Hi all,

When I first installed Win7 Ultimate SP1, and being a visual learner, I got frustrated at the confusing bells and boxes of the native Win7 firewall. There was Zonealarm but the Win7 firewall looked to be much more capable and tweakable.

By accident I came across binisoft.org who offer a Win7 firewall utility called Windows Firewall Control.

They describe it as: "Intuitive and easy to use user interface with self-explaining features. The user has quick access to all Windows Firewall settings and also to new features that extend the default functionality of the native firewall and make it more user friendly. Our product is not a firewall by itself, it is a front end for Windows Firewall".

Cost: Donating $10 to Binisoft will lifetime-register the software and give you full access to the My Accounts area and support if you need it.

I've used it for a couple of years and have found it immensely useful and easy. Blocking is just a switch away and clicking the 'Manage Rules' link at the bottom left of the utility interface opens a big rules window where you can see what's blocked, what's enabled and make any changes.

Worth every cent in my opinion.

 

Thanks about this info!!! Sure the W7 firewall isn't user friendly! I'm testing Windows Firewall Control since I've read your post, and seems to be an excellent addon. I'll plan to buy a licence as soon as I've some money (I don't have job yet), sure $10 isn't expensive. Thanks again about this tip. Greetings from France.

 

i found COMODO Firewall to be quite capable, user friendly and - FREE.

 

Tinywall here - maximum satisfaction

 

i'm the only one who like Windows's Firewall as it is

 

Nope , me too.. seems easy enough to use.. Advanced > Add exception > Done.

 

ESET here..its the best firewall..period

 

Eset make a firewall now? That's news to me Gogoi.

The point of my OP was to let any predominantly visual folks know there is an add-on that makes life a whole lot easier with the otherwise really good existing firewall in 7.

I think it's neat that y'all are using your favorite firewalls, free or otherwise.

The guy who coded and designed the add-on for 7 is located in Romania - not the most prosperous place to live. I wanted to make a $ contribution to help him. Ditto for Nora which I also paid for, for the Squaredheads guys bringing out a masterful and inspired arpeggiator.

But hey, that's just me

 

Thanks for the tip. I've been wondering if there was a firewall with per program filtering like zone alarm used to do for free.

 

I use windows but don't use any programme. When I need to block any url, I go to C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Then edit it with 127.0.0.1

 

My ESET asks me for permission everytime something calls home. A simple solution for simple lifestyle..

 

I see what you mean Gogoi. I have the Eset Nod32 Antivirus package and it doesn't have that firewall feature.

 

The binisoft offering was a decent addon for an obtuse piece of software called "windows firewall" - until malware-shit-bytes got their ugly mitts on it. Now it's just as shitty and slow as the rest of the malware-shit-bytes garbage catalog of fail.

 

Tinywall does roughly the same, is free and also free of garbage. Works on win 10 and lower for sure. I don't use win 11 yet so no idea about that.