Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

Ok, thanks for info. One question: where did you made the click to view the DETAILS exactly (I'm not really sure about that)? If possible you could make a little picture ...

 

This change requires a more complex update since that dialog currently supports only two buttons. I will do it in the future.

Secure Rules feature from the Security tab. Open the user manual and read about how it works.

 

On the 'Windows Defender Security Center', there is a tab for "Firewall & network protection", you can click on the left side or, if on the "home" tab, click on the big button that also links to that tab.

 

If you've only ever used a wired connection to the router then the fact that it's wifi-capable should be irrelevant. And the router connection to the outside world via cable modem is what I use too, also I think irrelevant - certainly as far as DNS requests leaving your PC are concerned. If the different firmware in the router (compared to your old router) is intercepting DNS and doing its own lookups (or if the old one did that) I can't see how that would affect DNS lookup requests leaving your machine.

Do you see eventlog records describing DNS requests being dropped?

 

Windows Firewall Control v.5.0.1.19

Change log:
- Reverted: Due to many requests, the required .NET Framework version is now back 4.5 instead of 4.6.
- New: Pressing right click on the program name in the notification dialog will open the file properties dialog. 'Check this file' was moved to the left click on the program icon.
- Fixed: Creating a new rule fails if the name or description contain invalid characters. WFC will automatically remove invalid characters, allowing the creation of the rule.
- Fixed: Randomly, the program appears inactivated even if it was activated before restarting the operating system.
- Fixed: Leaving Connections Log window open for several hours with 'Auto receive updates' enabled may lead wfc.exe to consume several GB of memory. From this version, older entries will be replaced with new entries. If there are 30 new entries received, 30 oldest entries will be first removed, and then the new entries will be added on top of the list.
- Fixed: In Rules Panel and Connections Log, once you make a selection, you can't deselect the last entry if you press outside of a valid selection.
- Improved: The logging was extended with all details of a rule which fails to be created, modified or deleted, to be able to catch all scenarios when these failures may occur.
- Updated: The user manual was updated with new screenshots and updated topics.

Modified translation strings
816 = Open file properties
817 = Copy path to clipboard

Download location: https://binisoft.org/download/wfc5setup.exe
SHA1: a0fa9ea43483bda81a59a3cd9211022d026b126c
SHA256: 96a10c50b43667c8eaf8f4f839f61939e8068ed5c237a8c61235d121b60de5bb

Best regards,
Alexandru

 

Why this? Reverted: Due to many requests, the required .NET Framework version is now back 4.5 instead of 4.6.

 

All right, then it's clear now, thank you.

 

4.6 is always doing something in the background when computer is suppose to be idle I think recompiling files or something like this. Uses a lot of memory.
EXE RaderPro was always popping up a notice about mscorsvw.exe.
4.5 is quiet.
Thanks for making the change!

 

With this action, the file properties window opens in the background, not in focus, and completely hides under the notification window.

In this form it is inconvenient and unfriendly. Maybe you need to make the file properties window open in the center of the screen.

 

Just a rule question: shouldn't the already present WFC rule (bottom of screenshot) include the pop-up rules (top four rules) I'm getting for spoolsv.exe?

 

I'm just curious, what are your settings and should I change anything to mine?
Screen capture here and here

 

What calls IGMP. Do you allow IGMP traffic. Block doesn't seem to break anything, afaik.

 

@alexandrud
I have been finding that from time to time, my "Notifications" becomes deactivated and I have to re-activate by signing in again. I have only recently realised that this happens when I restart my PC after using Shadow Defender. I have tried exiting WFC before entering into Shadow Mode but activation is still disabled when I restart WFC. I normally have Notifications set to "Display notifications" and am currently on 5.0.0.2.

This seems to be a bug that I would be very grateful if you could kindly address.

 

If you don't like Windows performing optimization tasks you can disable them yourself, seems strange to go back to an older version just to cater to some low spec users (weak CPU/Old HD) if this be the case... because disregarding all the benefits of the newer .NET Framework versions is just backwards. Lets go back to 3.X!

 

Curious, I'm experiencing the same (although not using SD or the like) v5.0.1.19.
Happens occasionally on boot-up.
Realized this on my old box & my new replacement puter. Both running Win 7 Pro.

 

Got the DNS working behind the wifi router again. I don't understand why it wasn't working before. Now svchost only has port 53 for DNS until I want to enable it for windows updates.

 

The file properties dialog is displayed by calling ShellExecuteEx method from shell32.dll. Unfortunately, this method does not support any parameter regarding position or if the dialog should be displayed on top of other windows. However, if you uncheck the following check box, then the properties dialog will be displayed on top of the notification dialog.

In the next WFC version I will disable the TopMost property of the notification dialog before opening the file properties dialog, so it will be more user friendly.

If you are connected to PUBLIC location, then the last rule will not match the connections for which you see the notification. As a side note, do not use local ports in your custom rules since you can't be sure that a program will use the same local port next time when it will try to make a connection.

I guess WFC was activated before using Shadow Mode. Next time when this happens, please try to restart WFC service and check again the activation status. Please let me know if restarting the service shows the correct activation status. In the latest version I have updated the code. This scenario should not happen again. Please let me know if you encounter the same problem with version 5.0.1.19.

It is not about low specifications here. .NET Framework 4.7 overwrites any previously installed 4.x version, the same applies for .NET Framework 4.6, 4.5 etc. If you have installed .NET Framework 4.7 and there are some performance improvements on the controls/assemblies from the framework that WFC uses, then you will benefit from these improvements. If you use .NET Framework 4.5 you will not benefit from all these improvements, but WFC will work just fine. Since WFC didn't use anything that was new in .NET Framework 4.6, I decided to target back version 4.5. If you use Windows 10 you are not affected at all. Since newer versions of the .NET Framework tend to improve especially UWP and .NET portability on other platforms, things about many Windows 7 users don't really care, many Windows 7 users do not want to install newer versions of .NET Framework.

 

Thanks for the prompt response. I don't go into Shadow mode that often so it may be a while before I report back but next time I will try restarting the service as you suggested. Thanks for updating the code - I look forward to v 5.0.1.9.

 

OK, its right.

Now the notification window works on TopMost, but not in focus (grey). I think it should take focus on itself (blue), as in similar products, for example, Outpost.
Ad
Is it possible to add the option to save the user-defined window size of the notification dialog, when the computer is restarted?

 

I do not use Outpost and I do not know what you mean by grey or blue. Please post a screenshot. Regargind the size and the position of the notification dialog, it is always saved when the window closes. Next time when it opens, it uses the previous settings. It doesn't work this way on your computer?

 

I just install the new version of WFC (I was on 5.0.0.2) and there is a new location appearing in the top of the main window VPN !
Before that I was using Public for VPN and Private for Home.

All my rules seems now deprecated and I can't create rule for a VPN connection... Each time I get notifications to create new rules..

How to create a rule and specify VPN location ? I just have private + public + domain...

Thanks a lot

 

This works, but the custom size of the notification window is not saved when the computer restarts.
The browser is in focus, the notification window is TopMost, but not in focus (the window title is gray). Now it works like this

It seems to me, that the notification window should immediately become TopMost and take focus on yourself (the window title is blue, green, etc.).

 

That label VPN is something that WFC displays if you are connected to a VPN. You can't define VPN as Location for a firewall rule, only Public,Private,Domain or All. That label was there in version 5.0.0.2 too. If you are notified to create a new rule, maybe when you connect now you are not on the Public location anymore ? Anyway, please post here a screenshot of:
1. The duplicate notification that you receive, to see the details of the blocked connection.
2. The existing rule that you have defined in Rules Panel, please include all columns to see all details.
3. The location of Windows Firewall as it appears in Control Panel.
Thank you.

Now I understand. I made it this way on purpose because I hate any program that steals my focus when I am writing something in another software. The notification dialog appears on top of other windows so that a user will become aware of it and that's all. He will perform an action or will just leave the dialog to close itself automatically. Stealing focus while you are writing something important is more annoying than losing a notification about svchost.exe

 

For the UWP applications that often change the pathname, how should rules be made effective?
Such as: C: \ Program Files \ WindowsApps \ microsoft.skypeapp_12.9.604.0_x64__xxxxxxxxxxx \ SkypeHost.exe
Of these 12.9.604.0 will often change

 

How does WFC determine if you're running through a VPN? It cannot simply be determined by a TAP, because I'm running Mullvad right now and it's not seen as a VPN according to WFC.