Portable simplewall (Wfp Tool)

Controlling which apps are allowed to connect to the Internet has a multitude of benefits, from skipping automatic updates that are unnecessary and take too long, to protecting your PC from malware that can find its way to your system thanks to suspicious processes establishing unauthorized web connections.

Firewall applications can help in these and other similar cases. Most reliable ones are rather difficult to learn for casual users, but you can get started with simplewall, which puts emphasis on simplicity while still armed with advanced and useful options.

The tool is available in installer and portable form. It gets integrated into the systray at startup, silently running in the background while keeping programs in line. You can get started by populating the main window with the software apps you wish to control.

Before doing this, you should know that there are two modes: blacklist and whitelist. Blacklist means that simplewall will block all applications in the list while allowing everything else. It's a standard mode that can be used in most situations.

Whitelist is the exact oposite: allows only the apps in the list to connect to the Internet while blocking everything else. Also known as "paranoid" mode, it should be used only in the worst case scenario (for example, to keep all untrusted blocked while you can investigate malware-related suspicions using your go-to web browser). The restrictions take effect when clicking "Install filters".

To set up advanced rules, you can head over to the settings panel. By default, simplewall monitors the connections of all apps. It can also allow all inbound or loopback connections. When it comes to expert-level tasks it can prevent data leak during system startup or apply blocklist rules, system or user-defined rules. These options shouldn't be taken lightly, however, since you can risk damaging your system. You can check out this rulebook for the rules editor.

The application had minimal impact on system resources in our tests and successfully kept the restricted apps in check. Considering its clear-cut interface and intuitive options, simplewall is ideal for casual users interested in learning how to set up a firewall as well as expert users who want to quickly set it and forget it.