Windows – Can’t block a specific application in Windows 7 Firewall

firewallwindows 7windows firewall

I am using Windows 7 64 bit and trying to block a specific application from accessing the internet using "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" (wf.msc).

The rule is set to be applied for all profiles, all protocols, all IP addresses. The rule is turned on. Action is "Block the connection". I select a program by browsing to %ProgramFiles% (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe (I am sure that my Firefox runs from this executable). But the rule doesn't work and the application has access to the internet!

I also tried to insert a path manually as "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe". I also tried to apply the rule for other apps: "%ProgramFiles% (x86)\Opera\opera.exe", "%ProgramFiles% (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe". The result is still unsuccessful.

If I change the "Programs" setting in "Programs and services" tab from "This program" to "All programs that meet the specified conditions", then firewall works and the connection is blocked in all applications, including the above browsers.

I tried to make the rule for outbound connections, for inbound ones and for both at once. No luck.

I tried to do the same using

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="My Application" dir=out action=block program="C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

The new rule appears in "Windows Firewall with Adv. Sec." app but it doesn't work as in the above case.

What am I doing wrong?

Best Answer

It seems that a 3rd party software was interfering with firewalling. In my case it was Avast Antivirus which has some modules for Internet. I turned off "Network" and "Web" "Shields" in it, and the rule is now applied correctly. So the moral seems to be that a 3rd party software may interfere in such a way that Windows Firewall is not able to block (or maybe apply any rules) in application-specific way.

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