I just built a new PC, and i'm tossing up whether to continue using the Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control or try something else.

I'm not an advanced user when it comes to firewalls, i don't really know how to configure them, so i do like to have a 3rd party thing that can help configure the factory windows firewall, which by all accounts is pretty decent.

I do like the Malwarebytes one. It's free and simple. And most importantly it gives me that little popup/notification when something is trying to connect. But there's something about it i don't trust, I can't put my finger on it.

So i thought i'd take the temperature of the audiosex hivemind and see what everyone else is using. Whatcha got?

 

Netlimiter closest thing to little snitch I've found to for windows

 

Been pretty happy with TinyWall for many years now.

 

I am still using WFC.
I found it the easiest to understand of a few that I tried, and there hasn't been any time that I wondered what was happening behind the GUI. I became familiar with Windows Firewall with XP and then Win7 and managed all the entries myself ... a real time-consuming thing as I figured out how to name & organize all the entries. I tried a few other firewalls and felt confused and unsure if they were really blocking, how to bypass,etc. I can't recall when I found WFC, but after I did, I never again ever bothered to open the Windows Firewall GUI.

I paid some small amount for the advanced feateures (whatever they were - i can't recall).
That was before Malwarebytes bought it (and hired the developer, at least for the time being).
I was a bit annoyed that all functions became free with Malwarebytes, and I worried they would begin to charge a lot for it...
But it's still free and I would pay again. The ability to easily turn on and off shell integration, to change profiles quickly (allowing legit DAW,etc to update while keeping them blocked in normal use, easy cleanup of invalid old entries, filtering to see user-created entries, backups of defaults on install, etc.... For me, all that makes it worth paying a reasonable amount.

 

I have switched from WFC to simplewall. In my opinion, it's a lot better. https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall

 

I don't use this:
Free firewall
but if I was forced to change the one I use (Comodo) I would give a chance.
Most important (but not the only one) feature is the access notification, that if I'm not wrong Tiny doens't do (at least when I tried it).

 

What do you find a lot better about it?

 

I use Netlimiter 5

It's an excellect application, for PC its the closest thing to Little Snitch (great name) on the MAC.

 

Well with WFC I had a few problems with Ableton Live e.g. blocked it could not be started anymore. I don't have the same problems with Simplewall. Maybe I'm just too stupid for that Xd.

Much better was perhaps wrongly expressed. I'm just happy about a good open source lightweight firewall or WFP.

Otherwise I like the UI of Simplewall. And it's an open source project.
There are still a lot of settings that I don't completely understand, but the rudimentary ones are easy to understand.

 

Another happy Tinywall user here. It's super light and stable.

 

I installed simplewall and it seemed a little complicated, but of course the key is to learn what to ignore!
I like that it has a portable mode. I installed it normally to check it out.
It's good to get familiar with another popular tool.

 

maybe adding likes and dislikes like above would be useful, and price if applicable.
i switched between simpl and wfc, they both do the job, but wfc is easier to grasp
but things like voodoo shield work surprisingly well too
and catch things that go undetected otherwise

none of them have a backtrace function, seems like i have to check some paid ones out
netlimiter seems interesting (19-29)1or2 years)

 

Bitdefender Internet Security

 

I use WFC (which is essentially using Win firewall). I didn't use others, so really can't compare but here's why:

pros:
I prefer using Win built-in tools, unless they're total crap. I fear that if/when there is an update, 3rd party devs may lag behind.
Quick setup to block anything, display prompt and make a rule on the fly.
Delayed actions like allow/block for x mins. Great in combo with VPN.
Search, customize, enable/disable rules and connection log, open file location, shell integration

cons: takes some minimal resources (but what doesn't)

If I would upgrade I'd probably have a detailed look at something like NetLimiter but for now WFC does the job.
Anyway, interesting topic, always

 

If you guys arent using Portmaster yet, holy moly. Get Portmaster with SPN and thank me later

Portmaster with firewall is free, portmaster with SPN is paid (and worth every penny, VPNs [except Mullvad] are outdated now with packet sniffing)

https://safing.io
Edit: When using this program, set your network card DNS to 127.0.0.1 to ensure the smoothest DNS experience.

tldr; Portmaster naturally utilizes self-verification for all of its files (checksum) and with SPN enabled, auto sets a different Onion Route for EVERY program on your computer (svchost.exe, explorer, ableton.exe, abletonwebconnector.exe, etc)

 

Last edited: Jan 3, 2024

Simplewall for years. 0 problem for years.

 

With ableton and ANY firewall, you need to Allow IP 127.0.0.1, in addition to its file manager, and web connector. Theres another IP it calls that's not home that you could allow too for M4L, but, I dont think its required to fix the crash.

 

Interesting. I always liked Little Snitch back when i used Mac.
So with something like Netlimiter that doesn't use the Windows Firewall (right?), how is it in regards to turning off the Windows firewall? Is there any problems with it automatically turning back on? Is there any clashes between Netlimiter and windows firewall?

TinyWall doesn't have the popup feature so that's out (for me)

 

I was just using Windows Firewall with some context menu additions.. but going to try with WFC now.

 

One issue I find with WFC is that, because Google Drive versions create new folders I must occasionally allow it again.
It just takes one second but i find that annoying. I have yet to find a way to allow the process and ignore the originating location.
If anyone knows... please say

Also there have been certain times I did not get a popup to choose allowing or denying, but something was not connecting.
For that I temporarily changed profiles. I guess I must have blocked previously and did not make the connection.
For opne of them i remember looking at running programs & processes and then in the WFC rules list for what was being blocked but never figured it out. Again, a very minor annoyance, and certainly worth it to have a whitelist-only firewall running.

I don't know of any issues I have ever had with an app phoning home, and this is just really using Windows Firewall...nothing special added to it.
I could uninstall it and the rules remain in Windows Firewall.
Of course if WFC is uninstalled any new program might connect without my permission, so I would not uninstall it, but every once in a while I back up Windows Firewall rules (that's easy to do in WFC).

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2024