Rules for Windows 10 apps futile?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve noticed that creating any rules for Windows 10 “universal” apps is more or less waste of time… every app update changes the path/folder name of the app, triggering the allow/block question afterwards (I’ve seen three Stores on my list, and twice for another app, for example; so I decided to delete them all). Any workaround for this yet?

Because of the Apps use of strange path names? If so, use the wildcard (*).

For example (random app)…

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.BingWeather_4.8.239.0_x86__8hekyb6d8bbre\Microsoft.Msn.Weather.exe

… becomes …

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.BingWeather*\Microsoft.Msn.Weather.exe

… or groups of apps…

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.*\*.exe

etc.

Obviously you need to carefully choose your wildcards… otherwise unanticipated results should be anticipated. :slight_smile:

Yes, because they use version numbers within folder names, making it different each time. Thanks for that, I had no idea you can use wildcards. But just to be clear – editing this part is supported in 8.2 but not in 5.10?

Sorry, I don’t know. Wildcards were introduced many years ago, but I cannot remember when exactly.

If you can’t use a wild card in the rule path on 5.xx then you’ll have to make a File Group, add the Apps, then insert the wild cards, then use the file group to make the firewall rule.

As far as I remember they have been valid since version 4, the only problem is for the early versions 4/5 is that you cannot alter the path once the rule has been saved it has to be done before.

Dennis