Protecting your Windows computer from outside and internal interference is not all just about the anti-virus. One needs a powerful firewall to keep things safe, and you know what? The default Windows Firewall is more than good enough. Still, we have to point out that Windows Firewall is not easy to use if you’re a novice. That is something Microsoft needs to work on, so until then, we would like to recommend TinyWall, a free tool that is basically an extension of the Windows Firewall than anything else.
TinyWall makes it much easier to control many of the advanced features found in the Windows Firewall, and that’s great for amateurs who can’t be bothered to learn how to use what Microsoft has to offer. It’s pretty impressive from our point of view, and you know what? It just works. Bear in mind that after running the tool for the first time, it may affect your Wi-Fi connection for a moment. Should you experience this issue, just disconnect, and reconnect again, and that’s it.
Harden & control Windows Firewall with TinyWall
Let us take a look at how to use TinyWall firewall management tool.
1] Change Mode
One of the first things you’ll want to do when you’re running TinyWall is to select your preferred mode. At the moment, there are five options: Protection, Block All, Auto Outgoing, Disable Firewall, and Auto Learn.
With a single click of the mouse, your favorite mode is activated and ready to go. Performing actions so easily is not possible when using Windows Firewall in its regular form.
2] Manage
When it comes down to the manage section, we can do several things here. The section called General is pretty straightforward with the options it provides. For example, users can choose if they want TinyWall to automatically check for updates, prevent modifications to the host file, enable or disable global hotkeys and more.
The other tab is all about Application Exceptions, and that’s important. You see, from this section, folks can set certain programs as exceptions, which means, no matter what you do in TinyWall, these programs will never be affected.
There are other options there, so check them out to learn more about them and whether or not they make sense.
3] Show connections
Have you ever wanted to see all the programs on your computer where the connection is active? You can do that here, and you can even view open ports and apps that were blocked in the last two minutes.
4] Other features
Your LAN traffic is not going through? Maybe it’s blocked by TinyWall, and you can unblock your LAN by just a few clicks of the mouse button. Not only that, but users can enable blocklists, and set whitelists by the window, process, and executable.
Download the program directly from the official website.
TIP: These free Firewall software for Windows may also interest you.
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