In today’s age of constant Internet access, whether by Wi-Fi or Ethernet, a firewall is a crucial part of your device’s security. This software, or, in some circumstances, a separate physical device, monitors all incoming and outgoing network traffic to and from your computer, including every program that attempts to connect to the Internet.
Microsoft Windows has had a built-in firewall for many years. Most users will not require any involvement; it is activated by default and set up for broad use. But what if you want to stop a specific application from connecting to the Internet or prevent a specific IP address from accessing your computer?
This practical guide will show you how to complete these tasks and efficiently control your firewall settings.
Windows Firewall
Click Start and type “Windows Security” – Within a few letters, an application with that name should appear in the search results (the icon is a large blue shield).
Clicking this will take you to the Windows Security center.
To access the firewall, pick ‘Firewall & network protection’ from the list on the left-hand side or click the relevant icon in the main menu. Once there, you’ll notice that the software monitors three types of networks: domain, private, and public.
Unless your machine is part of an Active Directory Domain, the domain network setting will not apply; it is often used by large enterprises to handle multiple computers and user accounts over huge networks. Firewall control is unlikely to exist in such contexts.
This takes us to the private and public network settings. Most people’s default configuration when connecting their PC to the Internet is as a public network. This setting assures that the PC is hidden from other network users, as opposed to being visible within a private network. The private setting should only be used for networks that are inaccessible to devices outside of your trusted group of equipment.
As shown in our example, we are connected to a public network, but the built-in firewall is automatically set to monitor all types of networks.
The software employs a complex set of rules to manage the incoming and outgoing data for each application or OS service. By altering or adding new rules, we can direct the firewall to prevent a specific program from accessing the Internet, for example.
It’s worth noting that if you use a separate antivirus software with its own firewall, it will take precedence over Windows’ firewall settings. In this situation, you would have to traverse the antivirus software’s settings to make any adjustments. However, because this post is about the Windows 11 firewall, let’s go over how to block both outgoing and incoming traffic.
Blocking a program’s outgoing network access
Windows typically permits any program to communicate data without restriction, as there is usually no reason to prohibit this activity. Assume, however, that there is a valid reason to restrict a specific application from accessing the Internet.
To accomplish this, we write a new rule just for that program. As shown before, under the firewall’s main menu, select the ‘Advanced settings’ option near the bottom. A busy-looking window will appear, but the most of it can be ignored; simply pick ‘Outbound Rules’ from the top of the left menu or the middle panel.
You’ll then see a long list of rules, each one matching to an application or service with network access. If an application has been installed for each user, there may be duplicate rules for each account.
A green tick to the left of each line shows that the firewall is not blocking that specific access. The rules specify which network types they apply to, what actions they take, if they may be overridden, and so on; the information presented is fairly thorough.
Although this all appears difficult (and it is), creating a new rule to prevent a program’s network access is surprisingly straightforward.
Click ‘New Rule…’ at the top of the right window. This will start a wizard that will walk you through the rule-creation process. Before you begin, you must know the specific name of the software you intend to block, as well as its location on your drive.
For demonstration purposes, let’s disable the main Steam executable file. It will still enable login (as it uses a separate program for that), but the block will prevent any file uploads, such as cloud saves, screenshots, or game accomplishments. This is only an example for educational purposes, and there is usually no practical reason to block Steam in this fashion, but it serves as a simple example of our test system.
The first step in the Outbound Rule wizard is straightforward: we want to block a program, so select the first choice and then click the Next button to go to the second stage.
Choose the ‘This program path:’ option since we want to control a specific application, and then enter the file’s location. You can supply the exact path or take a more general approach, as shown in the wizard’s example, by using the% symbols, which eliminates the need to provide the drive where the file is kept.
Make sure you choose the correct file. If you select a file with a different name or location than the one launched via the Start Menu or desktop shortcut, the rule will not apply to the intended program.
In the following step, affirm the rule’s enforcement action. The ‘block’ option should be pre-selected; if not, choose it before proceeding. The third stage, which determines which network types the rule will apply to, can be skipped because all are picked by default.
The final step is to name the rule and include an optional description for your own reference. After you’ve completed your inputs, click the ‘Finish’ button to return to the list of Outbound rules.
A system restart is not required; your new rule takes effect immediately, though you may need to navigate through the list to find it. Notice the lack of a green tick next to our Steam rule; the ‘no entry’ indicator indicates that the program is prohibited from transferring data over any network to which the computer is connected.
When you select a rule, the information appears in the right pane. The ‘Disable Rule’ option deactivates it, whereas ‘Delete’ removes it completely.
That’s all you need to do to prevent any program from transmitting data across a network. We can still log in to Steam because that function is handled by a separate program.
This is something to note. If you wish to entirely restrict Internet access for a program that uses numerous executable files, you must establish distinct rules for each one.
Blocking incoming access to your PC
limiting incoming network access, such as from a certain IP address, works similarly to limiting outbound application access. This address could be associated with another device on your network, as well as a website or server on the Internet.
In the Firewall > Advanced Settings window, pick Incoming Rules rather than Outbound Rules. Overlooking the large list, start the rule-creation wizard by selecting ‘New Rule…’.
This time, select a ‘Custom’ rule on the wizard’s first step to have complete control over the required configurations. Ensure that ‘All programs’ is chosen, as this will block any application or service from accepting incoming data from the specified IP address.
Proceed without changing the default values in the ports and protocols section to ensure that the block is complete.
When you get to the IP address entry, you can enter a single address or a range. For local network limits, select ‘local’; for external IP addresses, select’remote’. Remember to pick ‘These IP addresses’ to avoid a blanket restriction of all IPs.
The remote option covers IP addresses that are not on your local network. A PC connected to a broadband network is local, but everything else on the Internet is remote. You must pick the ‘These IP addresses’ option; else, all IP addresses will be blacklisted.
Click ‘Add…’ to enter a single IP address or a range. For example, you may choose a range of 172.217.16.235 to 172.217.16.240. To add numerous addresses, repeat the add-and-enter process as necessary.
Next, select the action – ‘Block’ to prevent inbound traffic from the specified IP addresses. It is important to note that, unlike outgoing rules, new inbound rules do not have a default action of blocking, so do not forget this step.
You can ignore the network type selection because it defaults to all types. Finally, name the rule and, if wanted, include a description. Once completed, the rule will become live immediately.
The new rule can be disabled (as indicated by the red highlight above) or deleted as necessary. However, be certain about the IP address you’re banning. For example, websites rarely utilize a single, unchanging IP address, therefore banning one may not prohibit access.
Inbound Rules are an excellent approach to restrict access on home networks where devices can be issued fixed IP addresses.
Also, learn about BiBi Wiper: Total Wipe – Including Your Partition Table
Leave a Reply