TinyWall Makes It Easy To Control Windows Firewall Settings

[alexalex]

Using the Firewall can help secure a system by blocking unwanted (and potentially malicious) incoming connections. Many users turn off the default Windows firewall due to the number of annoying pop-ups and confusion in configuration that they have to deal with. This is particularly true for the Advanced Firewall in Windows Vista and Windows 7. TinyWall is an easy to use tool that makes it possible for common users to use Windows firewall, without having to deal with any annoying pop-ups, and provides users with the option to whitelist or unblock programs easily. For example, you can initiate connection whitelisting using a hotkey, select an application from the list of running processes, and allows completely enabling/disabling all connections in a click.

TinyWall is basically a simpler configuration tool for Windows Firewall, as it presents you with a minimalist interface and necessary information displayed on the main application window. To get started, launch TinyWall, and click Start to enable the firewall. The main window displays all blocked applications, you can select and allow access to blocked applications....

... it must be noted that by default TinyWall blocks all browsers at startup, which have to be enabled using a whitelist option from the system tray menu. TinyWall works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/tinywall-makes-it-easy-to-control-windows-firewall-settings/

[MS Bob 11]

Nice alternative to Windows 7 Firewall Control by Sphinx Software. The UI is very much nicer.

[devHead]

  Quote

Many users turn off the default Windows firewall due to the number of annoying pop-ups and confusion in configuration that they have to deal with.

What the heck? Annoying number of pop-ups from Windows firewall? For me, there's no confusion in configuration; you just leave it running as is. I'm not saying this utility wouldn't be useful, but statements like the above I can't imagine reflect the attitude of most toward the Windows firewall.

[MS Bob 11]

Yeah Windows Firewall isn't intrusive at all. That's just marketing speak so people download the app to control it. The only weakness for me is that it doesn't block all outgoing connections by default. And if you set it to block all outgoing connections from the Management Console, there's no notification when an app is blocked to quickly allow or block it like there is for incoming connections. With outgoing connections blocked, you have full control over apps trying to "phone home", or least you know when it's trying to phone home.

[Amitlu]

  On 30/12/2011 at 07:17, devHead said:

What the heck? Annoying number of pop-ups from Windows firewall? For me, there's no confusion in configuration; you just leave it running as is. I'm not saying this utility wouldn't be useful, but statements like the above I can't imagine reflect the attitude of most toward the Windows firewall.

  On 30/12/2011 at 07:55, xpclient said:

Yeah Windows Firewall isn't intrusive at all. That's just marketing speak so people download the app to control it. The only weakness for me is that it doesn't block all outgoing connections by default. And if you set it to block all outgoing connections from the Management Console, there's no notification when an app is blocked to quickly allow or block it like there is for incoming connections. With outgoing connections blocked, you have full control over apps trying to "phone home", or least you know when it's trying to phone home.

This is just one of the mistakes that addictivetips.com has made in its article about TinyWall. Windows Firewall displaying a lot of popups, that is not what is meant on TinyWall's website. That is not the problem with Windows Firewall. In fact, Windows Firewall is pretty good respective to popups. The problem with Windows Firewall is its user interface for detailed settings and its suboptimal security. The "annoying popups" come from other firewall software that users can install if they want to improve Windows Firewall. TinyWall is better in respect to popups since it improves the interface and security of Windows Firewall without introducing additional popups like most other software do.

-- The author of TinyWall

[Astrum]

I always thought the "issue" with Windows Firewall was that any outbound connection is allowed by default. And if you want to set outbound rules manually you will have fun for hours. Otherwise it is almost perfect.