Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

Please go to Manage Rules and sort your rules by Group name by pressing on the Group column header. Then scroll down and locate the rules that have the Group set to HomeGroup. Enable all these rules and your problem will be solved.

 

Thanks. Found it. They are all marked allow. BUT the homegroup LOCATION = Private.

So looks like a Windows 7 issue (not FW). Anyone knows the solution? The other PCs cannot see the homegroup.

 

Try turning WFC to 'No Filerting' then see if you can connect to your Homegroup. Easier when you eliminate the variables.

Robert

 

Okay, then this point is done for me.

I'll try to find a simple service for it.

That would be a good workaround for me, thank you!

Okay, then this point is done for me.

Yes I know this is probably a very difficult point. For me does not really high priority of this feature. That would be the icing on the cake ;-)

Thanks for the quick reply, alexandrud!

Greetings,
Alpengreis

 

I think WFC is an excellent product but I have a couple of trust issues:

1. I've read about the Comodo problems in getting a digital signature for WFC and I understand it as you got your money back. So why not get a digital signature somewhere else? I know many people that only use signed programs. It seems unfortunate if people won't try WFC because it's not digitally signed. Also it's a trust issue.

2. In a week wfc.exe has gone from 0 to 2 detections on Virus Total. Any thoughts on that?
~Link removed. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=180057~

3. Why is wfc.exe itself making lots of connections, including this one flagged as blacklisted http://www.ipvoid.com/scan/205.234.175.175/ ?

 

You can read URL ...
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2233889&postcount=49

For example, read on site:
https://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-360/WS-Reputation-1-just-say-no/m-p/1003783
Posting from SendOfJive.

- About the TROJ_GEN.F47V1031 ...
For example, read on site:
http://about-threats.trendmicro.com/us/malware/troj_gen
==> Probably both are false positives.

This IP hosted several domains - even those that are NOT blacklisted.
Are you sure that WFC itself initiates these connections (have you logs about this)?

==> Maybe alexandrud says something to the points ...

Greetings
Alpengreis

 

To get a digital certificate you need to prove your fixed address by sending to the certificate issuer some papers, including a telephone or electricity bill that is on your name. Because I am young I live with rent, I don't own a property, so I don't have these contracts on my name. I sent them a copy of my passport and my bank account status (all these papers have my name and address on them), but this was not enough. They need a telephone or an electricity bill that has my name on it, because this is the procedure. So, I am in a position where these companies have these stupid rules and they can't validate my identity. I also said that I can send them an electricity bill that is on my father's name, we have the same address, the same family name, only the last name differs. No, this is not good, they want a bill with my full name on it. So, until I will buy a property I can't buy a digital certificate. Just stupid.

False positives. 2 out of 46. Norton and TrendMicro. Seriously ? I develop WFC since 2010 and I have tens of thousands users over the world. Do you think I create malware and post on a public forum and have a website with a domain registered on my name ? What about respected mirrors like Softpedia or MajorGeeks ? Do you think they host malware ?

Previous versions that were signed with a self signed certificate tried to connect to various internet locations to verify the validity of the certificate. But, this is not actually correct. The operating system generated these connections but they appeared to be from wfc.exe. They were made for checking the certificate. WFC does not connect and should not connect to the Internet. There is only a recommended rule for wfc.exe that allows connections to the hosting server of the website. There is an XML file that contains the current version and this file is used to check if a new version is available. This connection is generated manually at user request when he checks for updates.

WFC does not phone home, does not include ads, toolbars, links, etc. It is a clean software written in C#. That's all. If you think is not trustworthy, then it's up to you. I don't think a digital certificate changes anything. I use a lot of unsigned programs that are very useful and I know a lot of programs that are signed but they are crap.

 

Last I checked, the signing of a software is just to avoid problems with UAC and it costs big to the developer. Personally, that's not a requirement for knowing if the software is trustworthy, 'cause even a desperate criminal can sign their malicious software. The SHA1 hash value of the file does just fine in identifying if the file is from the dev (compare it to the one the dev posted on the site). If I'm suspicious of a software, I look for reviews of it on trusted sites like CNET/Softpedia/MajorGeeks etc. Beyond that, it's just unnecessary paranoia...

Ever heard of false positives? The Anti-Virus software aren't always right, I've had AVG calling my official WinRAR installation malicious, reported it to AVG and it turned out to be a false positive.

Sounds like you downloaded a malicious version, 'cause only connection attempts made by WFC.exe on my PC is for checking for updates and that's only done manually....download software from malicious places, expect malicious results. I blocked WFC.exe, attempted multiple update checks and it always attempted connecting to the remote ip 50.87.146.202.

 

Hope your "trust issues" are no longer a ....

Robert

P.S. Nothing wrong with being paranoid...to a point however!

 

First of all,
I truly apologize for upsetting you all! That was absolutely not my intention! I only wanted a discussion of the questions I had.

After reading what everyone has answered I now have a better understanding of false-positives and the extreme problems one can run into when getting a digital cerfiticate. And also that an unsigned program is not so bad as my sceptical friends may think.

Once again I apologize to you all and especially alexandrud! As I've stated before, you have created an excellent product!

Regarding the strange connections made from wfc, I always do checksums when downloading. WFC is downloaded from binisoft.org. So I doubt I have a malicious version. The only thing I can think of after reading alexandruds answer is that creating these connections may be something built into the .net runtime framework. I have for example EMET4 installed that required to install the Extended .net 4 Framework. Are any of you running EMET4 or have the extended .net 4 framework installed? Most users do not, they only have the .net Framework 4 Client Profile installed.

Here are some of these connections:
http://cdn.imghack.se/images/c720d3b599f2a30645b310dc388d34d5.png

 

Hey, no problem! You've got nothing maligned or so. You were concerned and have asked, that's all!

About the "wfc" connections:

Maybe it's this ...

Or not?

It certainly seems that I have no such connections here.

Greetings,
Alpengreis

 

Yes maybe, I've checked the logs again and they seem to appear only after other programs have been blocked. And always within a few seconds after those blockings. So it sounds very likely! But why am I the only one having this? Any more thoughts on this is much appreciated.

I have the latest release downloaded 2 weeks ago. wfc4setup.exe:
MD5: 850ffc3e99a00ad5c318e6bf6be15c21
SHA1: f07fa0b22d0e9b8b4e3cb92050e12061f4be26b8
Would be nice if someone else could verify!

And to be clear once again, I NEVER implied that WFC would be malicious or something like that. Regarding the VT detections my question was "Any thoughts on that?" So I'm sorry if I got misunderstood. I never should have used the phrase "trust issues" to begin with. It was unfortunate. My bad! Thank you all for your feedback!

 

The SHA1 checksum is correct - of course, you need to have this result on YOUR side (downloaded file on your computer). I do not use MD5, if I have SHA1 available, because SHA1 is IMHO more secure.

 

Thanks for verifying!

 

Windows Firewall Control v.4.0.3.0 - New version

What's new:
- New: Show Password checkbox has been added to the lock dialog.
- New: The notifications are now disabled even if the program is locked. The notification dialog will be disabled but a large lock icon will be visible to the user to unlock the program. While locked, any other actions on the notification dialog are disabled.
- Updated: The WhoIs server was changed to who.is because it has better results for IPv6 addresses. With the old networktools.nl server, only the IPv4 were resolved correctly.

Installation notes: Just use the updater to update to the new version. That's all.

The following translation strings were changed from:

to

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc4setup.exe
SHA1: aa6a78a7ae9219208d24bef8a08ae6f0863f9869

Thank you for your support and your feedback,
The developer

@Alpengreis - I hope this fits your needs.

The work to the new website is almost done and I hope to upload the new website soon. This really needs a refresh.

 

Current website has nice layout IMHO.

 

Very nice!
I was gonna suggest this. thanks for readin' my mind

 

Hi alexandrud,

Yeah, these are great news!

Yes, this is a really good solution for me - A BIG THANKS!

I'm still looking for a DNSBL check with IPv6 support. But this is not so important at the moment for me.

Well done!

Greetings,
Alpengreis

 

The new website is ready
I had time in the past days and I finally finished the new website. I have uploaded it and it can be visited here:

http://binisoft.org

1. It is more brighter, more organized and it can be easily extended.
2. The old Get activation code section is now called My account.
3. Unfortunately, I had to remove the forum because administrating it takes a lot of time. I tried several methods to avoid bot registration but none of them worked and everyday I had to check and delete tens of newly registered users. Instead, I have created a new section named Frequently asked questions. I have added some questions and answers. More of them will be added in the future.

Again, thank you for your support. Have a nice weekend.

 

Alexandru.
Congrats looks fresh and clean.
Thanks

 

Congratulations! Very nice!

 

Looks good.

But more important than the design of the site, is the program itself - and that's on a very good level (for me especially since v4.0.3.0 with the password solution)!

Have a nice week!

Alpengreis

 

Hello to all. Thanks for this excellent program that I'm in testing ... I have a problem with the display of rules ... when I open "management rules", the list remains empty even if I refresh nothing happens and I see no rules.
What is the problem?
I have windows 8.1 64b

P.S: Sorry for my bad english

 

The latest version is compiled and tested on Windows 8.1 x64. It works fine on this version of Windows.

1. What version of WFC do you use ?
2. Other features from WFC work or this is the only problem that you have with WFC ?
3. Try to restore the default Windows Firewall rules. It may be possible that you have a corrupted rule that prevents the loading of the others.
4. If you open WFwAS are you able to see the rules ? You can check this if you execute wf.msc
5. Is Windows Firewall service running ? You can check this if you run services.msc
6. Have you disabled some Windows services ?
7. Do you have installed a second firewall on your machine ?
8. What other security products do you use ? Antivirus, antispyware, etc ?
9. Have you tried to uninstall and reinstall WFC ? The same problem ?
10. Please go to Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc). Under "Applications and Service logs" category, there is a subcategory named WFC. There are logged all errors from WFC. When you are there, on the right panel is a button named "Save all events as...". Use this button to export an *.evtx file and send it to support@binisoft.org to check the log.

Looking forward to hear from you.

 

1. 4.0.3.0
2. Other features work. This is the only problem
3. Don't work.
4. Don't work. See error message to open: http://s24.postimg.org/9xjch9rut/image.jpg
5. Yes is running
6. No...
7. No
8. Windows defender of windows 8.1
9. Yes. Same problem
10. Send you email with log

Here my screen of program:

http://s14.postimg.org/cntoylq29/image.jpg
http://s24.postimg.org/ggyp7j611/image.jpg
http://s15.postimg.org/k1nldhyzv/image.jpg
http://s14.postimg.org/6i60x30a9/image.jpg
http://s10.postimg.org/3wv0xw315/image.jpg
http://s13.postimg.org/stqjrtguv/image.jpg

Thanks