Windows 7 ships like previous Windows operating systems with a firewall. The firewall was introduced back then in Windows XP and has since then been constantly improved. The firewall in Windows 7 is a solid software firewall that does a good job of protecting the computer system from attacks. A comparison with commercial software firewalls reveals however that it is still not on pair with those programs especially where usability is concerned. One example would be the configuration of allowed applications in the private and public network space. Most third party firewalls will display a prompt whenever a new application tries to establish a connection. The Firewall in Windows 7 will block that attempt and the user has to configure the firewall rules in the control panel.
The Windows 7 Firewall Control program tries to change that. The software is available as a free version with limited functionality and a pro version that offers all the functionality but comes at a price. The free version is compatibly with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
The main feature of the free version is the application prompt which is shown whenever a program tries to create a connection, be it to a private network or public network.
The user can then decide to disable or enable all traffic or set the application to only allow incoming or outgoing traffic. That’s a more comfortable way of managing new applications in the Windows 7 Firewall. According to the developers the firewall control works independently from the default Windows 7 Firewall.
Windows7FirewallControl is completely based on Windows Filtering Platform (WFP), the security core introduced in Windows Vista and does not install any third party kernel drivers. The Built-in Firewall is based on the same WFP as well. The both products work entirely independently. Windows7FirewallControl uses the Built-in Firewall only once, at the first start to grab the initial settings. Due to complete product independence you can switch the Built-in Firewall ON or OFF at your option.
What this does mean is that the applications that are configured in the Windows 7 Firewall Control are not synced with the Windows 7 Firewall configuration. This could be a problem if the user decides to uninstall the Firewall Control software at a later time.
Windows 7 Firewall Control is available at the developer’s website. The Pro version enables additional features like port forwarding management, group security zone configurations, a security zone editor, desktop integration or additional options.
