Skip to content

FAQ

Jump to bottom
harrwiss edited this page Mar 14, 2020 · 1 revision

Welcome to the WFN Wiki FAQ

[TODO] Work in progress

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 (by default)?

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

  • Allow temporarely Allows a connection temporarely (note 1)

  • Block temporarely Blocks a connection temporarely (note 1)

  • 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.

    *Note 1: Alow/Block temporarely displays a colored shield icon in the tray area indicating that there are temporary rules in effect. Clicking on the icon removes temporary rules. Temporary connection rules do not show notifications as long as they are active.

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.

Clone this wiki locally