Windows Firewall Control (WFC) by BiniSoft.org

Code:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PuS_okbkX52MDvqcpaVhlIM7rbpKyYmT/view?usp=sharing

 

Thanks

 

I tried more approaches and it seems to be almost impossible to retrieve the DisplayName of all packages. With each approach there are some packages for which the DisplayName is missing. My intention to remove those ugly Windows Store names can't be solved like I expected.

I will probably revert this functionality. However, I propose to extract only the package name and version from the full resource strings. For example:
@{Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2024.11030.15001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe?ms-resource://Microsoft.Windows.Photos/Resources/AppStoreName} becomes @{Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2024.11030.15001.0}
@{Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_6.0.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe?ms-resource://Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes/Resources/StickyNotesStoreAppName} becomes @{Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_6.0.2.0}



I think this improves the readability and still remains functional. @Alpengreis What do you think?

 

@aldist and TairikuOkami I had it right, but this seemed important enough to ask for help. Thanks again.

 

Did a fresh Windows 11 x64 installation fully updated yesterday.
Ran WFC installer and checked the option to install the recommended rules

This is what I've got:



Is that ok?
I think it's not. I see all the default WF rules.

 

That screenshot is smaller than, well whatever. I do not understand how can anyone with 3rd party firewall use default rules. It is an oxymoron. Have you checked this?

 

I don't. That's why I'm reporting.

Yes.

I assume WFC should delete the rest of rules not belonging to the Windows Firewall Control group.

 

Update
After restarting the computer default rules were deleted. Only recommended rules remained.

 

WFC recommended rules is just a small set of 18 rules which represent a starting point. These are created on top of the existing rules. Default rules are not deleted or replaced by WFC. This is something the user does manually. Otherwise I will get another complaint: "I installed WFC and it deleted my rules."

When you enable Secure Rules, it applies to newly created rules. The existing rules which do not match the authorized groups list will not be disabled/deleted instantly. There is a timer which runs every 10 seconds and which will process the existing rules.

 

I appreciate your time still spent on this project. That sounds a pretty reasonable compromise, from a firewall novice.

Thanks.

 

@Alpengreis After further investigations, I have an even better solution. See below. WFC resolves the Group, Name, Description for the packages that are found on disk and leaves the unresolved ones (old packages which are not installed anymore or were never installed if you import a policy from another machine) as they are and marks the rules as invalid (red color).



This is an example of Terminal rules which I have. The first one is for version 1.19.10821.0 which I currently have on my machine and the second rule is from a version which I do not have anymore:



Does this work better? WFC can display now also invalid Windows Store rules, so we don't have to care about version numbers in the names.

 

Windows Firewall Control v.6.9.9.8

Change log:
- New: Added detection of invalid Windows Store rules. If a package is not found on the machine the rule will appear with red text in Rules Panel.
- Updated: The logic from previous version which detects the friendly name for Description property was reverted so that at least one column in Rules Panel contains the version of the package.

Download location: https://binisoft.org/download/wfc6setup.exe
SHA256: b037a4416a5fee614d43e0abb138b60b8f9f4762d9da3f32a38a2c2dc0eb382f
SHA512: ca555cce31c23029626c97c648fe5aac01cec2339dab225924dc33a4cb0f12c046ba2923b723cc643d4b7e8a05976c9d17030fd0e95f995197220cd90e5afd39

Thank you for your feedback and your support,
Alexandru Dicu

 

Dark theme, please.

 

I updated to latest version and soon after got popup after popup asking me about Program: svchost.exe, Host Process for Windows Services, Signed by MS. I tried to allow it and each time it would popup again and again. What is going on

 

No issues with 6.9.9.8 here.

 

A short time ago I reinstalled over the top and it may have fixed it. Strange.

 

Windows Firewall Control v6.9.9.8
https://i.imgur.com/xbkHdIE.png

I read that it should be fixed but I still have this problem, thanks

 

Bit confused about the new invalid rules, starting with "@".

Does it mean that they are indeed invalid and can be safely deleted, or is their invalid status only an indication that their name cannot be displayed properly for whatever reason, and they should not be deleted since they may still be valid?

 

What error do you see in WFC event log? Which operating system? Is WFC service up and running? Are your system certificates up to date?

It means that there is no package under C:\Program Files\WindowsApp nor under C:\Windows\SystemApps for the package name and version which you see in the name. The name that you see in Rules Panel starting with @{contains the package name, version and a resource path where the actual DisplayName is defined. If WFC can't find the package in neither of those two locations and can't extract the DisplayName it means the rule is probably invalid and it is marked like this. These rules can be deleted.

 

Isn't that WindowsCamera rule very similar to what is present (highlighted) in WindowsApps below? Or is it also looking for LensSDK/Resources/AppStoreName which indeed does not exist? I only see an "Assets" folder inside LensSDK.

 

Good catch. Indeed, the code needs to be tweaked a little bit because apps with the resource path on on a deeper level will be reported as invalid when they are not. Working on a fix. Thank you.

 

You are welcome! Although I'm still a bit confused, since there is no sign of LensSDK/Resources/AppStoreName. Unless these are references to something else? Anyway, you know much better how these Apps work. I just wish that pointless Store had never been released with Windows 8 - or ever...

 

This path LensSDK/Resources/AppStoreName is inside the binary file resources.pri from the app folder. I also don't use Windows Store apps/games besides the ones included by default in a new Windows installation.

 

Thank you for the info. A suggestion for the Notifications exceptions list:

Perhaps you consider separating the CAPS/experimental feature exceptions from the others, and put/sort them at the end of the list:

abc.exe
efg.exe
hij.exe
ACD.EXE
BATMAN.EXE

...etc. Their function is quite different, so I think it would help to have them clearly grouped together.

 

I would say that the uppercase ones are more important, so I put them first. Does this work?