I just installed version 2.2.343 on my desktop PC (Windows 10 Pro x64), and, while I love the program, on this occasion it made a pesky nuisance of itself by setting Windows Firewall Control to low filtering (allow all outward), which I spotted almost at once thanks to WFC tray icon having turned orange.
So I suspected that this time GW had installed with its firewall function on by default, and found that that was the case, and turned it off. Then I found that WFC tray icon was orange again, and had to revert that to ‘medium filtering’ for a second time.
Okay, no more fight with GW then, as the firewall was well and truly off and it was no longer trying to stop WFC from doing its job. – But then it became apparent that many if not all of my applications’ firewall rules had been wiped out, so I’m getting alerts from WFC for the first running of each of my internet-connecting programs following installation of that GW version, which is a bloody nuisance.
On the basis of my experience, I’d say it’s essential for the GW installer to ask the user whether they want its firewall on or off when it starts up. That would avoid this annoyance and inconvenience. Please let’s have that prompt built into all future GW installers.
Sorry for the issue. I can say though that we made no changes to the firewall on/off settings or the firewall at all in the last few versions. We will try to reproduce this and I will share it with our QA. Thanks for your report.
Tarun has jumped in with negative comments without having read / understood my post. I was doing everything correctly in fact. I use Windows Firewall Control, not GW, as my front end for Windows Firewall.
Our firewall should most definitely be off by default for everyone. We will double check everything and see how it could possibly turn on automatically.
Meanwhile if anyone else has this issue please reply here to help us investigate.
Thanks for the clarification. @Ken_GlassWire ! – Of course in that case what I experienced was a bug, and there should be no need for a prompt to choose firewall on / off during installation.
You quite literally state here that you have installed both firewall softwares and are running both softwares.
If you believe that what I have said is incorrect you should review what you have said and clarify.
I stand by my statement - just like with antivirus - it’s poor practice and causes numerous issues to run more than one, whether it’s antivirus or firewall software.
