If you want true outbound firewall protection, use this to help manage Windows Vista’s built-in firewall.
Microsoft has been touting the new Windows Firewall in Windows Vista, which it says for the first time includes an outbound filter as well as an inbound filter. Outbound filters are important, because if you’ve been infected with a Trojan or similar software, it makes an outbound connection without your knowledge, letting someone else take control of your PC. Some malware can also turn your PC into a spam-spewing robot, sending out email without your knowledge.
Unfortunately, the outbound filter in Windows Vista is, in essence, turned off by default. And as a practical matter, it’s impossible to manually configure it to block malware making outbound connections. That’s where the free VistaFirewallControl comes in. Install it, and whenever an application tries to access the Internet, a screen pops up, with the application name, the publisher, and similar information, as well its path and file name. You can enable or disable inbound or outbound connections it tries to make, either permanently, or just this one time. http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,64950-order,1-page,1-c,allfirewallsdownloads/description.html
Well it does the job. Inbound is still filtered by WinVista firewall, while outbound is filtered by VFC. I tried GRC and it went flying in green colors. Leaktest was also stopped. Only thing thats a bit annoying is that you sometimes have to restart new program after allowing it in order for it to get connection properly. Some work just fine right away. Resource usage is minimal (1,5MB under Vista).
I am using it last few days and it really does what’s expected. No extra bells and whistles, just pure outbound protection. Don’t need some application to call home without even noticing me. Nothing is leaving my puter if I don’t want it to leave. Don’t even know that’s installed until you get one of those pop-ups (Allow/Deny connections) or until you take a look at the taskbar and see this unbelievable ugly icon… oh my God, couldn’t they come up with something better than this ?!! And it’s Vista, not XP anymore… haven’t they heard that it’s insanely easy to use alpha transparency on icons in Vista ? : OK, some will always add that look is not important… umh… well, that simply isn’t true.
I want to revive this topic as I have just started to use Vista Firewall Control Free and it is OK and from what I see it does provide outbound protection and warns if a new application wants out.
I have Vista Firewall Control YoKenny and I think it a good useful addition to give Vista a easily configureable outbound blocking firewall.This is how Microsoft should have made it in the first place IMHO.If you try Vista’s own firewall with advanced security settings you will be configuring it for a very long time. ;).
The problem being if MS came out with a good firewall pre-installed and with outbound protection. The makers of all other firewalls would have been screaming foul, anti-competitive practice and the EU would be up in arms again as they still are about windows media player (big fine).
By all accounts this is one of the reasons were you can disable IE8 in windows7 so it isn’t the default browser (still installed though), to avoid possible anti-competitive practice suits.
So MS are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, hence why outbound protection is a) disabled by default and b) not brilliant when enabled and why products like the Vista Firewall Control come about.
It is even worse, because of this a lot of users with Vista do not even think of installing a software firewall, because they have the “half” Windows fw, don’t they? This is bad, also there are fw’s that create problems running on vista, so that also make people decide to go surfing without one, making it even easier for some forms of malware to do what it pleases to do or do it unnoticed by the inbuilt Vista firewall. Again an extra minus for Microsoft where pro-active protection is concerned, and that is the only way to go now with all the online malware and scams, on the other hand I can see that the software giant finds itself between a rock and a hard place where the question of bundled software is concerned, let us wait for the new avast fw to come out, and hope it is quite easy to get it installed onto vista,
No different to XP users and their false sense of security in the XP firewall where the supposed firewall didn’t have any outbound protection (disabled or otherwise) at all. Ignorance is bliss but dangerous if you do happen to get infected.
And no one to wake them up, if I had not visited these forums I had not been aware either of a lot of these basic facts a user should be alerted to before going out onto the grim ever changing World Wide Web with a computer and apps, and most of the sleeping unaware are in for an experience that looks more like a bump ride or a ghost alley roller coaster ride,
Oh dear I have to get up on my soap box again and espouse why I believe a software firewall is redundant and like wearing both a belt and suspenders on a pair of trousers.
I am talking about non built in software firewalls like ZoneAlarm or Comodo.
Any malware that manages to get past your defences will have free reign to connect to the internet to either download more of the same, pass your personal data (sensitive or otherwise, user names, passwords, keylogger retrieved data, etc.) or open a backdoor to your computer, so outbound protection is essential.
These forums are full of instances of a) first day or undetected malware and b) said malware inviting along guests to the party.
Start mixing the crow with the pie, young ones that is, tastier than the humble variety.
Now what DavidR says only goes for certain types of malware, like backdoor trojans and file infector upon file infector, I have got this behaviour confirmed by the mods here,
And not all malware that can send out from your computer will be blocked by an inbound firewall since that is not how it got on a computer in the first place. Any cd, dvd, pen drive, sd card, etc can possible include malware that “calls home.”
OK, some will always add that look is not important… umh… well, that simply isn’t true.