Duplicate entries not fixed on 2.0 through 2.1.158

GlassWire Help
1

Duplicate entries have not been fixed for me at all, I have done several re-installs of GlassWire with and without the Clean Install option in the installer and with and without resetting the firewall, nothing will work. This has been happening since 2.0 came out.
This happens on both my Desktop and my Laptop.

It does this for literally every application that has a network connection and eventually I have to wait for the inactive apps section to fill up after a long time to clear them out in bulk or else I would have to clear out the list my self, with no indication of what one is the latest non-duplicate entry.

Also when duplication happens blocked apps become un-blocked, e.g. if program.exe is blocked (Red Fire) then next time I reboot and program.exe has a connection it shows up both as blocked (Red Fire) and as a new entry (Gray Fire) but it is not blocked at all, even if the first entry is blocked, this has the possibility of being a security risk.

This leads to an unnecessarily massive list of applications in the firewall tab and alert spam.

The version, hash, name, and path of the applications do not change whatsoever.
It seems like most of the time there is a maximum of 2 duplicate entries.
Duplicates start appearing after reboots, not during the same session.

It still happens after a clean install of GlassWire, by clean I mean any combination of the Clean Install option in the installer and/or cleaning the files and registry manually my self, or with a tool like Geek Uninstaller Portable or even IOBit Uninstaller Portable.

While I’m writing this post here are a few other issues/suggestions I would like to bring up,

  1. When sorting apps in the firewall tab it goes like this by default,
  • Blocked (Red Fire)
  • Active Connections (Flag with Hostname)
  • Unblocked (Gray Fire)

That is fine, and my preferred way if having it sorted, but the issue is when sorted like that the names are going from Z-A, there currently isn’t an option to have it be in that order and have the names A-Z, or else the Blocked, Active Connections and Unblocked are scrambled, having the entire list be A-Z or Z-A

  1. Do not move blocked applications to Inactive.

  2. When blocking/un-blocking application do not scroll the list

  3. Let us decide in the settings how long to wait before considering an application inactive.

  4. Add a button/setting to scan the path of all the applications in the firewall list to see if it has been changed/moved/removed and either delete the entry or move it to inactive.

2

Hello,

I noticed you mention “Portable”. Are all these apps with duplicate entries portable ones?

We are unable to recreate this on our end so I thought it could be related to some unusual portable apps and settings.

3

While yes, I do use some portable apps, that is not effecting the duplication of entries, it is for literally every exe that has networking and there seems to be a maximum of 2 duplicates.

No path change, no name change, no hash differences, this occurs on my desktop, that I have not done a full reformat in quite a while but I have done a few “in place upgrades”, and it does it on my laptop, that has gone through a couple of full reformat’s, every time, on different GlassWire versions, it has never gone away.

You might want to ask me about some kind of settings or tweaks I apply to the registry, I can assure you that when Glasswire was on of the first 3 programs installed on a fresh version of Windows on my laptop, it still happened, fresh Windows, no kind of strange tweaks applied to the OS, just updates from Windows Update, install a few programs, reboot, and then whatever programs where listed get duplicated next time they try to connect.

Here is an example of what it looks like in Windows Firewall, this happens for both allowed and blocked.

mmc_2019-08-01_13-31-07
mmc_2019-08-01_13-31-07.png2089×39 4.27 KB

There are two entries, in both Inbound and Outbound, the only difference in the rules is the number in the name, as if Glasswire is not scanning for, or somehow “forgetting” about previous entries but still keeping them in the list.

4

Is it an issue you are having with how GlassWire makes Firewall logs with the Windows Firewall API, or is it an issue with GlassWire’s user interface itself? Sorry for any confusion.

5

There are duplicate entries in both the Glasswire Firewall tab and in the Windows Firewall.

When an exe first gets picked up by Glasswire I get a notification and it goes in the firewall list, that is normal, but if I reboot, next time that application connects there is another notification and entry in the firewall list, even if it is the exact same file in the same location and version. Again, there seems to be a maximum of 2 listings for the same exe.

But if the exe updates or a single program has multiple exe’s that connect, this can very quickly fill up the list and lead to clutter.

Lets say I want to block a new exe, it connects, I see it in the list and I block it (Red Fire), if I reboot and that exe connects again it will still be blocked in the first entry but not functioning because it makes a new entry and it is allowed through and I would need to have 2 blocked entries for the same exe.

6

Do you use any other firewall software with your PC along with GlassWire, or do you make custom changes to the Windows Firewall API/rules?

7

I do not, the only other “firewall” I use use HostsMan to block domains in the Windows Host file, I do not do anything manually with the Windows Firewall

8

Was there any resolution to this? I am experiencing the same thing on 2 different computers. I have to constantly be reinstalling the product to clear out duplicate rules. No other firewall. No other software. Even a bare bones install and I see the same thing. What was the solution for other users? I do not have time to constantly be resetting up rules. I need to know the product is stable and will not do this. Running 2.2.268.

9

@Jr45672

Can you be more specific what you mean by duplicate rules? Do you mean an app shows up on the firewall twice? If so that’s not duplicate rules, but it’s too separate application versions that have different hashes and file locations.

10

The customer was sent an unreleased beta that solves this issue. If anyone in the future is reading this please be sure you’re using our latest software because this issue will be fixed shortly.

Please note this issue only exists in some unusual situations and it’s not a problem that many GlassWire users experience.

Thanks for your reports so we could find and fix this issue.