Came here to see how many others there were. This is only way I can actually feel like I'm in control of using modern OS. Everything is telemetry this and analytics that.
It reminds me more of the old Windows firewall/IPS/IDS called Sygate. It was ahead of its time. I think Zonealarm came after since that is what I replaced it with after Symantec(?) bought Sygate and rolled the best functions of Sygate into their Professional firewall for a premium price. Sygate was free or you could buy a permanent license for a one-time fee. It was the best personal protection products available for pcs running Windows up to WinXP.
I had also tried a different firewall/privacy tool from a company in Canada I think called ZeroKnowledge. That was a great product that also allowed you fine-grained access to and control of all connections to/from your Windows pc. They had a product available for a short time but shut down suddenly. I think I read that they were bought out by another firewall company but can't remember which one. They may have been rolled into the Blackberry software line.
Both of these were available in the 90's lead-up to the dot com bust if I remember right. Sygate became obsolete when support ended around the time WinXP faded. ZeroKnowledge disappeared much earlier. I may have old executables and installers somewhere on antique backups.
I used Portmaster too until they started locking existing features behind paid subscription. And generally just pushing towards microtransactions in general. I vastly prefer buy once or buy per major version.
This only prompts you after the connection has already been rejected, instead of holding it for approval like Little Snitch and Portmaster -- but I did have WFC installed on my Windows machines anyway, it's still useful.
More than a decade ago, I tinkered around with doing stuff like this. I found that many Windows apps got ugly and naughty when you hold up the connection. I started making a list of the various methods I used to try to hold the connection before user authorization could occur and that's about where I gave up on working it.
My least favorite are the games using bespoke UDP connection protocols. They try different ports so rapidly you can't approve one before they've tried fifteen more. They don't retry, so you better catch up!
Personally I used Kerio Personal Firewall. I remember it being very good and while I didn't care about outbound connections much back then, I'm pretty sure it had a similar feature it was just off by default
You know these threads are mostly astroturfed because nobody mentions Binisoft/Malwarebytes WFC, one of the oldest and better Windows application firewalls. It's also totally free, though not OSS.
Isn't WFC just an interface to the built-in Windows Firewall? It implements all its features by either changing built-in settings or monitoring built-in logs.
I definitely use it and recommend it though, it's great.
With all the reverse engineering out there going on now, I really hope someone does the REA with BlackICE. I miss that software so much. If it works native and is high quality with the simplistic GUI of ZoneAlarm, I would be so happy.
Which I use for years, and just because of lack of a better alternative (minimal, OSS) I actually quite "hate" it.:
It has no rules, like "Allow a file with THIS name on THAT path", the biggest complain of every simplewall user is its biggest flaw and annoyance: It asks you a million times to allow or deny the "same" app, after its checksum changed. So all the Windows apps that auto update always pop up again and again.
A coding agent autonomously compiling and testing an exe with network access is impossible. I have to turn off simplewall, because it would constantly block the executable after recompilation.
I'm a simplewall user and what you describing is not my biggest flaw or annoyance - I simply don't upgrade windows (why would calculator need updates??) and after clicking few denies, its get very quiet. Been this way for 2 years now on Win 11.
My go-to for years on all my Windows PCs. I can't find anything else that's as simple and powerful. The only annoying thing for me is having to use Windows Store apps (like WhatsApp through msedgewebview2), but everything else is super easy and straightforward.
I beg you. At the very least, please, write your own headers. I don't even need you to write the whole copy on the page, but please, don't make us read that claudease slop. This makes the app you advertise look like the lowest of efforts, no matter what it is.
"Know which apps are calling home."
"Every connection, your call"
I used to be a fan of outgoing firewall control, but alarm fatigue became a major issue, and I just accept everything, which just game a false sense of security.
Seems like tools like this get mentioned a lot lately. I think it's because there are more and more things the user allowed to leak out without the user knowing? (mostly through AI)
It would be better if it suggested the consequences of stopping programs from phoning home, like will this program say the license check failed after 2 weeks, or will it keep working.
So now we use AI for coding we can't sell any apps anymore?
Like this guy pushed a button and everything just happened?
What does it matter if it's mostly coded by an LLM. If someone skilled guided an LLM to build an app that does something meaningful and useful why shouldn't they be able to sell it or accept donations?
You just described the future of all software as LLMs continue to improve. This is an outcome most don't seem to appreciate, yet. And by "most" I'd certainly include large software companies.
I mean—I can think of a whole lot of people whose jobs I could do, but who I’m happy to pay a little to avoid having to deal with it myself.
It doesn’t take particularly sophisticated skill to load up your garbage and drive it to the landfill—and, frankly, it’s kind of fun every once in a while—but I certainly wouldn’t call municipal trash service worthless…
I’m reminded of that old saw about contemporary art: “That?! I could have done that!” / “Yeah, but you didn’t…”
Good, older alternative (seems to be not this user friendly) is Malwarebytes Window Firewall Control.
Just tried this and it has a learning mode which is what I was looking for.
Thank you for the recommendation.
Came here to see how many others there were. This is only way I can actually feel like I'm in control of using modern OS. Everything is telemetry this and analytics that.
Isn't this just ZoneAlarm?
It reminds me more of the old Windows firewall/IPS/IDS called Sygate. It was ahead of its time. I think Zonealarm came after since that is what I replaced it with after Symantec(?) bought Sygate and rolled the best functions of Sygate into their Professional firewall for a premium price. Sygate was free or you could buy a permanent license for a one-time fee. It was the best personal protection products available for pcs running Windows up to WinXP.
I had also tried a different firewall/privacy tool from a company in Canada I think called ZeroKnowledge. That was a great product that also allowed you fine-grained access to and control of all connections to/from your Windows pc. They had a product available for a short time but shut down suddenly. I think I read that they were bought out by another firewall company but can't remember which one. They may have been rolled into the Blackberry software line.
Both of these were available in the 90's lead-up to the dot com bust if I remember right. Sygate became obsolete when support ended around the time WinXP faded. ZeroKnowledge disappeared much earlier. I may have old executables and installers somewhere on antique backups.
Is zonealarm still alive?
Portmaster has been filling this role for me for the last couple years.
I used Portmaster too until they started locking existing features behind paid subscription. And generally just pushing towards microtransactions in general. I vastly prefer buy once or buy per major version.
Windows firewall control
This only prompts you after the connection has already been rejected, instead of holding it for approval like Little Snitch and Portmaster -- but I did have WFC installed on my Windows machines anyway, it's still useful.
More than a decade ago, I tinkered around with doing stuff like this. I found that many Windows apps got ugly and naughty when you hold up the connection. I started making a list of the various methods I used to try to hold the connection before user authorization could occur and that's about where I gave up on working it.
My least favorite are the games using bespoke UDP connection protocols. They try different ports so rapidly you can't approve one before they've tried fifteen more. They don't retry, so you better catch up!
Personally I used Kerio Personal Firewall. I remember it being very good and while I didn't care about outbound connections much back then, I'm pretty sure it had a similar feature it was just off by default
or perhaps BlackICE
Wow haven't read that name since around 2000, gave me a weird feeling in my brain.
Here's another one: F.O.S.I.
It's a tvery similar concept and presentation
Yes
> Windows' own components are allowed automatically, so you're only asked about the apps you installed
That's not necessarily a good thing.
You know these threads are mostly astroturfed because nobody mentions Binisoft/Malwarebytes WFC, one of the oldest and better Windows application firewalls. It's also totally free, though not OSS.
https://www.binisoft.org/wfc
WFC allows you to block Windows components. This can cause a lot of trouble, or keep Microsoft from spying on you. Or both.
Isn't WFC just an interface to the built-in Windows Firewall? It implements all its features by either changing built-in settings or monitoring built-in logs.
I definitely use it and recommend it though, it's great.
Yeah infact it’s the whole point of little snitch. You have to be aware of all traffic.
Portmaster is my go-to
Edit: and glasswire although portmaster is my favorite
Glasswire royally f*cked all the goodwill by going subscription-only.
Such unadulterated greed, it was painful to watch as it unfolded.
With all the reverse engineering out there going on now, I really hope someone does the REA with BlackICE. I miss that software so much. If it works native and is high quality with the simplistic GUI of ZoneAlarm, I would be so happy.
Windows Firewall Control by binisoft https://binisoft.org/wfc is the real Little Snitch for Windows
How is this better and more comprehensive than Fort Firewall? https://github.com/tnodir/fort
I prefer this one as well.
https://github.com/tnodir/fort/wiki/HVCI
packethound can be managed via group policy
packethound has that air of AI slop sophistication
Another alternative is Simplewall: https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall
Which I use for years, and just because of lack of a better alternative (minimal, OSS) I actually quite "hate" it.:
It has no rules, like "Allow a file with THIS name on THAT path", the biggest complain of every simplewall user is its biggest flaw and annoyance: It asks you a million times to allow or deny the "same" app, after its checksum changed. So all the Windows apps that auto update always pop up again and again.
A coding agent autonomously compiling and testing an exe with network access is impossible. I have to turn off simplewall, because it would constantly block the executable after recompilation.
I'm a simplewall user and what you describing is not my biggest flaw or annoyance - I simply don't upgrade windows (why would calculator need updates??) and after clicking few denies, its get very quiet. Been this way for 2 years now on Win 11.
Personally I like getting the security updates even if I have a firewall.
Even among simplewall users I bet the vast majority install OS updates regularly.
My go-to for years on all my Windows PCs. I can't find anything else that's as simple and powerful. The only annoying thing for me is having to use Windows Store apps (like WhatsApp through msedgewebview2), but everything else is super easy and straightforward.
I also easily recommend this one. And OpenSnitch on linux seems to be doing the same job, though the interface can be less friendly.
Simplewall is quite terrible, IMO. They still haven't fixed the painfully slow fuzzy search functionality for firewall rules.
I beg you. At the very least, please, write your own headers. I don't even need you to write the whole copy on the page, but please, don't make us read that claudease slop. This makes the app you advertise look like the lowest of efforts, no matter what it is.
"Know which apps are calling home." "Every connection, your call"
Or better yet, make the aite itself open-source so people can contribute better writing.
I learnt recently these are called "staccato sentences" https://x.com/michael_chomsky/status/2107235505620521274. Update your agents.md
But then how would you know that the app is the lowest of efforts if the copy is better written?
I used to be a fan of outgoing firewall control, but alarm fatigue became a major issue, and I just accept everything, which just game a false sense of security.
Nowadays, I just use Windows built-in firewall.
I'd rather not use a security tool which is 100% vibeslop with a 100% vibeslop website.
Seems like tools like this get mentioned a lot lately. I think it's because there are more and more things the user allowed to leak out without the user knowing? (mostly through AI)
Cool.
It would be better if it suggested the consequences of stopping programs from phoning home, like will this program say the license check failed after 2 weeks, or will it keep working.
People are conjuring up all kinds of apps slapped together by LLMs and actually have the gal to ask money for them?!
It’s free tho
They removed the "Pricing" menu item from the website.
There was never a pricing menu
Might as well make some money while you can.
So now we use AI for coding we can't sell any apps anymore?
Like this guy pushed a button and everything just happened?
What does it matter if it's mostly coded by an LLM. If someone skilled guided an LLM to build an app that does something meaningful and useful why shouldn't they be able to sell it or accept donations?
If there's no real skill involved and anyone could've built it then it's essentially worthless. Save for the cost of the tokens used perhaps.
You just described the future of all software as LLMs continue to improve. This is an outcome most don't seem to appreciate, yet. And by "most" I'd certainly include large software companies.
I mean—I can think of a whole lot of people whose jobs I could do, but who I’m happy to pay a little to avoid having to deal with it myself.
It doesn’t take particularly sophisticated skill to load up your garbage and drive it to the landfill—and, frankly, it’s kind of fun every once in a while—but I certainly wouldn’t call municipal trash service worthless…
I’m reminded of that old saw about contemporary art: “That?! I could have done that!” / “Yeah, but you didn’t…”
> Most firewalls only watch what comes in
Uh, no they don't. I haven't used a firewall in 20 years that hasn't had both inbound and outbound monitoring lol.
I've been working on my own version of this for a little over a year. Sigh.
May I see it?
I'm looking for somewhere to put it anonymously, don't want to doxx myself.
many options for this? unless you are ultra-concerned with anyone knowing who you are.
I'm not that special. Apologize for the LLM cruft, I had Fable spin through to try and clean it up. If it's broken, oh well.
https://codeberg.org/Avicebron/Sereno
i have been reading through it a bit. thanks for sharing.
slop
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