Skip to content

FAQ

Jump to bottom
harrwiss edited this page Feb 2, 2020 · 3 revisions

Welcome to the WFN Wiki FAQ

Update: 02/2020 (WFN Version "2019.12-u5" in the title bar)

Note: This FAQ applies mainly to the lasted work in progress beta release: Version History

WFN FAQ

Questions & Answers

Where should I install WFN?

Answer

  • Currently the recommended way is to extract the downloaded ZIP file into a directory but NOT in a Program Files... directory. For example, C:\WFN would be a good place.
  • The reason for this limitation are windows security constraints, which are not yet handled properly by WFN and need to be investigated.
What Options should I use?

Answer

  • Enable all options except:
    • Enable Verbose logging ...
    • Enable successful connection events.
Allow, Block, Skip options

What do the other options Allow temporarely, Block temporarely, etc. do?

Answer

  • Block temporarely Should block a connection temporarely but does not work and will probably be removed - use Skip instead

  • Allow temporarely Displays a colored shield icon in the tray area indicating the status - clicking on it makes it disappear again.

  • Skip program Instead of skipping a single connection attempt, all connection attempts for a program are skipped which can be quite handy.

  • Skip all Skips all prompts and closes the Notifier window.

  • Tip: The Notifier window can be minimized to the tray area which also hides the window. The difference to Skip all is however, that it stays active in the background still recording all connection attempts. This makes it possible to decide on the action at a later time when re-opening the window.

Likely an easy fix, we need column sizes/positions, and the program window to remain where you left them when you tab between the pages of the app, and when you've opened and closed the app.

Answer

  • It depends - it is quite some work to retrieve and maintain all the user settings.
  • At least in the security log the column sizes were adjusted to the content which should require much less manual adjustments now.
  • Tip: The window size for the console application can now be set in the options.
The Minimize to System Tray setting isn't working. Though, I saw we don't have to keep the program open for it to work, so I guess that's not a huge issue, though it should also be an easy fix.

Answer

  • Minimizing the *WFN console" to the tray is not required for the firewall to work - as you have stated already.
  • New: The notifier can now be minimized to the tray area and stays silent there without opening a notification window for every blocked connection.
Programs do not remember they have been allowed...
Now, I don't know if it's "how" I'm allowing them or what, you have so many options in the pop-up with ports etc.

Answer

  • Remember: The more specific a rule is, the more rules you have to create for a program.
  • Recommendation for advanced rule settings:
    1. Profile: Not selected - it is usually better to create the rule for all profiles in the windows firewall
    2. Protocol: Per default the protocol of the connection is chosen - best to leave as is
    3. Local Port: The port dynamically allocated by the program making the connection - default: unselected
    4. Remote Port: The port on the remote host e.g. 80/443 are by default http/https - default: selected
    5. Target IP: The IP address of the remote host - default: selected
    6. Path: The path of the application or service initiating the connection - default: selected
    7. Service: The name of the service if applicable - Many services make a connection through the "svchost.exe" helper. By selecting the service name, it's possible to select a specific one instead of all services using "svchost.exe".
    8. App: A windows firewall internally generated identifier for windows app packages if applicable - default: unselected
I'm confused, cause the default Allow wasn't working, so I started selecting ALL of the options, and I "think" they might have calmed down some

I'm speaking especially for my Anti-Virus program "xxxx". There is one particular program in which I've had to create rules for it dozens of times.

Answer

  • Selecting ALL options will create more rules and not less (see above)

  • Tip 1: To create only 1 rule (Allow or Block rule) for an application you could turn off all options except Path

  • Tip 2: In the WFN console got to Firewall rules and select Show WFN Rules to see the custom rules created by the Notifier.

We need to be able to "Edit" the Rules...

I think an easy way you can do this is to just allow each Row (the specific Column in that row) to be editable like maybe on a right-click. This should likely be an easy way to implement the editability of a rule.

Answer

  • Rules can only be edited at the moment in the windows firewall itself, it's a bit cumbersome but on the firewall rules page is at least a button Adv Console to open the firewall settings editor. I had the same need when using WFN for the first time but after using it for a while that whent away - kind of :)
  • Tip: You can however delete a rule on the firewall rules page and then re-create it with the Notifier when it prompts on the next connection attempt also.
Clone this wiki locally