Softpedia >Windows >Security >Firewall >TinyWall >  Changelog

TinyWall Changelog

What's new in TinyWall 3.3.1

Mar 13, 2023
  • TinyWall is now open-source
  • Add GitHub button to Settings window
  • Change license to GPLv3
  • Fix Korean localization not loading
  • Update Chinese localization

New in TinyWall 3.3.0 (Mar 11, 2023)

  • Major code modernization and lots of memory and performance enhancements.

New in TinyWall 3.2.5 (Dec 29, 2021)

  • Correctly handle change of presence of trailing slashes in registry paths
  • Backport many memory improvements from WIP TinyWall 3.3+
  • Fix grey icon due to long startup time when apps such as Samsung Magician 7.0 are installed
  • Fix merging of blocked UWP app entries in Connections window
  • Update Bulgarian localization
  • Deprecation notes:
  • Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and certain older versions of Windows 10
  • Will soon not be supported in a future TinyWall release

New in TinyWall 3.2.3 (Oct 27, 2021)

  • Fix GUI crash in Connections window if missing file access permissions
  • Deprecation notes:
  • Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and certain older versions of Windows 10 will soon not be supported in a future TinyWall release.

New in TinyWall 3.2.2 (Oct 26, 2021)

  • Add support for encrypted DNS in Windows 11
  • Add support for whitelisting on mount points
  • Add workaround for ImDisk issue
  • Fix memory leak when changing service failure action
  • Fix memory leak when verifying authenticode certificate
  • Fix memory leak when using an IPv6 address filter condition
  • Fix Connections list not sorted by timestamp by default (3.1.1 regression)
  • Fix possible null-dereference with VeraCrypt volumes
  • Update Japanese and Portuguese localizations
  • Deprecation notes:
  • Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and certain older versions of Windows 10
  • will soon not be supported in a future TinyWall release.

New in TinyWall 3.1.1 (Oct 12, 2021)

  • Add option to block internet during display power-save
  • Heuristically determine and show PIDs of blocked processes if possible
  • Support for showing and whitelisting services in Processes and Connections windows
  • Launch GUI with elevated privileges on boot if possible
  • Use exact capitalization of paths from autolearn and blocked processes
  • Reduce dependency on WMI and avoid polling by WMI
  • Avoid creation of redundant "-" entries during autolearn
  • Fix WFP audit logging is not disabled when autolearn mode ends
  • Fix "active connections" and "open ports" lists would not recognize UWP processes as such
  • Fix rule is ineffective if loaded while its target path is not mounted
  • Fix rule is ineffective for paths with certain international characters
  • Fix Bulgarian translation not loading
  • Fix non-form Korean messages are gibberish due to wrong encoding
  • Updated Italian translation
  • New Hebrew localization
  • GUI layout fixes for various localizations
  • Updated application database
  • Deprecation notes:
  • Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and certain older versions of Windows 10
  • will soon not be supported in a future TinyWall release.

New in TinyWall 3.0.10 (Nov 4, 2020)

  • Fix invalid WFP rules created for "System" on some machines (3.0.9 regression)

New in TinyWall 3.0.8 (Sep 27, 2020)

  • Add workaround for "grey icon on Win7" issue
  • Note: On affected systems icon will appear with considerable delay after boot.
  • This is expected and does not affect start of firewall protection.
  • Fix WMI leak when mountpoints change
  • Fix GUI crash if mountpoints change after changing the GUI language
  • Fix service crash if pipe command results in uncaught exception
  • Fix windows are potentially invisible if virtual desktop size changes
  • Fix text placement in pt-BR localization
  • Make dependency on eventlog service optional
  • Updated Italian localization
  • Updated application database

New in TinyWall 3.0.7 (Jul 12, 2020)

  • Add support for WSL
  • Add support for WSL 2
  • Add support for whitelisting from network shares and network drives
  • Fix autolearn doesn't detect short-lived processes
  • Fix autolearn handling of non-win32 file paths
  • Fix service crash if multiple exceptions with the same path apply to child processes
  • Don't log expected exceptions during system shutdown
  • Don't show System process as a missing app, and add icon for it

New in TinyWall 3.0.6 (Jun 25, 2020)

  • Fix GUI crash if an "All applications" rule is present

New in TinyWall 3.0.5 (Jun 14, 2020)

  • Restore compatibility with 32-bit (x86) Windows systems
  • Remember user-set column widths in lists
  • Keep application list selection and scroll-position after modifications
  • Reduced system load of traffic rate monitor
  • New and performance-optimized firewall rule application
  • Fix not all changes are detected when a network adapter is reconfigured
  • Fix rules for Windows services may get ignored due to wrong SID translation
  • Fix incomplete deserialization of DHCP profile
  • Fix tooltip rule edit not saving correctly
  • Fix two rules merged incorrectly if one of them was Unrestricted
  • Fix "Ask for exception details" not always taken into account
  • Fix UI text contents in Connections window (column headers, and 2 -> 5 mins)
  • Fix WMI leak while monitoring sub-processes
  • Increase traffic rate update interval to 2 seconds
  • Only enable sub-process monitoring if necessary for active rules
  • Optimized sub-process monitoring when enabled
  • Rework inter-process pipe communication
  • Update old WhatsNew and FAQ in installer
  • Updated Brazilian Portuguese and Russian localizations
  • Introduce logging in installer routines
  • Collect all logs to "logs" folder

New in TinyWall 3.0.4 (Apr 26, 2020)

  • Make language changes take effect without a GUI restart
  • Handle WMI errors gracefully in service
  • Wait longer for service availability after loading desktop
  • Avoid harmless exception being logged during system shutdown
  • Prevent opening the Manage window when other windows are active
  • Fix wrongly positioned GUI elements in Dutch and Russian localizations
  • Fix potential race condition of UI timer during exit
  • Fix traffic rate text ignores selected GUI language
  • Updated Russian and Spanish localizations

New in TinyWall 3.0.3 (Apr 1, 2020)

  • Fix potential GUI crash during whitelisting in error case
  • Fix potential GUI crash due to race while GUI is closing
  • Fix tray icon sometimes wrongly showing Unknown state after a fresh boot

New in TinyWall 3.0.2 (Mar 27, 2020)

  • Maintenance release (26.03.2020.)
  • Test for UWP support instead of OS-version checking
  • Install hosts and database updates atomically
  • Keep Windows Firewall settings as desired when enabled & changed externally
  • Fix user GUI settings not migrated (effective starting with v3.0.3)
  • Fix possible GUI crash when user selects Elevate

New in TinyWall 3.0.1 (Mar 23, 2020)

  • Fix whitelist ineffective on some executables with overtight permissions
  • Fix whitelisted file cannot connect if its rule was loaded while the file was missing

New in TinyWall 3.0.0 (Mar 22, 2020)

  • Firewall technology improvements:
  • Completely rebuilt firewall on top of Windows Filtering Platform
  • Full support for File and Printer Sharing and Network Browser
  • Boot-time filtering
  • Raw and promiscuous socket filtering
  • Apps no longer disconnect when firewall reloads
  • Connections window need not be open to register blocked applications
  • Multicast support for local network detection
  • Support for UWP (Windows Store) apps
  • Support for machine-global exceptions
  • Increased protection against code-identity spoofing attacks
  • Ability to automatically apply rules to child-processes
  • IPSec AH support in VPN rules
  • GUI improvements:
  • Manual app detection gives instant first results
  • Live update of traffic rate in tray menu
  • Processes & Services windows remember size
  • Much improved loading time of Processes window
  • Don't list duplicate processes in Processes window
  • Improved batch whitelisting from Connections and Processes
  • Make Settings window resizable
  • Auto-detection of UWP apps
  • Support F5-refresh in Connections window
  • Support Delete key for application exceptions list
  • Eliminate flicker from all lists in the application
  • Enable single-click toggling of special exceptions
  • Port Connections list by timestamp by default
  • Group together deleted applications in settings
  • Add error logging to GUI
  • Prevent svchost from being learned when using the Autolearn feature
  • Installer improvements:
  • Install location can be customized
  • Warning about remote installations during setup
  • Slightly modernized installer look
  • Password protection of uninstaller if TinyWall is locked
  • Display version number in Welcome screen title
  • Fix dangling tray icon after uninstall
  • Show version on installer's Welcome screen
  • Faster install and uninstall
  • General improvements:
  • Atomically store configuration
  • Reduced probability of failed whitelisting attempts
  • Fix: Don't leave locked files on service exit
  • Fix: Race condition between update check and service message loop
  • Fix: Some code paths not reliably run at service exit
  • Fix: Application finder can freeze if closed while detection is running
  • Optimizations to startup performance
  • Only check updates over HTTPS
  • Deprecation notes:
  • Windows Vista no longer supported
  • 32-bit systems no longer supported
  • Whitelisting from a network share temporarily not supported

New in TinyWall 2.1.15 (Mar 8, 2020)

  • Only offer upgrade to v3.0 if running on a 64-bit system.

New in TinyWall 2.1.14 (Jan 2, 2020)

  • Fix communication error with Service when update info is available (2.1.13 regression)

New in TinyWall 2.1.13 (Dec 28, 2019)

  • Fix for local exploit CVE-2019-19470

New in TinyWall 2.1.12 (Dec 19, 2019)

  • Fix user may not get notified of updates for a very long time

New in TinyWall 2.1.11 (Jul 29, 2019)

  • Maintenance release (28.07.2019.)
  • Fix service hang on some systems when blocklists are enabled
  • Fix service hang on some systems when opening Connections window

New in TinyWall 2.1.10 (Jul 22, 2019)

  • Add support for Windows 10 v1903
  • Add drag&drop whitelist support to applications in settings window
  • Fix: Online updates not supporting TLS >= 1.2
  • Updated application database
  • Updated hosts blocklist

New in TinyWall 2.1.8 (Mar 11, 2016)

  • Fix: Potential GUI crash when whitelisting by window
  • Fix: GUI crash if copying to clipboard which is in use by another app
  • Fix: Connections form GUI scaling issue in German localization
  • Workaround for performance issue in Windows 10
  • Atomic file updates to reduce chance of lost settings in case of file system corruptions
  • Handle some more possible errors on uninstallation
  • Add Czech localization, and Spanish update

New in TinyWall 2.1.7 (Jan 4, 2016)

  • Fix: GUI freezes if Application Finder is closed while scan is running
  • Added DPI-awareness (fixes blurry GUI in desktop scaling)
  • Add Polish and Turkish localizations
  • Updates to Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese translations
  • Application database updates

New in TinyWall 2.1.6 (Jan 7, 2015)

  • Windows 10 (TP) compatibility
  • Add color-coding to Application Exceptions list
  • Faster loading of Manage and Processes windows
  • Fix: GUI crashes when process list is cancelled
  • Fix: Printer sharing doesn't create rule for spoolsv.exe
  • Fix: Two rules can get incorrectly merged
  • Fix: TinyWall loses its settings under specific circumstances
  • Updated Brazilian Portuguese translation
  • Add Chinese translation

New in TinyWall 2.1.5 (Oct 13, 2014)

  • Support for Window Update in Windows 8.1
  • Add support for whitelisting executables on remote network shares
  • Increase service robustness by dry-run testing new rules before save
  • Allow selecting multiple processes when initiated over tray menu
  • Add uninstallation protection
  • Fix: Service crashes if backup of hosts cannot be found
  • Fix: If local network traffic is allowed, local broadcasts are still blocked
  • Fix: Connections window crashes if endpoint IP cannot be determined
  • Fix: Under some circumstances, controller commits new settings even if rejected by service
  • Fix: Wrong error message is shown if user tries to change mode while locked
  • Fix: Tray shows out-of-date lock status after service locks due to timeout
  • Fix: Tray GUI needs restart after service locks due to timeout
  • Fix: Service crash after merging a wildcard and a non-wildcard port rule
  • Fix: Hosts file not automatically updating
  • Preliminary Italian translation and other localization updates
  • Updated application database

New in TinyWall 2.1.4 (Jul 17, 2013)

  • Fix: Cannot save settings after upgrade to 2.1.3

New in TinyWall 2.1.3 (Jul 13, 2013)

  • Fix: A network zone change left outgoing connections unfiltered (2.1 regression)
  • Various Hungarian, Japanese, and general localization updates

New in TinyWall 2.1.2 (Jul 8, 2013)

  • Fix: Could not install TinyWall.XmlSerializers.dll on some systems

New in TinyWall 2.1.1 (Jul 5, 2013)

  • Fix: When asking for permission to whitelist related files, app name is left out

New in TinyWall 2.1.0 (Jul 4, 2013)

  • Proper and official Windows 8 support
  • Add ability to disable global hotkeys
  • Properly validate binary certificate of whitelisted applications
  • Remove network zone support, it mainly caused confusion
  • Don't show half-constructed Manage window while loading it
  • Make list in Processes and Services windows sortable
  • Allow batch Remove of application exceptions in GUI
  • Fix: Add Firewall Exception window now allows rules for "System" to be saved
  • Fix: If cannot add a firewall rule, log details and keep service running instead of crashing
  • Fix: Crash when trying to merge rules where at least one is not fully specified
  • Fix: Crash when Modifying exception that has "No restrictions" set
  • Fix: Connections window for open/listening ports might miss entries
  • Fix: Unable to whitelist some services due to bad parsing of ImagePath property
  • Fix: Wrong installation of Portuguese localization
  • Fix: Failed to get file path of privileged window due to inverted condition
  • Fix: Avoid double-shutdown of service on machine shutdown
  • Fix: Unable to add rule in service due to short path notation
  • Add Dutch, German, Hungarian, Spanish and Russian translations. Update Portuguese.
  • Reduce disk space used by localizations by appr. 41%, for icons by 30%
  • Controller app and Connections window load faster
  • Improve security of communication between service and controller
  • More robust communication between service and controller
  • Show timestamps in Connections dialog
  • Support for multiple controller instances
  • All binaries are now cryptographically timestamped
  • Precision traffic meter
  • Updated application database

New in TinyWall 2.0.1 (Jun 23, 2012)

  • Added Brazilian Portuguese and Japanese translations, fixes to French translation.
  • Fix: Sporadic communication errors between TinyWall's controller and service.
  • Fix: License file does not open from the settings window.
  • Updated application database

New in TinyWall 2.0.0 (Jun 14, 2012)

  • Easier first-time setup. The search for most recognized applications has become blazing-fast and TinyWall will automatically whitelist known and trusted applications when starting for the first time.
  • Added new learning mode. In this mode TinyWall will observe what applications use the internet and how, and remember them in normal mode. Setting up complex applications or a freshly installed system becomes a piece of cake. Just start learning mode, use the applications, then switch back to normal mode.
  • A greatly rewritten firewall exception dialog. No more confusing profiles, only a streamlined and simpler interface and a direct possibility to manually specify ports.
  • The ability to restrict applications, one by one separately, to the local network.
  • TinyWall 2.0 installs and uninstalls like any other application. By common request it can now be removed from the Control Panel.
  • Better support for built-in Windows features. TinyWall 2.0 can now be expected to work well and be compatible with Windows Networking, Remote Desktop, Remote Assistance and other network-related Windows features.
  • Easier whitelisting of complex applications by recognizing related files. If an executable needs additional files whitelisted to work correctly, TinyWall will automatically notify and offer you to whitelist those files when you try to unblock it.
  • Domain blocklist support. Implemented by installing a custom hosts file, this feature will keep you safe from many malicious websites and increase your browsing speed by blocking trackers and ads. This feature is disabled by default and needs to be turned on explicitly. TinyWall will keep the hosts file updated to ensure you always get the latest protection. (Currently the MVPS hosts file is used.)
  • Hosts file protection. A common web-related attack by malicious code is redirecting the user to fake sites to phish data or install further bad code. TinyWall will lock the hosts file to ensure its protection and prevent malicious redirection using the hosts file.
  • Mouse picking of windows with higher privileges. In v1 when TinyWall's controller was not running elevated, it was impossible to whitelist another application that is running with admin rights by mouse picking (by window). You either needed to use a different method or you needed to elevate TinyWall too. TinyWall 2.0 allows you to whitelist most admin applications by window without having to elevate TinyWall itself.
  • Saving of settings without breaking existing connections. TinyWall will no longer break existing TCP connections when applying firewall settings.
  • New updater system. The updater now supports updating not only the application, but also the data components separately. It will naglessly keep your hosts file (if enabled) and the recognition database up-to-date without you having to install new versions of TinyWall.
  • Traffic rate monitor. This is a feature in the form of a tray menu entry that will always tell you the current total download and upload rate of your computer.
  • Connections window shows blocked applications. The Connections window will now optionally show you what the firewall has blocked recently, and a right-click menu allows you to either unblock or close processes. Even multiple at once.
  • Increased performance. Reorganized code and a parallelized load process make TinyWall 2.0 start much faster than earlier versions and firewall settings take less time to apply.
  • Remember the last used firewall mode. TinyWall 2.0 saves the firewall mode between reboots (with the exception of the Disabled and Learning modes, which will not be remembered).
  • Digitally signed applications executables. All binaries shipped by TinyWall are signed using a recognized digital certificate. A digital certificate assures users that the author is no fictional person and it will identify all software releases coming from me. It means that as long as Windows is telling you that TinyWall has been published by "Károly Pados" and that it is valid certificate, you can be sure that the TinyWall you have downloaded really is from me and that it has not been compromised by others since its release.
  • Localizability. The interface in 2.0 can be translated to other languages, as of 2.0 a French translation is included in the distribution.
  • Improved support for accessability, keyboard navigation and screen readers.
  • Support for running in a virtualized environment.
  • Support for quickly filtering the list of application exceptions. Makes it a breeze to search for something in a long list.
  • From the Connections window, you can easily initiate searches for processes on VirusTotal, ProcessLibrary and Google.
  • Support for Windows 8 (tested on CTP) and .Net Framework 4.

New in TinyWall 1.0.3 (Jan 23, 2012)

  • Fix: Controller crash when bubble-editing new exception in GUI multiple times in a row
  • Fix: Controller crash after exception modification in Manage window, when Modify is clicked again
  • Fix: Possible controller crash when populating list in Connections form
  • Fix: Firewall rules may overwrite each other
  • Fix: Some DNS responses are blocked, leading to possibly slower DNS resolution
  • Fix: Wrong filtering of ICMPv6 traffic
  • Fix: GUI is not updated when timed rules are removed
  • Fix: Generalize Steam profile for all Steam games
  • Tell user that admin rights are missing instead of disabling Uninstall button
  • New and updated application profiles
  • Updated FAQ

New in TinyWall 1.0.2 (Dec 28, 2011)

  • Fix: False merge of firewalls rule upon new exception, leading to loss of
  • connectivity
  • Fix: Adding a new rule might not show up in the Manage window, even though it is applied correctly