receive notifications for svchost.exe to see if Windows Update is blocked. The default recommended rule for Windows Update is the only one rule that you need to be enabled.
3. Check your network connection. In my case, sometimes, my router hangs and I need to reset it. The network seems to operate normally, but my PPoE connection is lost.

 

@MrElectrifyer

Try disabling the Akamai rule and see if it works.

 

Version 3.9.0.0 available (09.02.2013)

What's new:
- New: Recently Blocked view in which the user can see the recently outgoing connections that were blocked and from which he can create new rules based on the log. Finally.
- New: Added support for Global Hotkeys for opening Control Panel and Manage Rules windows. Use the advanced tab that can be found in Options tab to change the global hotkeys or to disable them.
- New: "Create new rules from..." window was simplified and integrated in the new Manage Rules view.
- Fixed: Fixed incompatibility with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Notifications for a program appear even if a rule to allow that program exists if the user uses MBAM.
- Fixed: Validation rules for ports and remote addresses were changed to avoid situations when the user can input invalid parameters. E.g: 192.168.0.1-5.5.5.5
- Fixed: The buttons which clears the textboxes in the notification dialog are missing.
- Improved: The password used for locking/unlocking the program is displayed in plain text while the user types it and switches to **** when the user stops typing. This is useful for the user to see his input.

Other Notes
- While loading data in the new Recently Blocked view, the memory usage of the service will increase a lot because a lot of data processing is done in the background to filter the data in a format that can be displayed to the user. The memory will go back down to normal after a minute. The high memory usage is normal when processing and loading data because hundreds of thousands of objects are created and filtered.
- There were some minor modifications to the translation file format, so the current translation files don't fit yet with this version, but they will be updated in a few days. Only the English and Romanian files are up to date.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 7df99cec25ccb61bd93f194b7deed5cc

Your feedback is welcome. Looking forward for your impressions about the new features.

Alexandru

And some screenshots:

 

3.9.0.0 allows me to open Manage Rules successfully .

If only everything would be easy.

So I uninstall 3.9.0.0.
Install 3.8.2.2.

And the icon comes up ! saying, "Can't connect to Windows Firewall Control Service".

So uninstall 3.8.2.2.
Install 3.8.2.2.

And the icon comes up ! saying, "Can't connect to Windows Firewall Control Service"?

So uninstall 3.8.2.2.
Install 3.9.0.0.

And now that also says, "Can't connect to Windows Firewall Control Service"?

Go figure?
(That will teach me to mess around with things!)


I'll just note open apps:

Process Hacker
Process Explorer
Servant Salamander
SeaMonkey
HTTPNetworkSniffer
CMD
win32pad
DiskSmartView
Computer Management-> Disk Management
Ditto
Everything
7+ Taskbar Tweaker

 

Try these steps:

1. Uninstall any installed version.
2. Make sure that there is no file left in the installation folder.
3. Restart your computer to reload all Windows services.
4. Install version 3.9.0.0 from scratch.

Now, it should work.

P.S.: For some unknown reason, it seems that on your system the service uninstallation doesn't work as it should. Please let me know if this was helpful.

 

Pretty sure that is what I've been doing in the interim, but let me go through it again.

Additionally, ran SFC /SCANNOW, finding nothing wrong.
Ran Autoruns & the only thing of note was that "VGPU", System32\drivers\rdvgkmd.sys was not found.
Don't know if that matters or if it is a new situation or what?

Now "rdvgmd.sys" is found elsewhere (& being that "Windows" is nothing but "links"...):

E:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\rdvgwddm.inf_amd64_neutral_dd691eae66f3032d\rdvgkmd.sys
E:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_rdvgwddm.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7601.17514_none_cd55b5e46cdceae1\rdvgkmd.sys

(Though those two particular files are not links, are not linked elsewhere.)

1. uninstalled
2. empty.
3. momentarily
4. when i'm back up.

 

3. done.
4. 3.9.0.0 installed, service running, working*

> Now, it should work.

*Well except that now Manage Rules is crashing on me again?

(The other day I had tried Windows Safe Mode, but of course because of Safe Mode, so WFC isn't running... I do have a new computer together, Windows installed on C:, & WFC, Manage Rules, did work properly there. I also put in another instance of Windows, into E:, like I currently run. I'll see if WFC, Manage Rules, works like on that build, but I won't be able to check until Monday.)

Code:

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	CLR20r3
  Problem Signature 01:	wfc.exe
  Problem Signature 02:	3.9.0.0
  Problem Signature 03:	51163bf6
  Problem Signature 04:	System.Drawing
  Problem Signature 05:	4.0.0.0
  Problem Signature 06:	5073c7ec
  Problem Signature 07:	445
  Problem Signature 08:	97
  Problem Signature 09:	System.Windows.Markup.XamlParse
  OS Version:	6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1033
  Additional Information 1:	30ee
  Additional Information 2:	30ee019537cf826909669cbb796d5ad1
  Additional Information 3:	7ea0
  Additional Information 4:	7ea0585887f0b670599533a79225adaa

https://www.google.com/search?q=Sys...a:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs

Oh, & the only system change I recall, since last months MS updates, is the update to Flash, which I installed this morning.

 

Great job again, Alex, thank you

Running fine, so far no problems.

 

Any of this matter, or does that only deal with things on your end?

Code:

0005F5F8   004613F8      0   C:\Windows Firewall Control 3.9.0.0\Server\obj\x86\Release\wfcs.pdb
0007F480   00481280      0   C:\Windows Firewall Control 3.9.0.0\Client\bin\Release\wfc.pdb
0005BCCC   0045DACC      0   C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe
0005C3D7   0045E1D7      0   C:\Windows\System32\FirewallControlPanel.dll
0005C431   0045E231      0   C:\Windows\System32\WF.msc
0005C467   0045E267      0   C:\Windows\System32\
0005C4A1   0045E2A1      0   C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FirewallControlPanel.dll
0005C4FB   0045E2FB      0   C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WF.msc
0005C531   0045E331      0   C:\Windows\SysWOW64\
0005DD6C   0045FB6C      0   win32_logicaldisk.deviceid="C:"
000761F2   00477FF2      0   C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe
00076E22   00478C22      0   c:\windows
00076E38   00478C38      0   c:\windows\system32
0007BD33   0047DB33      0   C:\Program Files
0007D0DE   0047EEDE      0   c:\program files\windows firewall control\wfc.exe

 

The new global hotkey (Ctrl+Shift+M) conflicts with Firefox "Responsive Design View" preoccupied keyboard shortcut.

I know that it can be changed, but since Firefox is a quite popular/common program, this out-of-the-box default setting may confuse some folks when their "Responsive Design View" shortcut stop working as expected and opens WFC instead. Maybe no big deal, but I Just wanted to let you know anyway.

 

Please go to Event Viewer. Under Applications and Services Logs there is a subcategory named WFC. There are logged all errors from WFC. Please see if there are any entries with the code number 194. This is the error that is logged if the program encounters a problem when loading the Manage Rules window. If there is such an error logged, please post here the content of the message that was logged.

I didn't know that. Maybe Alt+F4 will work better ? Just kidding. I will change this in the next version. Maybe, Ctrl+Alt+M ? Is this free ?

 

Haha

Well, in my opinion global hotkeys should not be enabled by default, let the user enable and set them, this way if a conflict arises; chances that he will know what's going on are better.

But at any rate, I think it's safe to assume that Ctrl+Shift+` is not widely used, so it can be used.

EDIT: Corrections, my English sucks.

 

I just installed the new version, but I can't find (in Manage Rules) the option to turn off the icons. (Used to be next to "Name")

Did you move this ?

Noticed a small bug on my system

After switching back to the manage rules window from here.


I get this in the manage rules window and I am not able to scroll through the manage rules window anymore


Pressing the refresh list button or closing the rules window and reopening makes it go away

Edit: // Also just noticed in the "About" screen the copyright year is still 2012

 

From this version, the icons can't be hidden anymore. It was removed. I had a lot of trouble with that column because it wasn't a standard one. Also, I think the icons helps to identify more quickly the programs.

I saw the small bug with the refresh message yesterday. It is now fixed. See my next post.

The year was updated also.

 

Version 3.9.0.1 available. Quick fix.

What's fixed:
- Fixed: The F5 message doesn't display/hide like it should in Manage Rules window.
- Fixed: The program crashes on exit if the user has not set any global hokey.
- Fixed: Removed some unneeded dependencies.
- Updated: By default, at installation the global hotkeys are not set anymore. The user has to set them manually.

Other Notes
- Updated language files: English, Romanian, Dutch, Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian.
- To be updated: German, French, Chinese.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 549db86abceed9c5fba4fa014cfe3caa

Thank you for your support and your feedback.
Alexandru

 

@alexandrud

Everything solved
Double up

Why don't you make it an option within Control Panel, that would make it for you way easier

 

No such luck.
A bunch of 200's, mainly from yesterday.
And an odd 146 here & there.

 

Hello,

Way to go

---------------

Few more minor issues:

1. The Manage Rules window size and position reset after every update (I'm not sure about columns and other elements since I keep those at default for now), and since updates are somewhat frequent, this can become bothersome.

2. When an update is available and you allow it to download, you're instantly told something along the lines of 'update is complete and saved to desktop', even though it's not, and it's still being downloaded. This probably won't be as apparent on a speedy broadband connection (since WFC binary is ~500kb only), but I noticed it because I happened to update while on a slow GPRS connection this time.

Kind regards.