Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

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

  1. AmigaBoy

    AmigaBoy Registered Member

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    Not really sure what you mean and btw, I mentioned 2% not 0,2%.
     
  2. AmigaBoy

    AmigaBoy Registered Member

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    Oh I see. That's strange, because I see no difference on the WFC processes while browsing or doing anything else. Wfc.exe stays at 0% (when minimized, obviously) and wfcs.exe displays the minimal (but continuous) activity mentioned by me and others, when Notifications are enabled.

    Perhaps something else is interfering on your system, you should not be seeing such CPU usage from WFC.
     
  3. Circuit

    Circuit Registered Member

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    Giving WFC a try again. Does anyone know if a VPN (Winscribe) is secure to use with Windows firewall.
    Not using the "proxy feature".
    Still I was getting IPv6 po-up's. after blocking, just keeps repeating the message.
    Did every thing to shut down IPv6
     

    Attached Files:

  4. 71Darrin

    71Darrin Registered Member

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    Hi Alexandrud! Just a stupid question, what is the .wav file you use in WFC and where can I get it? Thanks!
     
  5. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    WFC can't compare properly IPv6 addresses. Try to add svchost.exe in the notifications exceptions list to avoid displaying duplicate notifications.
     
  6. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Back with news about CPU usage when the AirVPN is connected. I just signed up for 3 days (1 euro) to use AirVPN. The CPU usage increases when the VPN gets connected if the Notifications are enabled. When the VPN connects, it generates on my computer between 200-300 connections in Security Log in just 2-3 seconds. For the Notifications system (wfcs.exe), this means that those 200-300 events are parsed line by line (see the screenshot below) to get the values, then WFC compares this data with each of the existing rules to decide if a new notification should be displayed or not. What happens behind the scenes is pretty heavy, so the CPU usage is normal under these circumstances. It takes 10-12% of my I7 too for about 5 seconds when the VPN is connecting. Unfortunately I can't improve this part very much. If you already allowed your programs and the VPN software, then switch of the notifications while using the VPN to avoid this CPU usage. But, from my point of view, this is something that should be considered normal taking into consideration all above.

    upload_2017-9-8_0-6-28.png
     
  7. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Windows Firewall Control v.4.9.9.4

    Change log:
    - Improved: The performance of Connections Log was increased by 47% on multi-core systems by using parallel computing.
    - Fixed: In Windows 10, local/remote IP and local/remote port are switched for inbound connections when they are displayed in Connections Log. The switching should operate only on Windows 7 and Windows 8 since this is already fixed by Microsoft in Windows 10.
    - Fixed: Find duplicates functionality from Rules Panel does not detect some duplicates if the path contains different upper/lower characters.

    Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc4setup.exe
    SHA1: c11230882de9db5b2d48f1419a9f10dc626fc000
    SHA256: 029cce9b65f962b559586939510360af5bc9eb10e6167c55020b97803f7f2309

    Best regards,
    Alexandru
     
  8. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

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    +1 Well done. Thank you!
     
  9. Roberteyewhy

    Roberteyewhy Registered Member

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    +2.

    Thanks,
    Robert
     
  10. nin7qpzm6

    nin7qpzm6 Registered Member

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    First, thanks for this wonderful program.
    I'm trying to install the wfc4setup.exe on Hyper-V Server 2016 and get kind of message: Windows Firewall Control has stopped working.
    MpcSvc service and Dnscache service are run. NET.framework 4.6 is also installed. Windows Firewall Control is compatible with the Windows Server 2016 (from Help, System requirements). But all this without success.

    I managed to run wfcs.exe manually as a service and it works. Even after rebooting the system.

    The wfc.exe does not start and displays kind of message:
    Windows Firewall Control has stopped working
    A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program.

    Is there any trick to running this program on Hyper-V Server? Can we expect support for the Hyper-V Server in the future?
     
  11. Joel Clendineng

    Joel Clendineng Registered Member

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    This is literally the best firewall Ive ever used. Was using bitdefender firewall but this allows for so much more.
     
  12. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Windows Firewall Control is a GUI application that sits in system tray area. It uses Windows Filtering Platform which uses 3D graphics and DirectX for rendering. It works on a Windows Server 2016 machine since this one has a desktop and a system tray area (see below). On this Windows Server version you can add Hyper-V as a role from Server Manager.

    upload_2017-9-11_12-3-22.png

    However, for the free product Hyper-V Server 2016 which has no GUI and which uses command line (PowerShell) as user input, I am afraid that WFC will not work. There is no plan to add support for this operating system since this would require rewriting too much of the current code.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2017
  13. Roberteyewhy

    Roberteyewhy Registered Member

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    Alexandrud, on my laptop, 'Show duplicate rules' scrolls slugglishly--both up and down.

    Win 10 Pro x64 v1703 build 1608.

    Thanks,
    Robert
     
  14. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    I can't improve this. This behavior is related to how the WPF data grid control works (the virtualization does not work when grouping is applied in the default data grid) when grouping is applied to the source items. The improvement should come from Microsoft. There are more powerful data grids (DevExpress, ActiPro, Infragistics) but they cost extra money and by using them, the size of WFC will increase with at least 15 MB. I tried to use in WFC only the default controls that are coming from the .NET Framework, without relying on 3rd party custom controls, even if most of the custom controls are more powerful and better looking.
     
  15. Roberteyewhy

    Roberteyewhy Registered Member

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    Ok.;) Do not use it much anyway.

    Thanks,
    Robert
     
  16. AmigaBoy

    AmigaBoy Registered Member

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    Thank you for the latest update, I am not seeing the above any more, even if with enabled notifications. Possibly due to the Connections Log performance improvement?

    Don't know if possible, but I'd love to see an option to "automatically refresh list" when opening the Connections Log. It seems to require a manual refresh every time it is opened to bring up the list.
     
  17. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    The log entries are retrieved by parsing the Security log event. Searching through the Security event log is a time consuming task which can't be done in real time. For this reason, Windows Firewall Control does not automatically refresh the data grid. This must be done by user manually. On a virtual machine or on an older system, this can take tens of seconds.

    Anyway, I could add a checkbox for this so that anyone interested could use it. But, the loading can take time.
     
  18. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    The Windows 10 Store has started popping up a box saying no internet. I have the store allowed as you posted pages back. It did not do this until recently. I am guessing that it wants the access used by windows updates. I keep that disabled until I want to update. If I have missed the post saying it needed the windows update rule on top of it's own, my apology. I am just posting to find out if anyone else has this issue or how to fix it without enabling the windows updates every time I open the store.

    EDIT. The store works but some apps will not download with the windows updates rule disabled. Some will download with it disabled.

    Also I have not used the store in a while. I did notice just now that nearly every app says This app has been blocked due to company policy. If I disable filtering in WFC totally, they all show as working. I have checked the outgoing logs and not sure what to allow.

    I would appreciate some help in this if you can. Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2017
  19. AmigaBoy

    AmigaBoy Registered Member

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    Thanks, I was only referring to the initial (first-time) opening of the Connections Log window, not a constant auto-refresh on the background.
     
  20. Mr.X

    Mr.X Registered Member

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    +1
     
  21. Alpengreis

    Alpengreis Registered Member

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    I am for both ;-) which means:

    An option like:

    [ ] Display connections list initially (after open)
    [ ] Refresh connections list after _______ seconds.

    Alpengreis
    Maintainer of WFC DE-Translation file
     
  22. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    I tried WFC again but WAY too many silently blocked programs for my liking. I can't be bothered checking blocked connections when I received no notifications. If WFC is going to block ANY program notify me - simple!

    Examples:
    • Tweaking.com Windows repairs
    • Enpass Password Manager
    • REVO Uninstaller Pro
    • Macrium Reflect free version
    ... Pass.
     
  23. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    OK, I may be mistaken about Macrium Reflect but yes, of course I have enabled Notifications. Perhaps it was some other software.

    I have paid for and activated the Premium version and it was working for most programs while I was 'training' it, but it then stopped notifying me for what ever reason.
     
  24. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    No, I never made any block rules and the notifications never timed out. I was opening programs and allowing them from the prompt until for what ever reason I was no longer notified. I checked recent blocked connections and found the programs had been silently blocked.

    I may revisit this at some point but for now I'll live without WFC.

    Thanks.
     
  25. alexandrud

    alexandrud Developer

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    Indeed, to browse Windows Store you need to allow winstore.app.exe but if you want to download apps or games then svchost.exe needs access. I guess it has something to do with how the files are retrieved from their network, Windows Update and Windows Store probably use a similar mechanism.
    WFC is not allowing or blocking anything. This is done by Windows Firewall itself based on the firewall rules that you have defined. If you do not receive notifications then something has occurred:
    1. You have created an allow or block generic rule which will prevent WFC displaying new notifications since this kind of rules will match the blocked connections.
    2. You disabled the logging in Windows Firewall.
    3. You installed a new security software that doesn't play well with Windows Firewall.

    What you have tried to debug this ? Do you see the blocked connections in Connections Log but do not see the notifications ? Did you check the Troubleshooting part of the user manual ? Have you tried to backup your rules and start with a fresh set of rules to see if this helps with this problem ? Did you check the WFC log to see if there is an error logged ?
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2017
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