Windows Firewall Control no longer requires activation

[4wd]

Windows Firewall Control

Previously to get Notifications in WFC you had to donate, all the other features were available for free.

With the latest version it is now free with no activation.

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What's new in version 5.4.0.0 (01.08.2018)

- New: The notifications system is now available for free and the program does not
require activation anymore.
- New: The installer and the files are now digitally signed.
- Updated: A new EULA is available when installing the software.
- Reverted: Secure Rules feature was reverted to the old implementation from version
5.0.2.0. The implementation from versions 5.1.x.x-5.3.x.x creates too many problems
than it solves.
- Fixed: Under certain circumstances, Connections Log displays nothing in Windows 10.
- Fixed: 'Use proxy configuration' is checked even if the user presses the Cancel
button in the proxy configuration dialog.

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Most likely due to Malwarebytes taking over the development by having Binisoft's developer join their team.

NOTE: You'll need to uninstall a previous version to upgrade to v5.4.0.0, either export/import your current firewall rules or select the option to keep the current rules when you uninstall, (by default it resets the rules to Windows default on uninstall).

That said, I seem to be getting an installer error when I try to install it so don't be too hasty deleting the previous version installer

ADDENDUM: The problem was MBAM's Self Protection Module, it needed to be disabled and then installation worked.

A review of v3 that I did some time ago, much has changed but the core operation it is still similar.

[4wd]

More information on v5.4.0.0, it now has telemetry courtesy of Malwarebytes, see here.

Off the record:
The following data is sent once a day to Malwarebytes: program version, os version, os architecture (x64, x86), os language (english, german, etc), filesystem (ntfs, fat32), process run as administrator or not, computer is joined into a domain or not, machine id. No personal data is collected. These are used for statistics data to see how many users of WFC exist. Depending on the number of existing users, WFC will continue to receive new features or not. A reduced number of installations will probably stop the development of WFC, a large number will probably continue the development.

mbcut(32).dlls are used to generate a unique machine id based on os architecture. These are the same in any Malwarebytes products. Newtonsoft.Json.dll is used to create the JSON data which is sent to Malwarebytes servers.

Note: This data is sent if Windows Firewall has outbound filtering disabled (Low Filtering or No Filtering profile is used) or if there is an allow rule for wfc.exe and outbound filtering is enabled (Medium Filtering profile). In case it can't send the data if will fail silently without making nasty stuff. You can check this through Connections Log where all connections (allowed or blocked) are anyway logged. Keep in mind that if everyone will block this, it may lead to the decision of not investing anymore in WFC because there are not enough users to keep supporting it.

For those who want to stick with 5.3.1.0 it is available here, (direct link).

[IainB]

Hmm:

Malwarebytes
Welcome, Binisoft fans
"We at Malwarebytes are big fans too. ...And not to worry—we will maintain, support, and keep Binisoft products free for everyone in the short term. ..."
Source: https://binisoft.org/

...and another one bites the dust...