First let me say I have blocked Windows entirely from going on the net, including blocking Windows Host itself. I only go online in a guest Linux OS running in a VM while the host machine is blocked. When I start my Win 10 system at the beginning of the day and then open GW, a peak appears on the graph. GW reports that this is Windows Service Host Management, or something similar, if I remember it correctly. Often this is reported as blocked, but sometimes as unblocked, in which case I block it again. In both cases it never reappears for the rest of the day. This raises three categories of questions to mind.
- Why is this peak appearing at all if Windows is supposed to be entirely blocked and there is no network connection whatsoever at the time? (could it be GW itself?)
- Is an app or service attempting to send a packet of data and since there is no internet connection it just fails and the packet is deleted? Or is the send attempt put into a que and automatically sent anyway as soon as network is turned on and a connection is made?
- Why is something previously blocked suddenly, and seemingly at random, popping up as unblocked, though at other times remaining blocked?