My Firewall


Hi,

With this post I want to go over another key piece to safeguarding yourself.  Again this is based on Windows 10.  Windows does come with its own built-in firewall but it lacks; GRAPHICS! and Usability.  I'll show you what I mean here. 

I recently downloaded Glasswire and can't recommend it enough.


Nerdy right?

The default "View" isn't the main feature we are after.  Clicking "Apps" or "Traffic" gives us more detailed information about our network communications.


This appears normal, nothing malicious.  I opened these apps and of course Windows has a few network connections.  Another tab to note is the "Firewall".


Each of these lines represent a network connection to/from your computer.  If something looks out of place you can click the little (Flame) icon and it will block that connection.  Now, when I say "out of place" we have to consider many factors.

Did I start that app?
Why is the host listed in some foreign country?  (Could be legitimate)
Is it generating a lot of traffic? (The mini graph shows upload/download rates)

*Notice I have no blocks active, liberal use of this feature can impact network performance*

The ease at which you can enable a block compared to traditional applications (cli,web) is valuable.  Usability!

Finally Glasswire will also provide alerts based on network activity.  You will get a notification when any network changes occur.  You can also view them in the "Alerts" tab.


This will also be a hint of suspicious activity.  However again modern computers call out over the internet all the time and most of this should be considered safe.

The GRAPHICS! part of Glasswire is the actual network data you now can easily see and review, in real time.  Many programs can visualize network data but for most users this will be all the information and control needed for everyday computing.

Additionally, while Glasswire is a "Free" software the paid version has even more features that make it well worth the money.

More posts to come.

https://www.glasswire.com/

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