FAQ

Why doesn't Fort Firewall block any programs after installation?

Fort Firewall is in Auto-Learn mode after installation.

You need to change a Filter mode to Block, if not allowed. And review the automatically allowed applications in the Programs window.

This initial behavior is for when you install it on a remote computer, so that the connection is not automatically blocked.

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Windows 7 SP1 64-bit fails to install drivers that are not digitally signed

See "SHA-2 Code Signing Support for Windows 7".

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Fort Firewall fails to install due to a missing "msvcp*.dll" or "api-ms-*.dll"

Install the latest Visual C++ x86 (32-bit!) redistributable package.

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Limitations of the 32-bit version of Fort Firewall

• Dark Mode is not supported.

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Limitations of the "Apply same rules to child processes" option

The "Apply the same rules to child processes" option only affects new processes, so you need to restart a program after changing its options.

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What is the difference between "Internet Addresses" and "Allowed Internet Addresses" on the "IP Addresses" tab?

1. All FW rules apply to "Internet Addresses" only. LAN addresses are allowed immediately by the FW and are not checked by application groups or speed limiter.

For example here you can describe Internet addresses as:

• "Include All" addresses,
• but exclude 127.0.0.0/8, 192.168.0.0/16.

2. "Allowed Internet Addresses" may be used for example:

• to block only some addresses:
  • "Include All" addresses,
  • but exclude facebook.com: "31.13.72.36".
• to allow only some addresses:
  • "Exclude All" addresses,
  • but include wikipedia.com: "91.198.174.192".

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Do the App rules override the Allowed Internet rules?

Filtering steps:

1. If address is 127.* or 255.255.255.255 and "Filter Local Addresses" is turned off, then PERMIT
2. If "Filter Enabled" is turned off, then PERMIT
3. If "Block Traffic" is turned on, then BLOCK
4. If address is not from "Internet Addresses" and "Filter Local Network" is turned off, then PERMIT
5. If "Block Internet Traffic" is turned on and address is from "Internet Addresses", then BLOCK
6. If address is not from "Allowed Internet Addresses", then BLOCK
7. If app has "Block Internet Traffic" and address is from "Internet Addresses", then BLOCK
8. If app has Zones and address is rejected or not accepted by Zones, then BLOCK
9. If app path is allowed, then PERMIT
10. BLOCK or PERMIT due to “Filter Mode” option

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What does the "Make trackable" button do in Services?

It modifies the selected Service's settings in the registry "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<SERVICE-NAME>":

• changes the "Type" value to "16" (Own Process),
• adds "-s <SERVICE-NAME>" argument to "ImagePath" value,
• stores old "Type" & "ImagePath" values into "_Fort*" values.

For the new values to take effect, you must restart the services that have been changed or restart the computer.

(Some services already run with "-s <SERVICE-NAME>" argument by SvcHost.exe, so it's not necessary to make them explicitly traceable).

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What is a Windows Filtering Platform?

The Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) is a set of API and system services to create applications that can filter and modify TCP/IP packets, monitor or filter network connections, and enforce security policies on network traffic.

WFP is configured by installing providers of filter rules: WFP Architecture.

All firewalls (based on WFP) use a filter provider: the default Windows Firewall's provider or a custom one.

For example, WFC, Glasswire use Windows Firewall's default provider.
But SimpleWall, TinyWall use their own provider.

There is a Filter Arbitration mechanism to process multiple providers in WFP. (BTW, the weight of the filter is only important within the provider.)

In addition, firewalls can use the standard WFP filtering mechanism or a custom mechanism using a custom kernel driver - Callout driver.

Therefore, some firewalls use their own drivers for flexible filtering.
For example, Fort Firewall, NetLimiter, Portmaster.