It appears to be impossible, IMPOSSIBLE to absolutely configure Vista as "Allow none except". This means that someone who spent 45 hours manually blocking every program currently installed, manages to get spyware installed and since there is no rule, it is allowed access.
How hard could it have been to add a first run wizard that asks "Would you like the firewall to be permissive or restrictive, click here for more information" that leads to a choice where the user selects "Allow all unless..." or "Allow none unless...".
MS needs to rework the firewall to make it possible to make a block all unless I specifically allow it option. Ironically, you can't really rely on ZoneAlarm now either since it has MS exceptions to the rules for it's phone home services. Anyone know of a software based Vista firewall that does ONLY what you tell it to do, that might be good info for a new story, "Firewalls that do what you need and what you tell it to do" which INLCUDES blocking WGA if you actually wanted to.
Thank goodness they at least kept the deny all except on the incoming side. In defense of MS however, if they had made a complete firewall that was easy to use on the outbound side and had the block all with easy pop ups asking, do you want to allow XYZ to access the internet, then Firewall Software Suppliers would scream. As it stands now, the only ones affected are customers.
TripleII
Discussion on:
Message 4 of 1
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