Is there a firewall that will.....

[Doomer]

UNCONDITIONALLY block all program access to the Internet except those I explicitly allow?

OK, I'm sick of these stupid pop ups telling me that updates are available...blah, blah, blah. I have about 3 programs that don't give me the option to turn this annoyance off.

All the firewalls I've seen either have a long list of built in exceptions or flat out allow some programs access no matter what.

Does any firewall allow full control of Internet access?

Thanks

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Yeah I think many firewalls can do this. I remember when I used a firewall, I used Agnitum's Outpost and I believe there was a setting that blocked everything unless you manually give it access.

 

[Doomer]

thanks sleep. DL'ing it now.

 

[jjones]

Zone Alarm does the same. Doesn't allow any programs to access the internet unless you permit it.

 

[Doomer]

I haven't looked at ZA in a while but last time I did, it did no such thing. You had to jump thru a million hoops to get it to block programs from accessing the Internet and it was anything but straight forward. Maybe the lastest version is different but I remember last time thinking how the hell can such a simple concept be made so complicated?

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Zone Alarm~

 

[BlueWeasel]

I think Kerio Firewall v215 has this feature as well.

 

[screw3d]

Add Sygate to the list. I haven't seen any firewall that allows all except those on the blacklist 😕

 

[firerock]

Originally posted by: SleepWalkerX
Yeah I think many firewalls can do this. I remember when I used a firewall, I used Agnitum's Outpost and I believe there was a setting that blocked everything unless you manually give it access.

Another vote for Outpost.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: Doomer
I haven't looked at ZA in a while but last time I did, it did no such thing. You had to jump thru a million hoops to get it to block programs from accessing the Internet and it was anything but straight forward. Maybe the lastest version is different but I remember last time thinking how the hell can such a simple concept be made so complicated?

In ZA by default all programs are blocked. As a program tries to access the internet a window will pop up notifying you that the program wants to access the internet. Your options then are to allow temporarily or permanently and deny temporarily or permanently. Those programs you set to a permanent status will never bother you again.

You can also add the programs manually when you set up ZA but it's easier to just let ZA handle it as the occasion occurs.

Edit: An example of how ZA works:

I use eDonkey sometimes but since I consider it riskware, I don't allow it permanently to access the internet. I allow it access on a per use basis so everytime I start the program, ZA notifies me and I allow it access again temporarily.

I also use Corel which also wants to access the internet. There is no need for me to ever want to allow Corel access so I deny it permanently. I never hear from that program again whining about internet access.