If I have the firewall in custom policy mode and alerts set to high, is it true that this will not increase my security and just give me more popus?
It’s not so much about increasing security, although one could arguably say that using Custom Policy mode with a higher setting for alert frequency, does in fact provide more security, because these settings give you more control.
If you simply use Safe mode with an increased alert frequency setting, you’ll see nothing different in the firewall, as rules are not added unless you also specify ‘Create rules for safe applications’. if you enable this setting, with an increase in the alert frequency, when a rule is created, it will have more detail, however, you won’t receive any alerts for safe applications, unless you use Custom policy mode.
Bottom line, if you want more control and you’d like to know when applications want to connect, at least the first time, use Custom Policy mode. If you want more detail in the rule, increase the alert frequency.