Firewall not blocking internet access of many applications

So I’ve just setup my new computer (Win 7 x64), did a fresh firewall installation (7.0.317799.4142), and noticed that many applications just do whatever they want, even though the firewall is set to “Safe Mode”, “Create rules for safe applications” is not enabled, and there are no application rules defined other than the default “COMODO Internet Security”, “Windows Updater Applications” and “Windows System Applications”.

After noticing this behavior I’ve also disabled “Trust applications signed by trusted vendors” and “Trust files installed by trusted installers” in the file rating settings, and now some of applications that formerly could access the internet without asking, do ask for it, like for example Chrome, however there are still many apps that can access the internet without restrictions, for example Firefox, Internet Explorer, PhpStorm or VirtualBox, rendering the Firewall kinda useless. Also, after a restart, that partial blocking behavior is gone again, Chrome and others that were blocked can again do whatever they want.

Does anyone know what could be wrong here?

Regards, Timo

You probably have Do NOT show popup alerts enabled. Is that a correct assumption?

Hi Eric, thanks for your reply.

Unfortunatly that is not the correct assumption, it would also kinda conflict with "… and now some of applications that formerly could access the internet without asking, do ask for it … " :wink:

However I found what it was, it seems that a bunch of apps was automatically added to the list of “Trusted Files” in the files rating section at (post) installation time (yeah, I should have spotted that earlier), once removed everyting is back to normal, and everybody’s dutifully asking for permssion :slight_smile:

Regards, Timo

Why not simply set the firewall to Custome Ruleset rather than Safe Mode?

Well, out of habit I guess, I have always been using safe mode, but this is the first time it caused problems for me. Guess I’ll jump the fence and try the Custom Ruleset Mode :slight_smile:

Regards, Timo