Is Glasswire firewall really working?

1

I just purchased a new laptop with windows 11 and the first thing I installed was Glasswire. Then NordVPN and then anything else. I activated the “Ask to Connect” mode to be able to check which application gets access to the web.

First thing I noticed is that I wasn’t always asked if an application wants internet access. From all the apps I installed and used, I got a dialog to deny or allow access at about only a 5-10% of them. The rest went directly to the “Blocked Apps” list. Up to a point I was fine with this, although it didn’t seem to be the intended way of work.

What made me skeptical was the fact that I saw Traffic In and Out from the blocked apps. Being new to Glasswire, I thought that it was only that the app wanted to send an amount of bytes, but I was sure that this couldn’t happen. These were in the Blocked Apps list after all.

When the time came that I installed Steam, it went directly to the Blocked Apps list. But it seemed to work just fine. And when I tried to download a game, it started normally like I never had a firewall. After that, to test what is going on, I moved the Brave browser from the Active Apps to the Blocked Apps list, but nothing changed. I could still browse the internet. And of course I could see the traffic in and out, next to it.

So it is clear that the Ask to Connect mode doesn’t do what it should and the apps in the Blocked list are actually not blocked. So, what exactly does Glasswire do? Have I paid for just monitoring traffic but not being able to block unwanted connections?

Please advise me what is wrong and how could I have a normal working Glasswire.

PS. In case I choose “Block all” mode, suddenly Glasswire decides to do it’s job and block everything.

2

So, I have some updates. It seems that the problem is from the VPN. When I disable it, the blocked apps are indeed blocked. So I guess the connection goes first through the NordVPN, which has access to the internet, so every blocked app gains access.
So does anyone know if it is possible to guide the apps first through the Glasswire and then through the vpn?

I was a bit harsh in my first post about Glasswire. I am sorry for that. I was a bit disappointed. But now I am confused. Any help is welcome.

1 Like
3

I don’t use Nord VPN, so I can’t tell you how to fix it. You have to get help at help@glasswire.com. Just copy and what your problem is. I’m sure they can tell you how to fix it. :grinning:

4

This is to be expected with any VPN which uses a proprietary TAP adapter. There may be a way to use Nord without this but it is not something I have tried.
See here [SOLVED] NordVPN TAP Adapter Bypasses GlassWire

5

Every other day my Glasswire disconnects from the internet and can’t reconnect. Its now been another two days straight of this. I would say it works maybe 60% of the time. I know I definitely won’t be renewing my subscription, I’m tired of dealing with this.