Best Free Firewall - Windows 10

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  kipps on 12/02/2017 - 12:15

  What do you consider to be wrong with Windows firewall? I've never seen the need to use anything else.

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    TheOtherLeft on 12/02/2017 - 12:16

    I don't anyone who uses Windows Firewall and all forum reviews I've read says it's pretty basic. Even the official reviews says it's basic.

    • 

      kipps on 12/02/2017 - 12:17

      +2

      What functionality do you want that it doesn't provide?

    • 

      Zachary on 12/02/2017 - 12:40

      It may be basic but it does the job - what extra jobs are you looking for it to do anyways?

    • 

      Diji1 on 12/02/2017 - 15:42

      It isn't basic, the reviewers are idiots or more likely tryibng to sell you a firewall or ads. Anyone that uses Windows that hasn't disabled it is using it.

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  BensonP on 12/02/2017 - 12:31

  I've been torrenting for the best part of a decade, and have only used Windows Firewall.

  Just don't download dodgy material?

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  alvian on 13/02/2017 - 09:07

  The best free firewall for Windows since Vista is the Windows Firewall With Advanced Security. It is designed for IT Pros to secure network traffic in an enterprise environment. Is this firewall too basic for you?

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    4wd on 13/02/2017 - 10:46

    I agree, been using it for years ever since 3rd party firewalls started getting overly paranoid about everything and producing seemingly non-stop requesters for which you get so fed up you just keep hitting yes or no just to get rid of them without bothering to read what they're actually saying.

    If you want an easier interface to control outbound connections there are a couple of options available, I've used Windows Firewall Control for the last 4 years or so.

    • 

      alvian on 13/02/2017 - 11:05

      To save you from a search, here it is: Windows Firewall Control.

      Also available is TinyWall which performs a similar function.

      • 

        4wd on 13/02/2017 - 13:20

        Thanks for that, was on my tablet and it's a pain to screw around with formatting.

        There's also another called Windows Firewall Notifier

        I tried both WFN and Tinywall years ago when I first looked at WFC.

        TinyWall, IIRC, worked fine it's just that I preferred WFC out of the three of them, (WFN was seriously bad, eg. loss of connectivity because it screwed up the firewall - hopefully much improved in the last few years).

        Judging by the screenshots, WFN has come a long way since I first tried it, might have to have another look at it, (although >20MB vs <1MB for WFC).

        BTW, one thing not immediately obvious with these WFwAS interfaces is once you have your system reasonably static, you can uninstall them - the firewall rules remain, (in WFC you have the option to revert to Windows default, pre-WFC install, or leave them as they are on uninstall).