@frostlike
yes you want Windows Update working, your system will turn to swiss cheese otherwise
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Here’s how you should have it:
“Disable” means not that the connections to Windows Update are blocked, it’s the other way around: it means that simplewall’s rules won’t apply to Windows Update. It’s just that the developer is really bad at English.
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@3QVvxrhnYZ
are you sure about that? It sounds like it will actually disable the components.
Windows update should be enabled and unblocked.
edit: I just dug into the source and there appear to be two different mechanisms at play here:
- application based firewall (allow/block) rules
- and a domain blocklist system which can be disabled, allowed, or blocked
your picture is only covering the blocklist part, not whether the actual program is blocked or not.
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Open main window menu
Settings→Rules→Allow Windows Update
Yeah, just enabled this setting and boy do I have a lot of missing updates. I’ve basically been running around with my pants around my ankles for over a year…
Thanks guys!
Yeah it’s confusing, but in short: a rule has 3 states: allowed, blocked, and disabled. Disabled means that the rule itself is disabled, that is — it’s not active/it doesn’t apply to a connection. See this
Anyway, regarding @frostlike’s question, they can either “Disable (recommended)” or “Allow” Windows Update. To be on the safe side, I guess it’s best to “Allow”. I personally didn’t have any problems with Windows Update when it was “Disable (recommended)”.
Again there are two different ways for Windows Update to be broken by it.
For WU to work it must be:
- Set to
DisableorAllowinBlocklistsettings < the default here is fine. Allow Windows Updateenabled inRulessettings < this is the important one.
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Not that I enjoy being treated like trash when asking genuine questions, but for me the trust with the developer comes from whether work is getting done or not i.e., product is regularly being updated with security patches and bug fixes, new features being added (when applicable), etc… After all, you don’t have to interact with the developer to use the product. I for one have been using Simplewall for years and never even knew the guy was such a jerk.
I think is more important that there’s an active community or large user base so that you can receive support from other members as well, instead of relying from the developer(s) directly. But anyway this is already off-topic.
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Oh, I totally forgot about it. On GitHub it says: “Open main window menu Settings → Rules → Allow Windows Update .” I thought that Settings is to click the cog icon on the toolbar (which is how I’ve always been accessing simplewall’s settings; I’ve never been doing anything via Settings on the ribbon), not the Settings button on the ribbon. In Settings via the cog icon, there’s no option related to Windows Update. So I thought that the info on GitHub is outdated and the issue was fixed, or something like that. Well, can’t blame me: to put two options related to Windows Update into two completely different places is bad UI. Anyway, I had Allow Windows Update unchecked all that time and had no problems with Windows Update.
I appreciate all of your replies!!!
I’m looking through all of the links posted in this thread.
Could someone please help me with my question regarding:
“If I have a Windows 10 PC connected to a hardware firewall device like a specialised Firewall Linux Distro, will the Firewall Linux Distro still be work if I have an installed on the Windows 10 PC that contains a trojan that’s sending data back to an author on the Internet?”
If your pc is infected with a trojan you should consider your computer as compromised, the firewall can’t really help.
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Yes of course, I’ll try to explain it in another way:
Let’s forget the idea of a trojan. Let’s just say that an App installed on a Windows 10 PC contacts the Internet and sends personal and private data about the user to someone on the Internet. This App didn’t ask you for permission, but just does this transfer of data as “normal functioning”.
In the above situation, how does a Linux firewall installed on a hardware device protect the Windows 10 PC?
Well, i’m not and expert but firewalls usually block only addresses so I don’t think it makes any difference if it’s some app or some malicious code, if they have access to the internet they can send and receive data unless the address they’re connecting to is blocked. If you block the connections of an app who needs that to work, it will probably stop working.
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I appreciate your reply!
However, it should be simple to block for a firewall to block a particular app from accessing the Internet.
Like I said, in the Windows 10 Pro built-in firewall I’ve blocked VLC media player from accessing the Internet, but it’s still able to “Check for updates” and it can update itself if an update has been released… 
It’s incredibly important that a firewall can actually block an app from accessing the Internet…