Pros
Easy to Install.
Cons
Deleted most if not all of my Windows firewall rules!
Summary
TinyWall deleted about 4 years worth of rules, some were custom rules I created!
And this is why I don't disable system restore on my SSD C: like some online SSD guides are recommending, Windows created a system restore point before installing so I could go back to before I lost all my firewall rules!
I thought this app would enhance my firewall options for existing and future rules.
Pros
Easy to install, works with Windows firewall
Cons
Blocked antivirus updates permanently
Summary
Worked just great. For 1 day. Next day I noticed that my free AVG antivirus couldn't connect to the server to update definitions. I white listed the AVG window, update fail again. I white listed all AVG processes listed, at no effect. I went to the log and unlocked AVG entry listed as "closed", same result. Then I uninstalled Tiny Wall, that resolved the issue with AVG definition updates instantly.
Pros
Can be used along with the built in Windows firewall.
Simple & easy to configure & use.
Tiny footprint.
No slow down of the computer.
No popups!
Cons
No cons for this program.
Summary
Download and put in auto learn if don't want to make alot of decisions then switch back to normal.
Pros
Easy to use
Cons
Doesn't work properly with multiple user accounts
Summary
Is a nice easy to use firewall for a single user machine but it simple does not work with multiple users and completely blocks every other user other than the one that installed it and gives an error when you try to change setting which is a pretty serious flaw and a deal breaker. I had to uninstall it as this makes it useless.
Read reply (1)
Reply by ylorak on July 8, 2013
Multi-user support has been added in version 2.1.
Pros
Lightweight!, Simple. Still testing it.
Cons
Unsure yet, still testing it. Perhaps a learn as you go option. But, not required. Perhaps enable capable in options would be nice, off by default.
Summary
So far So good!
Pros
the w7 firewall is quite unintuitive to configure for anyone not in depth familiar with it and/or coming from a separate firewall with a user-friendlier interface. tiny wall takes care of that quite well and while there is certainly room for improvement it does make handling w7's on-board firewall significantly easier
Cons
some quirks I've encountered took me to the brink of uninstalling the app for good. I've finally decided to give it one last try, though. problems being: re-setting your settings for no obvious reason, forcing you to reconfigure everything allowed. blocking all internet traffic arbitrarily, as it seems, (forcing you to reset your settings yourself - at least that helped). finally, after installing avg free 2013 not only the internet could not be accessed anymore but the tiny wall service kept starting and stopping itself over and over (leading to massive cpu consumption) while presenting itself as "unavailable", thus preventing you from restarting and/or configuring it manually. uninstalling it was the only solution. as said above, now running the third and last test.
Summary
nice if you can live with bugs and your requirements are not too high. however, if problems arise, they usually will prevent you from accessing the net and thus the many solutions you could find there. with a bit of work and more thorough bug-testing it would be recommendable outright
Updated on Jan 22, 2013
[1/2] Just installed the lastest version and usability-wise imho it has deteriorated. The handy auto-learn feature has been removed (yes, I know that it can lead to problems, esp. if you forget switching back to normal) and thus much more has to be configured manually. For configuration you have to use so-called profiles or individual port configuraton. Either way, you should know at least a bit about how the program you want to unblock works: if not the specific ports then at least if it works as a http(s) client or server, with pptp or l2tp etc. Or you use the profile "blind trust" which, according to its name (other information is not given), should unblock all. It didn't with "Bid-O-Matic", though.
Updated on Jan 22, 2013
[2/2] The program detection service does not recognize many of my programs (e.g. Waterfox or Cisco VPN Client; from Thunderbird it only detects the plugin-container etc.; otoh, Opera is detected twice).
As soon as you hit "apply", the gui closes. You cannot edit several apps in a row but always have to open the ui again. Irritating.
Finally, the program now can no longer be uninstalled from the control panel but only from its own tray-icon/gui. It seems to me that this would effectively have prevented my uninstallation last time (still the old version) when the TinyWall service had blocked net access completely, constantly started and stopped again and the icon itself had been greyed out - "not available".
After these experiences, I'd judge it as both too risky and too complicated (or rather lacking in ease-of-use) to use this over the original W7 firewall controls.
Uninstalling now - too bad, the concept was/is really promising
Read reply (1)
Reply by ylorak on July 8, 2013
When you mention what has deteriorated in the new version, you have got mistaken. All those changes you didn't like, like the profiles, the "blind trust" option, or the absence of auto-learn were to be found in version 1.0 of TinyWall. My point is, you thought you have upgraded, but in reality you have downgraded. Some download sites host outdated versions of TinyWall, if you want to be sure you to get the most recent version, TinyWall's website is your best option. Alternatively, you can check for updates from within the program. Btw, version 2.1 is supposed to fix the "volatile settings bug". - the Author
Pros
I installed and used this for about a month.A lot of the times,when I either re-started or came out of sleep mode,the program would not allow me to change it's status,as the status was unknown.It also caused some issues when I uninstalled it(luckily I had a good system image to restore from).
Cons
I installed and used this for about a month.A lot of the times,when I either re-started or came out of sleep mode,the program would not allow me to change it's status,as the status was unknown.It also caused some issues when I uninstalled it(luckily I had a good system image to restore from).
Summary
It still has bugs to be worked out,but so far it's pretty good...
Pros
When it says block everything, it means everything. I like the mode switching feature very well. I love how I can lock it so nothing can touch my firewall. It does not slow the system down too bad.
Cons
I hate finding new registry entries of invalid firewall rule each time I use my cleaner, but I can live with it for added security.
Summary
Works well with any antivirus I have tested so far. It is worth a try.
Pros
It seems to work fine.
Cons
It has reset my whitelisted exceptions three times now, forcing me to re-teach it which programs should not be blocked. Three strikes, and you're out -- I uninstalled this faulty product.
Summary
For a product that is supposed to streamline firewalls to be less obtrusive and high maintenance, it fails.
Pros
compact, fast, uses low resources, easy to use
Cons
cant think of any right now
Summary
i was a massive fan of zone alarm but as the years roll by, it just got more and more buggy. clunky, just annoying, eventually i had enough and decided to switch. I am so glad i did, tinywall works exactly like a firewall should work, silently, in the background, its my silent guardian.
okay so, when you first start using it, you may need to add specific programs manually to the cleared list but when your done with the config thats it job done :)
i'm happy with it so far been using it for about two weeks, i would recommend this for sure.
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