Is a third-party firewall software still needed for most Windows users?

[froggyboy604]

I think using a thrid-party firewall software which is not made by Microsoft can be useful to most users. The Windows firewall software which is pre-installed in Windows failed to stop the WannaCry ransomware, and other network-based malware which can use Internet Explorer/Edge browser, Adobe Flash Player, and the Java runtime to infect computers.

More advance Third-party firewalls software can sometimes block the Windows File System from malware infection.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I use the firewall on my bull guard AV, however these days its blocking everything (google, youtube, ect.) and is becoming a pain.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

In general, Microsofts' pre-installed freeware are very basic apps.
Additionally, anti malware and firewalls made by any US, Canada, or EU based company in general won't stop code made by security services, because they are not allowed to.
WannaCry is based off spyware developed by the CIA, and therefore was only allowed to be stopped after it was already too late.
This is the exact reason why Kaspersky has been under fire lately, since it can detect stuff they don't want it to detect.

I'm not saying you should trust anti malware software from a non-western company, because they on their turn won't block malware their security services make.
So best is to run anti malware from both sides of the world side by side.
Either that, or simply change your internet habits and don't click any short URLs for example.

 

[froggyboy604]

There are Linux based firewalls like Iptables and Monowall which may stop CIA made malware which uses the internet to spread itself.

There are some cyber attacks and malware which may not need users to physically interact with the attacker's link, or software, and people get infected by just connecting their PC to the internet, so a firewall is the last piece of software which stops malware infection if Windows, and your antivirus fails to protect Windows from infection.

 

[Danielx64]

By default Windows firewall is basic, but with some tweeting, you can have something very powerful. By default, no software can connect to the internet unless I allow it to. I use Windows Firewall Control to manage Window's Firewall.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

By default Windows firewall is basic, but with some tweeting, you can have something very powerful. By default, no software can connect to the internet unless I allow it to. I use Windows Firewall Control to manage Window's Firewall.

any recommended settings?

 

[Danielx64]

Some screenshots of the settings that I use in Windows firewall control:









With this last page, I really have "Secure rules" turned on.

Posting my firewall rules would be far too long because I have quite a few rules in there that I allow and blocking. The setup I got is not that simple and if you are not careful, you can shoot yourself in the foot.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

noted, I will look into this more. Thanks for the info

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

There are Linux based firewalls like Iptables and Monowall which may stop CIA made malware which uses the internet to spread itself.

There are some cyber attacks and malware which may not need users to physically interact with the attacker's link, or software, and people get infected by just connecting their PC to the internet, so a firewall is the last piece of software which stops malware infection if Windows, and your antivirus fails to protect Windows from infection.

Which is still something you need to be careful with.
At one point, I used UFW to configure to which ports it was allowed to listen to and to which it was not, and entirely forgot to allow port 22 (for SSH and SFTP).
I had to connect a physical monitor and keyboard to the server just to execute "ufw allow 22". 草