I would like to share with you a little app I coded which gives you the ability to block any app from accessing the Internet. This is done with just one click and uses the built-in Windows Firewall to block or allow it. OneClickFirewall is a small program I made which integrates with the Explorer context menu. All you need to do is right click the application you want to block and select "Block Internet Access".
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Once OneClickFirewall is installed, it adds these commands to the context menu of executable files and app shortcuts:
It is compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7. It should work in Windows Vista too, but currently I am not able to test it.
To block any app from accessing the Internet with one click, do the following.
- Download OneClickFirewall from its official home page HERE.
- Run the setup wizard and follow its instructions.
- After OneClickFirewall is installed, open File Explorer and locate the executable file of the app you need to block from accessing the Internet. Right click it and select Block Internet Access from the context menu.
That's it. The application will be blocked and will not be able to connect.
To unblock the blocked app, right click it and select "Restore Internet Access":
If you don't know which EXE to block, start the program you want to block, open Windows Task Manager, right click the program in Task Manager and choose "Go to details".
Task Manager will show you its EXE. You can then right click the EXE and choose Open file location to open it in Explorer and block it by right clicking it.
This is very simple and useful.
OneClickFirewall will create all the appropriate built-in Firewall rules for every app you block this way. Since it uses the built-in Windows Firewall to restrict or allow access, it is safe and does not require any extra program running all the time.
I made this app because the default user interface for allowing or blocking an app in Windows Firewall still requires too many steps. OneClickFirewall provides the missing Explorer shell integration that should have been built-in.
With OneClickFirewall, I was able to easily and quickly block even Metro/Windows Store apps, including ads in some apps like Solitaire which annoyed me. Be careful with what EXE processes you block with OneClickFirewall, especially system processes.
To see a list of all EXEs you have blocked with OneClickFirewall, open Windows Firewall with Advanced Security from Administrative Tools. Click Outbound rules. Rules that begins with "OneClickFirewall-..." are the apps you have blocked.
Download OneClickFirewall here.
Watch this video to see my app in action:
What do you think about this little app? Do you find it useful? Tell us in the comments.
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This would be more useful if instead of “Restore Internet Access” we had “Allow Internet Access” which deleted the Block Rule AND created a ALLOW Rule. The “Block Program” action should then delete the Allow Rule and create a Block Rule. You see I block outgoing connections by default, so the more useful choice for me is to have a menu entry that Allows, rather than one that blocks. Also, you might want to block incoming connections too. And the name of the rule(s) should be OneClickFirewall-ProgramName, rather than some random CLSID-type number.
Regards,
Okay, I will improve the app.
Thanks for tips.
Note that OneClickFirewall is suitable for the *default* Windows behavior which does not block outbound connections by default. Windows does show you a notification for inbound connections, does it not? If you change the defaults, you are probably smart enough to tweak registry keys yourself to support your firewall configuration.
Excellent little utility!
I was wondering if you could tell me how to see which apps might be using the internet without our knowledge? Is there a built in .exe in Win 10 that will show you which programs are using the internet?
Task Manager is suitable for this task. It can show network usage per app.
I am preparing an article about this.
Thanks Sergey, just seen it!
Resource monitor is a better option. You can go to the Network tab and you get exactly what you are looking for.
It is mentioned there. See:
https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-track-network-usage-in-windows-10-without-third-party-tools/
Or use SysInternals TCPView to see “live” traffic consumption of any app trying to connect to another server.
Thanks Bob! Will check it out.
Thanks for this. Now, how about a one click addition to Word that would delete hyperlinks from a dicument?
please add this software into your super awesome winaero tweaker, thanks
OK, I will consider adding this ability to Winaero Tweaker.
why this ?
https://www.virustotal.com/it/file/e846768580f463cadd60dfb193d40a0c3b461c7c14b5b2f09db22bd223d39f04/analysis/1465325021/
false positive
It might be because of the installer. You can be 100% sure it’s a false positive. Winaero apps are trusted and safe.
One nice feature of the Zonealarm firewall was the ability to use one click to turn off ALL access to the internet – almost as effective as pulling the ethernet plug. I haven’t been able to find a simple way to do that with the Windows 10 firewall. Any chance you would write such a utility?
Windows Firewall Control is the best app to control network access: https://winaero.com/blog/windows-10-firewall-control-review/ I highly recommend it.
Good one. Saves the trouble of manually set each file you want.
I could suggest an improvement over Windows firewall settings by enabling a folder to be blocked, meaning, all exe files in a selected folder.
All the examples seems to be related to allowing or blocking inbound signals. Is there any way one can have in the context menu generated by your program, to specifically specify one wants to block either only inbound signals, or only outbound signals or both inbound and outbound signals? Thanks.
Great Job by You
Thanks so much, it is really useful for me and also for many other.
Hello Sergey,
Thankyou for your fantastic apps!
So OneClickFirewall creates Outbound rules, would it be possible to have it create inbound rules also?
I’m curious and think maybe you had reason why you made it to do outbound only?
Thankyou again, WinAeroTweaker is VERY useful and greatly appreciate your skills and efforts in creating it. All the best to you.
R