Managing Windows Firewall is now easier than ever Program Overview

Windows Firewall Control

Windows Firewall Control

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  • Latest Version

    Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0 LATEST

  • Review by

    Michael Reynolds

  • Operating System

    Windows 7 / Windows 8 / Windows 10 / Windows 11

  • User Rating

    Click to vote
  • Author / Product

    BiniSoft.org / External Link

  • Filename

    wfc6setup.exe

Windows Firewall Control is a powerful software that extends the functionality of the Windows Firewall and provides new extra features that make the app even better. It runs in the system tray and allows the user to control the native firewall easily without having to waste time navigating to the specific part of the firewall. This is the best tool to manage the native firewall from Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, Server 2008, Server 2012. Windows Firewall Control offers four filtering modes which can be switched with just a mouse click:

High Filtering - All outbound and inbound connections are blocked. This profile blocks all attempts to connect to and from your computer.
Medium Filtering - Outbound connections that do not match a rule are blocked. Only the programs that you allow can initiate outbound connections.
Low Filtering - Outbound connections that do not match a rule are allowed. The user can block the programs he doesn't want to allow initiating outbound connections.
No Filtering - Windows Firewall is turned off. Avoid using this setting unless you have another firewall running on your computer.

Windows Firewall Control doesn't do any packet filtering and does not block or allow any connection. This is done by the tool itself based on the existing firewall rules.

Note: Requires Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5 or newer version. Windows Firewall service is required to be enabled for Windows Firewall Control to run. DNS Client service is required to be enabled for the notifications to work properly. The notification system is disabled in the unregistered version.

  • Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0 Screenshots

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    Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0 Screenshot 1
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  • Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0 Screenshot 3
  • Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0 Screenshot 4
  • Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0 Screenshot 5

What's new in this version:

Windows Firewall Control 6.12.0.0
- New: Added 'Skip loopback and multicast' checkbox in Connections Log which will
- Filter out these kind of connections from the results list
- Fixed: Remote address/port are switched with the Local address/port in Connections
- Log for inbound connections in Windows 10/11 and Windows Server 2019/2022
- Fixed: When switching to High Filtering profile, you have to manually refresh
- Rules Panel to see the special rules created for this profile


Windows Firewall Control 6.11.0.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.10.0.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.9
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.8
- 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.


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.7
- 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.


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.6
Fixed:
- When importing user settings the authorized groups list is not refreshed
- The experimental feature which auto creates allow rules for certain paths generates duplicate rules if a blocking rule prevents certain connections
- The tray icon does not offer any clue if the program runs in standard user mode or in elevated mode
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.4
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.3
- 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 will start WFC under the user account which started the installer instead of the elevated user account


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.2
- 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
- Updated: Run button was disabled in the installer to avoid executing the software under
- An elevated account from a standard user account


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.1
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.9.0
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.
- 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
- Authorized groups list has a display issue where it displays also the internal group names
- When creating a duplicate rule in Rules Panel the Please wait message remains displayed and Rules Panel needs to be closed and reopened
- Secure Rules disables custom groups names in the latest version


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.8.0
Improved:
- Retrieving the group display names uses now shlwapi.dll. This fixes group names with dll names and resource ids.
- Default option is now the third one in the uninstall dialog. This will leave the firewall rules untouched during uninstall.
- The speed of importing a *.wpw file was improved by updating the internal cache mechanism
- 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
- Experimental feature that auto allows certain paths/file names does not work anymore
- During uninstall restoring default/previous Windows Firewall rules fails if Secure Rules is enabled
- Deleting multiple rules at once may fail if Secure Rules is enabled
- Search functionality may result in a crash in Rules Panel and Connections Log
- Revert profile timer is not updated unless the revert profile is unchecked and checked again
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.7.0
Fixed:
- Can not delete invalid rules located under C:$WINDOWS.~BT folder
- Adding multiple rules at once to the same group fails if the rules have No description set
- Can not create a duplicate of a temporary rule
- Notifications are disabled after WFC restart and must be re-enabled again
- When unchecking the 'Blocked connections' in Connections Log, the notifications
- Still appear as enabled when they are in fact disabled


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.6.0
- Change log not available for this version


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.5.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.4.0
- 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
- Global hotkey which can toggle between Low and Medium profiles can now toggle between all profiles
- 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
- Secure Boot is not enabling High Filtering profile if wfc.exe is not running
- Installer does not work if there is a WCF related problem with .NET Framework installation
- After a failed policy import, notifications are not displayed anymore and a program restart is required to re-enable them
- Notification dialog becomes unresponsive if a program generates a lot of blocked connections
- WFC service fails to start if EventLog service is unavailable
- Shell Integration allows creating new firewall rules even if WFC is locked with a password


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.2.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.1.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.9.0.0
- 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.


Windows Firewall Control 6.8.2.0
- 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 outdate description


Windows Firewall Control 6.8.1.0
- 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
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.8.0.0
- 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.
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.7.0.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.5.0.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.4.0.0
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
- Search in Connections Log and Rules Panel was extended to include the service column
- 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
- When multiple network adapters are found the Location displayed in Dashboard panel is Public instead of Private
- When importing the user settings, restarting the application fails if it is Executed only with standard privileges


Windows Firewall Control 6.3.0.0
- 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 logcontains older entries for processes that are not running anymore


Windows Firewall Control 6.2.0.0
Improved:
-Remote addresses content is now expanding to fill the available space in Properties dialog so that more content can be displayed
- The x button from text boxes that is clearing their content

Fixed:
- Properties dialog is not displayed anymore if two or more Windows services have the same Display Name
- 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
- Unhandled exception is logged if certain files are missing from the installation folder
- When editing a rule details in the Notification dialog, the rule name can be set as one or several empty spaces
- 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)
- In Notification dialog the text (Yes, No, Not valid) under Signed property is not localized


Windows Firewall Control 6.1.0.0

New:
- Added keyboard shortcuts for the Notification Dialog. For more information please refer to the 'Keyboard shortcuts' section from the user manual
- 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
- During install/update, after the UAC prompt, for 1-2 seconds is displayed the previous page instead of the progress page
- The uninstaller does not work if the WFC service can not be initialized
- In some rare cases, the uninstaller may hang during the uninstallation
- Sorting by Time Generated column in Connections Log does not work


Windows Firewall Control 6.0.2.0

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
- 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
- Rules properties are not updated in Rules Panel if they are open while changing the user interface language
- Some group names are not displayed correctly in Rules Panel


Windows Firewall Control 6.0.1.0

Fixed:
- The installer can't continue if another security software is registered in Windows Security Center with firewall capabilities
- In some cases, the connected location is reported Public instead of Private
- The uninstall process does not always remove all files
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 6.0.0.0

New:
- The user interface was updated to follow the Malwarebytes theme
- A new Dashboard tab was added which displays the state of Windows Firewall, the status of inbound and outbound connections and the connected location
- 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
- 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
- Pressing on "Check this file" in Rules Panel or Connections Log when the program path is empty generates an exception in WFC log
- The connected location displayed in WFC is displayed as 'VPN' instead of 'Public' when multiple network adapters are active
- Checking for updates is made through http instead of https


Windows Firewall Control 5.4.1.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 5.4.0.0
- 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
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 5.3.1.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 5.3.0.0
- Removed: Obfuscated code was removed in order to avoid false positives
- Updated: The documentation was updated


Windows Firewall Control 5.1.1.0

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
- When opening Rules Panel, the default focused element is now the search box
- 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
- When the activation dialog is displayed, the Main Panel is displayed always on top
- 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
- When an item is selected in the notifications exceptions list, the foreground color is hard to read


Windows Firewall Control 5.1.0.0

New:
- 'Secure Rules' was rewritten from scratch. When enabled, this feature will prohibit adding, modifying or removing firewall rules from outside of WFC.
- 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.
- A dialog is displayed to the user if the uninstall is launched while the program is locked with a password
- 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:WindowsMedia' folder
- Various user interface improvements

Updated:
- The WFC recommended rules contain now some inbound rules required for accessing the computers from the local network
- The URL services from the Tools tab were updated
- The user manual was updated with new topics


Windows Firewall Control 5.0.2.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 5.0.1.19
- 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.


Windows Firewall Control 5.0.0.2
- Fixed: When connected to a VPN, the location displayed in Main Panel is empty
- Fixed: Secure Rules remains enabled in WFC service even when 'Reset all setting
- To the default values' from the Options tab is executed. The Secure Rules checkbox is unchecked but it is actually enabled
- Fixed: It is possible to create new firewall rules through Shell Integration even if the program is locked with a password
- Fixed: Sorting on the Action column does not work in version 5
- Fixed: Visual layout fixes in Main Panel
- Updated: Installer was renamed to wfc5setup.exe


Windows Firewall Control 5.0.0.1
- 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.


Windows Firewall Control 5.0.0.0
- 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.


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.9.4
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.9.2
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.9.1
- Change log not available


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.9.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.8.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.7.0
Important:
- Starting with this version, WFC is targeted to use .NET Framework 4.6 instead of .NET Framework 4.5 which is outdated
- 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
- Added the Action column in Connections Log so that the entries copied to clipboard will contain also the action among the other properties
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.6.0
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
- 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
- Blank window with no message is displayed when trying to install an older version over an existing newer version


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.5.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.4.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.3.0
Updated:
- 'Start automatically at user logon' is made now through Windows Registry instead of the shortcut in 'C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup' folder
- The user manual was updated to reflect the new changes

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
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.2.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.1.0
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.9.0.0
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
- The user manual was updated to reflect the new changes

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
- In Properties dialog it is not possible to select "Services only". Opening such a rule result in an empty selection in Services combo box
- Duplicate authorized group names can be added if the case is changed


Windows Firewall Control 4.8.9.0
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
- 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
- The updater does not work if the previous service executable file (wfcs.exe) does not exist on disk anymore
- 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


Windows Firewall Control 4.8.8.0
- 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