Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

@alexandrud

Now that you got rich with this multi-billion acquisition, I demand you to repay those 10 bucks I donated for the cause!

Spoiler

 

LOL yeah ! because making it free isn't enough !!!

 

This is not as easy as you make it sound. The only alternative to WFC which I know is Glasswire Basic, which is super expensive.

 

Sphinx-soft Windows 10 Firewall Control? Simplewall? Windows Firewall Notifier?

 

No

No, no, no.
The only serious alternative available for Windows 10 - Comodo Firewall (if you turn off all the fashion jewelry), it works very well. But for now it is necessary to wait for a response from the alexandrud regarding telemetry.

 

If it doesn't break your system after a huge update, yes, it's quite good

 

I don't like the fact that I had to uninstall the previous version in order to update to 5.4.0.0

But it's whatever. Still the best firewall program for Windows.

Malwarebytes:
"And not to worry—we will maintain, support, and keep Binisoft products free for everyone in the short term."

It's the "...in the short term." part that worries me.

 

Off the record:
The following data is sent once a day to Malwarebytes: program version, os version, os architecture (x64, x86), os language (english, german, etc), filesystem (ntfs, fat32), process run as administrator or not, computer is joined into a domain or not, machine id. No personal data is collected. These are used for statistics data to see how many users of WFC exist. Depending on the number of existing users, WFC will continue to receive new features or not. A reduced number of installations will probably stop the development of WFC, a large number will probably continue the development.

mbcut(32).dlls are used to generate a unique machine id based on os architecture. These are the same in any Malwarebytes products. Newtonsoft.Json.dll is used to create the JSON data which is sent to Malwarebytes servers.

Note: This data is sent if Windows Firewall has outbound filtering disabled (Low Filtering or No Filtering profile is used) or if there is an allow rule for wfc.exe and outbound filtering is enabled (Medium Filtering profile). In case it can't send the data if will fail silently without making nasty stuff. You can check this through Connections Log where all connections (allowed or blocked) are anyway logged. Keep in mind that if everyone will block this, it may lead to the decision of not investing anymore in WFC because there are not enough users to keep supporting it.

 

Thank you for the honest answer.
I think there will be enthusiasts who will work with WireShark.

 

MBAM didn't spend lot of money to give it away for free, they aren't in the charity business.
Even before it wasn't free, you had to make a donation, i will say being able to have it for free right now, is way more than i expected, and i'm glad they did it even if it is for short time.

 

The new version tries to connect to:telemetry.malwarebytes.com
The current ip's 54.201.247.56, 52.89.169.33, 54.213.128.84 should you wish to block them.

 

honestly those telemetry paranoids...without telemetry you can't have proper development plans, company have to rely on telemetry , everybody in the industry knows that, telemetry didn't started with Win10.

 

+1
and @alexandrud was very clear about what it's sent to MB

 

Thanks Alex for your honest replies.

Robert

 

But there has not been such an epidemic of telemetry yet! Every Internet user is bound to be paranoid.

 

Did you try uninstalling the previous version first?

 

Why is this not in the changelog? What is the point of providing a changelog if some of the added new features are missing?

That being said, I absolutely love Windows Firewall Control 5.3.1.0

 

Yes, uninstalled 5.3.1.0 (including removing activation), tried installing 5.4.0.0 which failed.
Re-installed 5.3.1.0 (without a problem), uninstalled it again, and tried installing 5.4.0.0 again - same result.

Currently, reverted to 5.3.1.0.

EDIT: Both times I elected to keep the existing rules.

 

I do not know whether this will help or not. If you have problems with reinstalling WFC, remove WFC manually:
A) Close the wfc.exe process via the WFC icon in the tray or through the Task Manager.
B) Run CMD as admin, run the following three commands:
Sc.exe stop _wfcs
Sc.exe delete _wfcs
reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Windows Firewall Control"/f
C) Manually delete the WFC installation folder.
Now your system is completely cleaned of the traces of WFC installation (note that your firewall rules and settings still exist and work!).
Now you can perform a clean WFC installation of the latest version.
Before starting these procedures, turn off Secure Rules and Secure Profile, maybe you do not have the right to registry.

 

That's why I downloaded 5.3.1.0 and saved it. Just in case MB elects to make dramatic changes i.e. incorporate/suite it into whatever or I just don't like the direction it is headed towards. Do not desire an all-in-one security approach.

Robert

 

Thanks for being upfront and transparent at least. But I wish PR talk would just stop it already with that line they like to use "No personal data is collected". because it's pretty bullshit nowadays as well

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...rowsing-data-medical-records-identity-privacy

"Armed with only the names and locations of shops where purchases took place, and the approximate dates and purchase amounts, De Montjoye was able to identify 94% of people by looking at just three transactions."

 

5.4 works perfectly fine on my end.

 

Based on what alexandrud said, I'll go ahead and install 5.4.0.0 just to support this excellent program. That's less data than what the MB privacy policy implies, though I understand that this can change at any point with no warning. The policy is what it is.

I know telemetry can be useful and is not to be discarded on the spot, however some companies (especially A/V ones) are in the habit of recording pretty much everything on the users' PCs and activities (I don't know anything about MB's habits). Let's hope this whole thing turns out well for WFC, it's definitively worth it.

 

Try mbcut.dll.back, mbcut32.dll.back, Newtonsoft.Json.dll.back, it′s work.

 

Same here