----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.11.0.0 (22.04.2024) - Fixed: After creating a temporary rule from the notification dialog which includes multiple programs blocked, you must close the notification dialog otherwise all new rules are temporary. - Fixed: Search functionality in Rules Panel does not include the Description property. - Improved: The algorithm for detecting invalid rules for Windows Store apps was updated to avoid false detections. - Improved: The error handling and logging was enhanced on certain parts of code. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.10.0.0 (19.04.2024) - Improved: The export functionality was revised so that it does not stop if a rule is invalid. The invalid rule will be skipped and the others will be exported. - Fixed: Exporting of the rules fails if one of the rules has the Description null. - Fixed: Sorting of notifications exceptions list does not always work. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.9 (18.04.2024) - Fixed: Certain Windows Store firewall rules may show as invalid in Rules Panel when they are still valid. - Improved: Notifications exceptions list is now sorted for uppercase entries first and then the others. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.8 (16.04.2024) - 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.7 (11.04.2024) - New: Added support for retrieving the friendly name for Name, Group, Description of Windows Store firewall rules. - Fixed: When importing user settings with proxy config, the tray app wfcUI.exe crashes on startup. - Fixed: It is not possible to remove the custom IP addresses/ranges from the High Filtering profile custom rules once they are set. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.6 (03.03.2024) - Fixed: When importing user settings the authorized groups list is not refreshed. - Fixed: The experimental feature which auto creates allow rules for certain paths generates duplicate rules if a blocking rule prevents certain connections. - Fixed: The tray icon does not offer any clue if the program runs in standard user mode or in elevated mode. - Fixed: Learning mode tray context menu item remains disabled even after elevated rights are granted. - New: Added a new WFC recommend rule for wwahost.exe which is required to reset a Windows PIN. Without this rule it is impossible to reset a Windows PIN. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.4 (10.02.2024) - Improved: Request elevation button will not restart wfcUI.exe anymore. Instead, it will remove the read-only state from the current non-elevated executing instance. - Improved: When a new rule is created by the experimental notification exception feature, Rules Panel will refresh if it is open. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.3 (28.01.2024) - Fixed: Create WFC recommended rules does not work in the latest installer. - Fixed: After installation 'Auto refresh on open' is set by default to true in Connections Log instead of false. - Improved: Added read only access to Rules Panel, Connections Log and Notifications for standard user accounts. - Improved: Run button is will start WFC under the user account which started the installer instead of the elevated user account. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.2 (21.01.2024) - Fixed: It is not possible to create a duplicate of the first rule in Rules Panel. - Fixed: Remote code execution vulnerability via gRPC named pipes. - Updated: Standard user accounts are allowed to perform elevated actions without requiring elevation authorization. Starting with this version, if wfcUI.exe is executed as a standard user account, it has only read access for the user interface. The software must be elevated before being able to perform any write actions (CVE-2023-36631). - Updated: Run button was disabled in the installer to avoid executing the software under an elevated account from a standard user account. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.1 (14.12.2023) - Improved: The notification dialog was updated to be able to add a notification exception for the full path too. - Improved: Loading time was decreased for Rules Panel and Connections Log with a new cache mechanism for program icons. - Fixed: Rules Panel may crash if there are hundreds of firewall rules and the rules are scrolled up and down multiple times. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.9.0 (20.11.2023) - Improved: When exporting rules, the sorting order and filters are now preserved in the exported wpw file. On import you get back what was seen in Rules Panel at export time. - Improved: The import and the export of the firewall rules are fully async now. This improves the UI responsiveness during these actions. - Fixed: When duplicating multiple rules at once, they are created in the reversed order. - Fixed: Authorized groups list has a display issue where it displays also the internal group names. - Fixed: When creating a duplicate rule in Rules Panel the Please wait message remains displayed and Rules Panel needs to be closed and reopened. - Fixed: Secure Rules disables custom groups names in the latest version. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.8.0 (14.11.2023) - Improved: Retrieving the group display names uses now shlwapi.dll. This fixes group names with dll names and resource ids. - Improved: Default option is now the third one in the uninstall dialog. This will leave the firewall rules untouched during uninstall. - Improved: The speed of importing a *.wpw file was improved by updating the internal cache mechanism. - Improved: The speed of deleting multiple rules at once was improved. - Fixed: Can't load language files which have a language code that is not 2 letters. - Fixed: Experimental feature that auto allows certain paths/file names does not work anymore. - Fixed: During uninstall restoring default/previous Windows Firewall rules fails if Secure Rules is enabled. - Fixed: Deleting multiple rules at once may fail if Secure Rules is enabled. - Fixed: Search functionality may result in a crash in Rules Panel and Connections Log. - Removed: Exporting/importing to/from *.wfw file (Windows Firewall format) was removed due to unreliable results. This still can be done from WFwAS, but not from WFC anymore. - New: Added translation for Serbian language. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.7.0 (20.10.2023) - Fixed: Can not delete invalid rules located under C:\$WINDOWS.~BT folder - Fixed: Adding multiple rules at once to the same group fails if the rules have no description set. - Fixed: Notifications are disabled after WFC restart and must be re-enabled again. - Fixed: When unchecking the 'Blocked connections' in Connections Log, the notifications still appear as enabled when they are in fact disabled. - Fixed: Can not create a duplicate of a temporary rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.6.0 (18.10.2023) - Fixed: Global hotkey to toggle the filtering profile does not use the current profile on first use. - Fixed: Company logo is missing on top area. - Fixed: Some group names from Windows 11 are not properly recognized/disaplyed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.5.0 (18.10.2023) - Fixed: Global hotkeys can't be set properly without restarting the software. - Improved: Uninstall dialog will now resize to content so that it displays the entire content in all languages. - Removed: Unmaintained language files were removed from the software. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.4.0 (17.10.2023) - New: Added compatibility with Smart App Control from Windows 11. The process wfc.exe was renamed to wfcUI.exe. - Improved: Replaced WCF with GRPC for inter process communication. WFC requires now NET Framework 4.6.2 or a newer version. - Improved: Global hotkey which can toggle between Low and Medium profiles can now toggle between all profiles. - Improved: User settings are now applied per user account. Only the settings from Security tab are still global per machine. - Fixed: Main Panel opens multiple times if you press fast on the tray icon. - Fixed: Secure Boot is not enabling High Filtering profile if wfc.exe is not running. - Fixed: Installer does not work if there is a WCF related problem with .NET Framework installation. - Fixed: After a failed policy import, notifications are not displayed anymore and a program restart is required to re-enable them. - Fixed: Notification dialog becomes unresponsive if a program generates a lot of blocked connections. - Fixed: WFC service fails to start if EventLog service is unavailable. - Fixed: Shell Integration allows creating new firewall rules even if WFC is locked with a password. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.2.0 (15.02.2023) - New: Added 3 new providers for WHOIS queries in Tools tab. - Improved: Removed file extension validation in Properties dialog to allow more rules to be created, especially for Windows Subsystem for Linux. - Fixed: Rules Panel hangs if a program path is a network path. - Fixed: The system tray context menu for notifications mode is not updated when changing the language. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.9.0.0 (04.02.2023) - New: Added support to change the notifications mode from the system tray context menu and from CMD line. They are available only when Medium Filtering profile is the current selected profile. - New: Added support for negative search in Rules Panel and Connections Log. Use "!" in front of a search term to exclude it. - Fixed: Locking/unlocking the application does not work correctly on Windows 11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.8.2.0 (10.05.2022) - New: Redesigned the global hotkeys to support more combinations. - Fixed: WFC installer was updated against exe hijacking vulnerability. - Fixed: Moving a temporary rule to a different group name does not clear the outdated description. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.8.1.0 (10.02.2022) - Improved: The logic of disabling unauthorized rules was changed to update the rule description instead of the rule name to avoid repeated rule creation as a result of different rule name. - Fixed: The programs executed from Tools tab can be used for privilege escalation. For standard user accounts, these tools will prompt the UAC dialog so that only administrators can launch them with full privileges (CVE-2022-25150). - Fixed: Creating new rules for files with empty file description creates new rules with an empty starting space. These rules can't be modified from WFwAS. - Fixed: Icon from profile switch notification is not the correct one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.7.0.0 (22.08.2021) - New: Global hotkey for toggling between Low and Medium Filtering profiles. - Improved: Replaced some user actions confirmation dialogs with Windows notifications. In Windows 10 they will be displayed in the notifications area and on Windows 7 as tray icon balloon notifications. - Fixed: The ULRs used for the services from Tools tab were updated to use https instead of http. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.5.0.0 (20.05.2021) - New: The notification dialog displays now the count of blocked attempts for each program that is notified. - Improved: The keyboard shortcuts to switch between notifications were changed in notification dialog to Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right. - Fixed: Privilege escalation vulnerability was fixed in WFC service. - Fixed: Some group names are not displayed correctly in Rules Panel. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.4.0.0 (17.08.2020) - New: Added a new entry to Direction combo box in Connections Log. The user can see now both inbound and outbound entries in the same results list. - Improved: Updated the Time generated column in Connection Log to display the time zone. - Improved: Search in Connections Log and Rules Panel was extended to include the service column. - Improved: The x button from text boxes that is clearing their content is back. - Fixed: Learning Mode does not work anymore when language is not set to English. - Fixed: When multiple network adapters are found the Location displayed in Dashboard panel is Public instead of Private. - Fixed: When importing the user settings, restarting the application fails if it is executed only with standard privileges. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.3.0.0 (27.06.2020) - Improved: Detecting invalid rules is now made at service level instead of UI level, meaning that the rules defined for files that are not accessible are not detected anymore as invalid. - Fixed: Connections Log loading time increased after last update if Security log contains older entries for processes that are not running anymore. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.2.0.0 (24.06.2020) - Improved: Remote addresses content is now expanding to fill the available space in Properties dialog so that more content can be displayed. - Fixed: Properties dialog is not displayed anymore if two or more Windows services have the same Display Name. - Fixed: The service name for svchost.exe notifications is detected only for the Windows services that are already running when WFC service starts. If a Windows service is started after, the notification will not detect the Windows service that triggered the notification. - Fixed: Unhandled exception is logged if certain files are missing from the installation folder. - Fixed: When editing a rule details in the Notification dialog, the rule name can be set as one or several empty spaces. - Fixed: Properties dialog can't apply changes to a rule if the path of the rule is not accessible or not found. This limitation was removed. Also the tooltip was updated since a rule with red text does not always mean the file is not found, it can also mean the file is not accessible (file located in a folder of another user account, encrypted location, etc). - Fixed: In Notification dialog the text (Yes, No, Not valid) under Signed property is not localized. - Removed: The x button from text boxes that is clearing their content. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.1.0.0 (04.01.2020) - New: Added keyboard shortcuts for the Notification Dialog. For more information please refer to the 'Keyboard shortcuts' section from the user manual . - New: Added 'Select All' context menu item for all text boxes. - Fixed: Due to the latest SSL improvements on the hosting server, the check for a new version does not work anymore. - Fixed: During install/update, after the UAC prompt, for 1-2 seconds is displayed the previous page instead of the progress page. - Fixed: The uninstaller does not work if the WFC service can not be initialized. - Fixed: In some rare cases, the uninstaller may hang during the uninstallation. - Fixed: Sorting by Time Generated column in Connections Log does not work. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.0.2.0 (04.03.2019) - New: The notifications for svchost.exe include now the service name which generated the blocked connection under the Name. Creating a rule for svchost.exe from the notification dialog will always include the service in the newly created rule. - New: Connections Log has now a new column for the Service name which is used by svchost.exe. The lookup is made based on the ProcessID, therefore for older entries, the exact service name can't be detected. - Fixed: The width of some strings from Dashboard was extended to display properly when a different language is used. - Fixed: Rules properties are not updated in Rules Panel if they are open while changing the user interface language. - Fixed: Some group names are not displayed correctly in Rules Panel. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.0.1.0 (27.02.2019) - Fixed: The installer can't continue if another security software is registered in Windows Security Center with firewall capabilities. - Fixed: In some cases, the connected location is reported Public instead of Private. - Fixed: The uninstall process does not always remove all files. - Fixed: The tabs width in Main Panel has a fixed width which prevents the tab name to be displayed completely. - Improved: If the PDF user manual is downloaded and placed in the same folder as wfc.exe, when launching the user manual the local file will be opened instead of the PDF file located on the web site. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 6.0.0.0 (26.02.2019) - New: The user interface was updated to follow the Malwarebytes theme. - New: A new Dashboard tab was added which displays the state of Windows Firewall, the status of inbound and outbound connections and the connected Location. - New: Multi language support was added in the Options tab. All available translation files are extracted automatically to a subfolder named "lang". Switching the language of the user interface is now easier. - New: The user manual was migrated from .chm to an online .pdf file. It can be opened by using the new question mark buttons from the user interface and also by pressing the F1 key. - Improved: When changing the profile in WFC, if the inbound connections are allowed, which is a security risk, they will be set to be by default blocked. If they are already set to be blocked or all blocked (through WFwAS) then their status will be preserved. - Fixed: The profile reported in WFC might not be accurate on the first run if the outbound filtering has different values for different locations. - Fixed: Pressing on "Check this file" in Rules Panel or Connections Log when the program path is empty generates an exception in WFC log. - Fixed: The connected location displayed in WFC is displayed as 'VPN' instead of 'Public' when multiple network adapters are active. - Fixed: Checking for updates is made through http instead of https. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.4.1.0 (03.01.2019) - Fixed: After some Windows updates, the Connections Log may remain empty and the notifications might not be displayed anymore. The auditing settings will now be reapplied on each WFC startup to ensure the functionality. - Fixed: Search term is removed in Connections Log when the Refresh list is done. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.3.1.0 (24.04.2018) - New: Added a confirmation dialog before enabling Secure Rules and Secure Profile, informing the users that they should consult the user manual to understand the effects and the side effects of enabling these features. - Fixed: The status of Secure Rules and Secure Profile are incorrectly reported in the Security tab in Windows 10 version 1803. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.3.0.0 (19.03.2018) - Removed: Obfuscated code was removed in order to avoid false positives. - Updated: The documentation was updated. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.1.1.0 (15.03.2018) - Removed: 'Auto receive updates' functionality was removed from Connections Log, as it consumes a lot of resources and make the entire application unresponsive. - Improved: The Properties dialog layout was updated so that it can fit better on low resolutions. - Improved: When opening Rules Panel, the default focused element is now the search box. - Improved: The search string from Rules Panel will not be cleared anymore when refreshing the data grid or when changing the filters. - Fixed: When Secure Profile is enabled, firewall rules created for executable files located on mounted drives do not apply anymore. The user has to switch manually the profile so that Windows Firewall will refresh the existing firewall rules. - Fixed: When the activation dialog is displayed, the Main Panel is displayed always on top. - Fixed: When the vertical scroll bar is visible in toolbox in the Rules Panel and Connections Log windows, the border on the right side is missing. - Fixed: When an item is selected in the notifications exceptions list, the foreground color is hard to read. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.1.0.0 (04.03.2018) - New: 'Secure Rules' was rewritten from scratch. When enabled, this feature will prohibit adding, modifying or removing firewall rules from outside of WFC. - New: A new feature called 'Secure Profile' was added in the Security tab. When enabled, importing firewall rules and changing the filtering mode of Windows Firewall is possible only from WFC. - New: A dialog is displayed to the user if the uninstall is launched while the program is locked with a password. - New: A new global hot key can be defined in Options tab to toggle Secure Rules state. - Fixed: If the uninstaller is launched multiple times, the dialog is displayed multiple times instead of focusing the already running instance of it. - Improved: When choosing a custom notification sound for the notifications, the dialog will now open by default in 'C:\Windows\Media' folder. - Improved: Various user interface improvements. - Updated: The WFC recommended rules contain now some inbound rules required for accessing the computers from the local network. - Updated: The URL services from the Tools tab were updated. - Updated: The user manual was updated with new topics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.0.2.0 (05.01.2018) - Fixed: After the fix that made it possible to deselect the last selected entry, double click doesn't work anymore as expected in Rules Panel and Connections Log. - Fixed: Properties dialog of the program is displayed under notification dialog instead of on top of it. - Fixed: When creating a new rule in WFC, if the 'Name' or 'Description' contain special characters, they are removed even if the same values are valid when creating the same rule from WFwAS. - Fixed: Sorting by 'Action' column does not work in Rules Panel and Connections Log. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.0.1.19 (28.11.2017) - Reverted: Due to many requests, the required .NET Framework version is now back 4.5 instead of 4.6. - New: Pressing right click on the program name in the notification dialog will open the file properties dialog. 'Check this file' was moved to the left click on the program icon. - Fixed: Creating a new rule fails if the name or description contain invalid characters. WFC will automatically remove invalid characters, allowing the creation of the rule. - Fixed: Randomly, the program appears inactivated even if it was activated before restarting the operating system. - Fixed: Leaving Connections Log window open for several hours with 'Auto receive updates' enabled may lead wfc.exe to consume several GB of memory. From this version, older entries will be replaced with new entries. If there are 30 new entries received, 30 oldest entries will be first removed, and then the new entries will be added on top of the list. - Fixed: In Rules Panel and Connections Log, once you make a selection, you can't deselect the last entry if you press outside of a valid selection. - Improved: The logging was extended with all details of a rule which fails to be created, modified or deleted, to be able to catch all scenarios when these failures may occur. - Updated: The user manual was updated with new screenshots and updated topics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.0.0.2 (08.10.2017) - Fixed: When connected to a VPN, the location displayed in Main Panel does not return anything. - Fixed: Secure Rules remains enabled in WFC service even when 'Reset all settings to the default values' from the Options tab is executed. The Secure Rules checkbox is unchecked but it is actually enabled. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.0.0.1 (04.10.2017) - Fixed: During to a failed commit/build, the previous version did not display anything in the Action column. Rules Panel and Connections Log were affected. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 5.0.0.0 (04.10.2017) - New: Connections Log contains now an "Auto refresh on open" check box which will automatically trigger Refresh when the window is opened. - New: Connections Log contains now an "Auto receive updates" check box which will automatically add the newest entries on top of the list. More info can be found in the user manual. - New: Main Panel displays now the currently connected location of Windows Firewall. - New: Added "Open the website" functionality in the About tab. - Fixed: Duplicate notifications may be displayed if the location of Windows Firewall changes after WFC service start-up and there are rules defined for specific locations. - Fixed: Merge rules functionality from Rules Panel does create the merged rule, but does not remove anymore the old rules. - Fixed: Import policy displays a successful operation result, even if the import has failed due to a file access denied error. - Fixed: Refresh does not work anymore in Connections Log after using the search. The window must be closed and reopened to be able to refresh again the data grid. - Fixed: Some group names from Windows 10 are not recognized. - Fixed: 'mDNS' keyword is not valid in Properties dialog as local port when opening such an inbound rule for UDP protocol. - Updated: The user manual was updated with new screenshots and updated topics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.9.4 (09.09.2017) - Improved: The performance of Connections Log was increased by 47% on multi-core systems by using parallel computing. - Fixed: In Windows 10, local/remote IP and local/remote port are switched for inbound connections when they are displayed in Connections Log. The switching should operate only on Windows 7 and Windows 8 since this is already fixed by Microsoft in Windows 10. - Fixed: Find duplicates functionality from Rules Panel does not detect some duplicates if the path contains different upper/lower characters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.9.2 (27.07.2017) - Improved: Added tooltips and color indicators in the activation dialog to make the activation process more intuitive. - Fixed: Removing hundreds of rules at once in Rules Panel makes the window unresponsive until the action is actually finished. - Fixed: There is no progress indication in Rules Panel for long running tasks, like when importing a large partial policy file or when creating duplicate rules for multiple rules at once. - Fixed: The confirmation dialog which is displayed when "Blocked connections" check box is unchecked in Connections Log is not displayed in the center of Connections Log but in the center of Rules Panel. - Fixed: When the program is locked, depending on where the mouse pointer is placed over the unlock button, the tooltip still displays "Lock..." instead of "Unlock...". - Fixed: The Local Addresses combo box from the Properties dialog should not contain any tooltip since this field does not support special keywords. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.9.0 (23.06.2017) - New: WFC installer accepts now switches for silent install/update. Check the user manual to see how this can be used. - Fixed: Connections Log can't resolve the paths for executable files located on RAM disks. - Updated: The user manual was updated with new topics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.8.0 (13.05.2017) - New: The installer was updated and does not use anymore a second installer file which is extracted in the TEMP folder. The UAC prompt is now displayed for the same file, not for the extracted file from the TEMP folder. - Updated: The profile changing is now made through Windows Firewall API instead of netsh command. - Fixed: The user manual file is not deleted at uninstallation if WFC is installed into a folder different than the default proposed one. - Updated: The troubleshooting section of the user manual was updated. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.7.0 (22.04.2017) - Important: Starting with this version, WFC is targeted to use .NET Framework 4.6 instead of .NET Framework 4.5 which is outdated. - Important: Removed support for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. - New: Added "-nogpu" parameter to wfc.exe. This will turn off GPU hardware acceleration when rendering WFC. Use this when connecting remotely to a machine where hardware acceleration is not available. - New: Added the Action column in Connections Log so that the entries copied to clipboard will contain also the action among the other properties. - New: When the WFC tray application can't connect to WFC service and the exclamation mark icon is displayed in the system tray, left click on the WFC icon will open the user manual to the Troubleshooting section. Also, a 'User manual' entry is available in the right click context menu. - Updated: The troubleshooting section of the user manual was updated. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.6.0 (26.03.2017) - Updated: WFC recommended rules contain now the required rules for PING command for ICMPv4 and ICMPv6. Also, the recommended rule for WFC updater contains now the port 443 since the website uses now HTTPS instead of HTTP. - Updated: The disabled rules in Rules Panel and the entries in Connections Log use now system colors instead of hard coded colors. This improves readability when a high contrast theme is used. - Fixed: Inbound connections have local port and remote port swapped in Connections Log data grid. - Fixed: When choosing 'Customize and create' in Connections Log an inbound connection, the local port and IP should be swapped with the remote port and IP in order to create a working rule. - Fixed: Blank window with no message is displayed when trying to install an older version over an existing newer version. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.5.0 (03.03.2017) - Fixed: Context menu doesn't work on text boxes with watermarks if the watermarks are visible. - Fixed: In some scenarios the system tray icon may become unresponsive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.4.0 (19.02.2017) - New: The context menu of Rules Panel has a new entry named "Authorize group". This will add the group of the selected rule in the authorized groups list and will enable the rule. - Fixed: In Connections Log, for inbound connections, the Source and Destination IP addresses are swapped. - Updated: The copyright info still display year 2016 instead of 2017. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.3.0 (07.02.2017) - Updated: 'Start automatically at user logon' is made now through Windows Registry instead of the shortcut in 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup' folder. - Fixed: Importing policies from network shares does not work. The same applies when exporting a partial or a full policy is made on a network location. - Fixed: In Connections Log, 'Local' has the meaning of 'Source' and the 'Remote' has the meaning of 'Destination'. In Connections Log, Local Ports/Addresses were renamed to Source Port/Address and Remote Ports/Addresses were renamed to Destination Port/Address. - Updated: The user manual was updated to reflect the new changes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.2.0 (02.01.2017) - Fixed: At uninstallation the "Program Compatibility Assistant" is displayed. The code was updated to avoid displaying this for WFC installer/uninstaller. - Fixed: After last update, the columns visibility is not remembered after reopening the Rules Panel or Connections Log. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.1.0 (22.12.2016) - New: Added "Freeze first column" option in the header context menu of Rules Panel and Connections Log. When enabled, it will always keep the first column visible. - Updated: When Secure Rules is set to disable unauthorized rules, WFC will automatically disable these rules and will add the "U - " prefix to the rule name. The group name is not changed anymore and the "Unauthorized Rules" group was removed. - Fixed: Secure Rules delay when removing/disabling inbound rules with Edge Traversal set to "Defer to user". - Updated: The user manual was updated to reflect the new changes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.9.0.0 (14.12.2016) - Updated: The notifications system was redesigned in order to allow defining exceptions. The High notification level was removed since the new notifications system can be configured to achieve the same results. The existing modes were renamed. - Fixed: In Properties dialog, the local addresses field should not accept custom keywords like the remote addresses field since this is not allowed not even from WFwAS. - Fixed: In Properties dialog it is not possible to select "Services only". Opening such a rule result in an empty selection in Services combo box. - Fixed: Duplicate authorized group names can be added if the case is changed. - Updated: The user manual was updated to reflect the new changes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.9.0 (27.11.2016) - Improved: When enabling Secure Rules, if there are rules with no group names, WFC offers the user the possibility to add them to the WFC default group name. - Improved: Added better support for handling inbound rules with EdgeTraversal set to "Defer to user". This affects the editing of these rules, group renaming and the relation with Secure Rules which could not add these rules in the Unauthorized Rules group. - Fixed: The rules from "mDNS" group are not recognized correctly on Windows 10. - Fixed: The updater does not work if the previous service executable file (wfcs.exe) does not exist on disk anymore. - Fixed: Exception message is displayed if the service is closed and immediately the user presses the Exit button from the tray icon. - Updated: The user manual topics were extended. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.8.0 (24.10.2016) - Improved: "Add to group" from Rules Panel contains now, besides the group names of the existing firewall rules, also the authorized group names. - Improved: The dialog that confirms if a new rule was created from Shell Integration was restored and will be displayed again. - Improved: The logging was extended for better debugging. - Fixed: "Click to allow/block" dialog can be resized even if it shouldn't. - Fixed: In some circumstances, the installer may give an InvalidDataException during the installation on Windows 10. - Updated: The user manual was updated to reflect the new changes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.7.0 (28.09.2016) - Improved: The Notification dialog is now resizable. - Fixed: Fixed unquoted service path which can be exploited at WFC service start-up for privilege escalation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.6.0 (14.09.2016) - Fixed: The check of files on VirusTotal doesn't work anymore because the online provider accepts now only lowercase SHA256 hashes instead of uppercase. - Updated: Added context sensitive help based on the selected tab in Main Panel and based on the focused window or dialog. Just use the F1 key almost anywhere to find useful information. - Updated: The user manual topics were extended with new topics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.5.0 (21.08.2016) - Updated: Added support for grouping the duplicate rules in Rules Manager. - Updated: Replaced all PNG icons with vector images which are correctly displayed on all DPI settings and all high contrast themes. - Updated: The user manual topics were extended. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.4.0 (09.08.2016) - New: Added support to find duplicate rules in Rules Panel. - Fixed: The application always uses the Calibri font family which for some users may not be the best font. If the user changes the default font from the Advanced Appearance Settings... dialog, WFC is still displayed with Calibri font. Now the WFC user interface reflects the system font. - Fixed: Pressing multiple times on F1 key will open multiple times the user manual. - Updated: Pressing the F1 key in the focused window will open the user manual to the corresponding topic instead of the main page. - Updated: The user manual topics were extended. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.3.0 (19.07.2016) - New: Finally, a user manual was added to the program. It can be launched by pressing the F1 key or from the new button available in the Main Panel. - New: The desktop the Start menu shortcuts which are created at program installation contain now the -mp parameter which will launch the Main Panel when they are executed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.2.0 (06.07.2016) - Updated: The recommended WFC rule "WFC - Windows Update" rule is now by default enabled and the rule "WFC - Windows Store (svchost.exe)" was removed. - Fixed: Revert profile does not set the desired profile after the time elapses if it is activated and the profile is not changed. If Low Filtering profile is already in use and the revert profile is activated, then nothing happens. - Fixed: With the latest improvements, the launch of wfc.exe with parameters does work only on the first run. This affects also the uninstaller which on the first run attempt does not display the uninstall dialog. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.1.0 (30.06.2016) - Improved: The start-up mechanism of wfc.exe was updated for faster launch. - New: Added a confirmation dialog before restoring WFC recommended rules. - Updated: The WFC recommended allow rules were updated based on the feedback received in the past months. - Removed: The WFC recommended block rules were all removed since they are useless when Medium Filtering is applied. In some cases they also created connectivity issues with Windows Update. - Removed: Shell Integration does not allow creating multiple rules for the same file. - Fixed: Shell Integration does not work properly. If multiple files are selected in Windows Explorer, new rules are created only for some of them. - Fixed: The Exit menu item of the tray application does not work anymore if the service is stopped. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.8.0.0 (21.06.2016) - Updated: If the Rules Panel is open and a new rule is created as a result of using the Low notification level, then the data grid is automatically refreshed to see the newly created rule. - Updated: The automatic refresh in Connections Log which is done when a combo box value is changed was removed. From now on, the refresh must be trigerred manually. - Fixed: If Connections Log window is closed while performing a long running task, the service does not abort the loading. This requires additional resources while the window was already closed and there is no need for further processing. - Fixed: Connections Log window remains open if the service is stopped and the window was open. - Fixed: Notification dialog freezes in some scenarios if a program that is being blocked tries to reconnect hundreds of times per second but on different ports. - Fixed: After switching to editing mode in notification dialog, the ports and remote IP are updated automatically if the program retries to reconnect. - Fixed: Importing a full policy that was exported while High Filtering was enabled blocks WFC in High Filtering profile. Changing the profile does not help as the High Filtering profile is automatically switched back in a few seconds. - Fixed: Importing a full policy always switches the WFC profile to Low Filtering. The profile is now unchanged after importing a full policy file. - Fixed: The rule name can contain leading or trailing white spaces when created from WFC, while from WFwAS this is not allowed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.7.5.0 (04.06.2016) - New: Added a new provider for the SHA256 check. It is configurable from the Tools tab. - New: Added "Check file" functionality from Connections Log also in the Rules Panel toolbox and right click context menu. - Fixed: The last window position and size is not restored on reopen when a different DPI setting than the default value is used. - Fixed: Connections Log crashes if the Security log size is increased by the user and the processing data takes longer than 1 minute. Observed for a 200MB log size. - Fixed: While refreshing the Connections Log, the old entries are displayed instead of a loading status. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.7.4.0 (25.05.2016) - Improved: The system tray application (wfc.exe) is now able to force the service (wfcs.exe) to reinitialize itself if the service encountered a problem during the start-up and was not initialized correctly. This will reduce the cases when the WFC tray icon displays the black icon stating that it cannot connect to the service. - Improved: Added smooth transition of the progress bar in the installation dialog. - Fixed: The status of the system tray icon is not updated if the service is manually stopped or restarted. - Fixed: Opened Connections Log is not automatically closed when the program is locked with a password. - Fixed: Invalid coordinates saved in Windows Registry can lead to inability to reopen some dialogs. Observed for the "Customize and create" dialog from Connections Log. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.7.3.0 (18.05.2016) - New: Added a new button in the View section to launch Connections Log from Rules Panel and vice versa. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Tab can be used to switch between these two windows too. If one is closed, Ctrl+Tab will launch the other one. - Improved: The list of custom authorized groups from the Security tab is now sorted alphabetically on saving. Unsorted inserted entries will be sorted on the next reopening of the Main Panel. - Fixed: Connections Log can be launched from the defined hotkey even if the program is locked with a password. - Fixed: Clear Log confirmation dialog appears in the center of the Rules Panel window instead of the Connections Log window. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.7.2.0 (24.04.2016) - New: If the profile is set to No Filtering and the user inserts a new removable drive, the profile is automatically reverted to the previous profile to avoid unwanted programs to automatically connect to the network/Internet. This is a new implementation based on the code from USBC which does not generate errors in Windows Reliability Monitor. - Fixed: The rules created for executable files which are located on removable drives don't work anymore if the drive is removed and reinserted, even if the same drive letter is assigned. - Fixed: The vertical scrollbar from Security tab appears always even if the content is maximized. - Removed: The grayed out effect for the predefined group names was removed. - Removed: The installer can't update the existing installation if the same version is already installed. This limitation was removed and the updater can update the same version by overwriting the existing installation. The updater still does not allow to install an older version over a newer version. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.7.1.0 (10.04.2016) - New: Secure Rules was extended to allow two possible actions when handling unauthorized rules: delete or disable. All the rules that will be automatically disabled will be moved in a new predefined group named 'Unauthorized Rules'. The user can now review these rules in Rules Panel. - Fixed: Customize and allow does not work in Connections Log from the toolbox button or from the context menu. It works only on double click. - Fixed: Connections Log menu item is enabled in the system tray context menu if the service is not started. - Fixed: The IP set in the rule named "WFC - Windows Firewall Control Updater" needs to be updated to the new website IP which is now 66.198.240.5. - Improved: The timeout for checking for new updates was increased from 3 seconds to 10 to in order avoid connection timeout result. - Improved: The predefined group names which can't be removed are now grayed out in the Authorized groups list. Added tooltip for the new authorized group text box to inform the user about the @ wildcard that can be used for Windows 10 apps rules. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.7.0.0 (29.03.2016) - New: Connections Log and Rules Panel are now displayed as two different windows. Now the user can see both of them in the same time. - New: Added new icon shortcuts for Rules Panel and Connections Log in Main Panel. - New: Added global hot key support for Connections Log window. It can be also launched with "wfc -cp" from the Run dialog. - Removed: New Rules Wizard was removed due to the new refactoring. - Updated: "Jump to rules" functionality from Connections Log was updated and renamed to "Search rules". - Improved: The loading time and memory usage in Rules Panel was improved due to code refactoring. - Fixed: The Log Connections check boxes from Connections Log appear as checked when reopening Connections Log window, even if they were previously both unchecked. - Fixed: Columns sizes from Connections Log data grid are restored to default values if the saved values are not integer values. - Fixed: Blocked and allowed connections are displayed with green color in Connections Log. The default neutral color was restored for Connections Log. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.6.2.4 (06.03.2016) - Improved: There are updaters which use a .tmp file to update their installations. From WFC is now possible to create firewall rules for *.tmp files. - Improved: The update dialog which is displayed when a new version of WFC is available can't be moved and if the taskbar is set to auto hidde, the dialog is displayed out of the screen. The update dialog can be moved now by the user. - Improved: The authorized groups list height is not fixed anymore and will expand with the window size so that the user can see more entries in the list. - Improved: Added support for "@" keyword in the authorized groups. If this keyword is added as an authorized group name, Windows 10 rules with @{} names will not be deleted anymore by the Secure Rules feature. - Fixed: Setting the direction to "Outbound and inbound" when editing a the details of a new rule in the notification dialog does not create the inbound rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.6.2.2 (18.02.2016) - Fixed: If all advanced notifications settings are unchecked the notifications are not displayed anymore. - Fixed: Context menu from Manage Rules window is missing if no rule is selected. - Fixed: The content of the uninstall dialog is showing outside of the displaying area if the content contains more lines than the default expected size. - New: Added a new button in the Security tab which allows the user to add all groups from the existing rules. This will not add Windows 10 specific groups that start with "@{". - Improved: When deleting an authorized group from the Security tab, the selection remains empty. Pressing the delete key does not work until the user manually selects a new item from the list. The next item is now automatically selected. - Reverted: The protocol used for a new rule created from the notification dialog will be ANY if the user does not customize the rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.6.2.0 (14.02.2016) - Fixed: In some circumstances Secure Rules gets enabled even if it disabled in the Security tab. If authorized groups are not already defined, this would delete all the rules which are not in the default groups "Windows Firewall Control" and "Temporary Rules". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.6.1.0 (12.02.2016) - New: New Security tab was added in the Main Panel which contains the Secure Boot and the new improved Secure Rules feature which automatically removes the rules that are added to a different Group than the defined list of authorized group names. This adds the possibility to the operating system to add required rules without being deleted anymore by WFC because Secure Rules was enabled. Also, unwanted firewall rules that may have been added before the start of WFC service can be detected this way. - Updated: The internal logging mechanism was simplified and updated to offer more information about the events that are logged. - Updated: A new rule created from the notification dialog without customizing it, is created for Any protocol. From now on it will be created for the protocol that appears in the notification. This change applies also for the rules created automatically for digitally signed programs when Low notification level is used. - Fixed: The search from Connections Log works very slow compared to the search from Manage Rules. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in version 4.6.0.0 (01.01.2016) - Improved: Many PNG images from the user interface have been replaced with scalable vector images in order to improve the scalling and the effects. The readability of the user interface was increased for the cases when bright colors are used or high contrast Windows themes. - Improved: The logic behind the Display combo box from Connections Log was updated to improve the speed when loading the most recent entries. - Fixed: In Windows 10, if the network is not initialized when the service is starting, the service may appear to be started normally even if it is in faulted state. Now, the service closes properly if it fails on startup and will be automatically restarted correctly. - Fixed: The parser for Security log entries reads and displays wrong remote addresses in Connections Log for some operating systems which are not in English language. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entries between version 1.0.0.0 (February 2010) and 4.6.0.0 (January 2016) were removed on purpose to reduce the size of the change log file.