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.
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 Portmaster too until they started locking existing features behind paid subscription. And generally just the push 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!
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.
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
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?
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…
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 50.3 ms ] threadThank you for the recommendation.
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.
Even among simplewall users I bet the vast majority install OS updates regularly.
packethound can be managed via group policy
packethound has that air of AI slop sophistication
"Know which apps are calling home." "Every connection, your call"
Here's another one: F.O.S.I.
Portmaster has been filling this role for me for the last couple years.
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.
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?
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…
Such unadulterated greed, it was painful to watch as it unfolded.
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.
Uh, no they don't. I haven't used a firewall in 20 years that hasn't had both inbound and outbound monitoring lol.
Nowadays, I just use Windows built-in firewall.
That's not necessarily a good thing.
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.
I definitely use it and recommend it though, it's great.