This application only uses existing Windows features, enabling some of them when first launched:
- Enables the Windows embedded firewall
- Sets the firewall to block both inbound and outbound connections for which no rule exists
- Enables the default Windows firewall inbound connection notification
- Enables the Windows firewall outbound connections logging (disabled by default)
- Creates a scheduled task linked to the Windows firewall event log entries, allowing Windows Firewall Notifier to be launched when needed only
How to:
Once enabled (after a first launch), the application will show a notification balloon when an application attempts an outgoing connexion while not being allowed to do so. A click on the notification will display a dialog box, allowing the user to:
- temporarily allow the application
- create a rule for the application, so that it will always be able to connect
- block the application once only, after what other notifications may (will) appear
- always block the application (no notification will therefore be displayed afterwards)
Installation:
The application can be unzipped in the folder of your choice (usually c:\Programs\WindowsFirewallNotifier), knowing that it must not be moved once activated (unless you actually want to remove it).
When launching version 1.6 for the first time, I advise to remove any svchost.exe firewall rule you may have created using the previous versions since the services management logic has been way improved.
What's New:
- new layout and animations for the Notifier popup.
- modifications to allow using Windows's high contrast mode (and alike) for people suffering from eye disorders
- to "celebrate" the release of WFN 1.8.0, the software is now Open Source
- modified the task creation for the current user so that it works properly on Windows 8
- modified the task creation for accentuated user accounts names
- fixed rules name/description resolution
- minor improvements
- added a simple update button in the WFN console (only shown when an update is available)
- fixed the logical application path resolution (could lead to improper rules creation in some specific cases)