Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

They come like this from Windows Firewall API. The rules are stored in Windows Registry and the last rule added is added on top of the list. When calling the API it will retrieve them in this order.

Regarding the saving of the sorting, I will try to implement it.

 

After uninstalling WFC and resetting Windows 7 to its default ruleset,
how do i set the the Windows 7 firewall not to log blocked connections
in the security event log ? I´m a right that if there is no logging, WFC will
not be able to create rules ?


Greetings

 

Hi Alexandru,

I just got a Notification and found that my custom sound file, which normally plays for about 5 seconds, only played for about 1 second (or less?).

Is there a way to allow the entire file to play, at least while the Notification is still unanswered?

J

 

For the first question, run a CMD window with elevated privileges and execute the following command:

auditpol.exe /set /subcategory:{0CCE9226-69AE-11D9-BED3-505054503030} /failure:disable

For the second question, if the logging in Windows Firewall is disabled, the Notification System will not display any new notification because without any events added in the log there will be no events in WFC to be handled. This does not affect the possibility to add manual rules with WFC by browsing for a file, by clicking on a program window, or the other manual ways that halp you to create new firewall rules.

The file is played entirely. Maybe another system sound started to play in the same time and stopped the WFC sound. WFC uses the same engine Windows to play the sound file, maybe two or more items are not allowed to play in the same time. Does this happen all the time or this was an isolated case ? Did you receive 2 notifications in the notification dialog or it was just one ?

 

As i understand the normal state of window 7 firewall auditing is that is disabled / off. When uninstalling wfc shouldn´t your uninstaller automatically restore windows defaults ?

Greetings

 

I'm sorry Alexandru, I checked the sound file and it was the problem. A different one plays for the full 5 seconds. I should have tested before posting...

J

 

I will update the uninstaller to disable Windows Firewall logging when the user uninstalls WFC. This will be included in the next version.

 

Windows Firewall Control v.4.0.1.1 - New release

What's new:
- Fixed: The Installation ID can't be read if C:\ partition is not a fixed drive. This happens for example when the user has an SD card inserted during the Windows installation and the Windows partition is then D:\ drive.
- Fixed: The program crashes if the user creates a rule for a program launched from a network location and the icon of the application can't be read remotely.
- Updated: Windows Firewall logging remains enabled even if when the user uninstalls Windows Firewall Control.
- Updated: Added new logging points in the program, useful for debugging purposes.

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

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc4setup.exe
SHA1: a31046f0a96436ad6de83824d20c18b209086f2b

Thank you for your support and your feedback,
The developer

@SwissBIT - Please try this version and let me know if the temporary rules are automatically deleted when they expire. If not, please take a look at the log file, as I added new logging points into the application in order to find the problem. Thank you. I tried with Swiss localization and this is not the problem, the rules are deleted properly. It must be anything else.

 

@alexandrud,

I made ​​a test with a temporary rule (5 min). Now the rule is deleted IMMEDIATELY (after approx 1 sec).

Greetings,
SwissBIT

 

It is deleted after one second after you created it or is deleted after 5 minutes and 1 second ? Do you use "Disable the ability of other programs to add firewall rules" option ? If the answer is yes, then try to disable it temporarily and test again.

 

@alexandrud

Not after 5 min and 1 sec, really immediately ca 1 sec after click to create the temp rule! And no, I don't use the "Disable the ability of other programs to add firewall rules".

I had this behavior already in v4.0.1.0 when I had my system for testing purposes is set to en-US.

Greetings,
SwissBit

 

I have also set one of my computers to Swiss localization and this is not the problem. I will do some more tests. Thank you for your feedback.

 

FYI: We have FOUR official languages here in Switzerland. At least three are supported in my Win 7 system [German (Switzerland), French (Switzerland) and Italian (Switzerland)]. My combination is:

- OS Language = en-US (I will ONE (the main) language in OS AND programs, without special localizations)
- Formats = German (Switzerland) - Swiss German (here I cannot switch to en-US because we have other Formats in Switzerland, which I MUST use in letters etc)

I say this, because the WFC temprule-behaviour changes when I switch the Formats ...

Thank you!

Greetings,
SwissBIT

 

In which way is the behavior changing ? I tried different regional settings, and always, the temp rules are deleted properly.

Anyone else, with the operating system in another language than en-US, do you have any problems with the temporary rules ? I can't reproduce the problem that SwissBIT has and I can't find a solution for this.

 

Sorry, alexandrud, I have forget to say, that the behaviour-change was in v4.0.1.0:

There, with System-Locale=en-US and Formats=Swiss-German, a temp rule remains - with System-Locale=en-US and Formats=en-US, a temp rule is deleted immediately (ca 1 sec after creation) ...

Perhaps even more important to know: I only have Win 7 64-Bit Home Premium, not Professional or Ultimate. Therefore, only the system locale can be changed, but not the entire OS language version (except by a Win reinstallation of course, but this is not an option here).

Because of this behavior, I noticed that it probably has something to do with the language and/or formats.

Now, in the v4.0.1.1 (with System-Locale=en-US and Formats=Swiss-German), a temp-rule is also deletet immediately. I do not know how it would be with System-Locale=en-US and Formats=en-US now (I can not test at the time because I have to work with the system) ...

Alexandrud, so or so - thank you for your help!

Greetings,
SwissBIT

 

Using 4.0.1.1 I can confirm the problem in a de-DE environment.
When I set a temporary rule for 5 minutes I can see it in the Manage Rules window for about 1-3 seconds. Then the rule disappears.

HTH

 

My temporary rules are cleared after seconds too, im using version 4.0.1.0 in Windows 7 SP1 x64, the system is in EN but it has regional settings to PT-BR.

 

Thank you for your feedback. I will try to find a way to reproduce this and then to find a solution.

One more question. If you create temporary rules without a time set, the ones that are deleted at program restart, do they work ?

 

This works as expected and intended.

 

Yes, until restart works here as expected.

 

Been trying to contact you privately using your contact form on the website. But no response yet. It is something related to the security of the application. Can't post in public the issue. Cant seem to PM you as well.

 

No problem with the "Until restart" rules.

 

I didn't receive any email. The contact form is sending an email to the same support address: support@binisoft.org I just tried it and it works. And I didn't get any PM on the forum. Please try again.

 

Having a major problem with WFC since attempting to update to 4.0.1.1 (from 4.0.1.0 which was running fine). The installer crashes at the end of the installation. After that it also crashes when trying to run WFC manually or when trying to start the uninstaller.

Couldn't reinstall because the installer said 4.0.1.1 was already installed, so I removed all traces of WFC from disk and the registry and tried again. Same crashes. Also tried resetting Windows Firewall back to default configuration but that didn't help either.

Annoyingly I had already deleted the 4.0.1.0 installer so I can't try reinstalling the previous version.

These are the crash details:

Code:

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	CLR20r3
  Problem Signature 01:	wfc.exe
  Problem Signature 02:	4.0.1.1
  Problem Signature 03:	51eea77a
  Problem Signature 04:	System
  Problem Signature 05:	4.0.0.0
  Problem Signature 06:	5073c71b
  Problem Signature 07:	3c89
  Problem Signature 08:	bf
  Problem Signature 09:	System.ComponentModel.Win32
  OS Version:	6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	2057
  Additional Information 1:	725a
  Additional Information 2:	725a74e8d21b19912216328a390cde77
  Additional Information 3:	81cd
  Additional Information 4:	81cd21b0025ae89e07be62edab1a6c1c

 

Please try to do the following things:

1. Let's manually uninstall WFC:

a) Run a CMD window with admin privileges.
b) Execute the following commands:

sc.exe stop wfcs
sc.exe delete wfcs
reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Windows Firewall Control" /f

c) Delete manually the installation folder.

Now your system should be clean of any WFC installation. Let's start again a clean installation.

2. Download the latest version from the website.
3. Install the program and wait until the Finish button becomes enabled.
4. After pressing the Finish button, the program should appear in the system tray area, next to the system clock. Does it appear ?
5. If you go in the installation folder you should have 3 files:
- wfc.exe = GUI application that runs in system tray
- wfcs.exe = Windows service which does the heavy work
- restore.dat = your set of rules at the installation time of WFC
Are these 3 files in the installation folder ? If not, during the installation, instead of the Finish button, an Abort button has appeared ?
6. Do you install the program from a standard user account or from an admin user account ?
7. Did you disable any Windows services ?
8. Please go to Event Viewer (run 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 it.

Looking forward to hear from you.