Windows Firewall Notifier is a third party program for Windows 7 and Vista that improves the handling of the firewall in this regard. When you first start the firewall notifier it performs a series of actions.

The program enables the Windows Firewall if it is not enabled on the system. Once enabled, it will block all inbound and outbound connections for which no firewall rules exist. It then enables Windows firewall inbound connection notifications and outbound connections logging if disabled.

A task is then created in the Windows Task Scheduler that is linked to Windows firewall event log entries. This will basically launch Windows Firewall Notifier whenever an inbound or outbound connection for which no rule exist is blocked.

Configuring the program to run as a task means that it will not run in the background all the time. The Task Scheduler will launch the firewall notifier whenever the system tries to make a connection that is not listed under allowed or blocked connections. The following dialog is then displayed on the screen giving the Windows user options to allow or block the connection.

The notification lists the application’s name, system path and target IP or hostname. Buttons are available to allow or block the connection once, or to allow or block it always.

The program will make the selected changes to the firewall configuration before it closes down again. Users who want to uninstall the firewall software again need to run it again. A dialog to disable it is then presented on screen.

Windows Firewall Notifier is a handy program for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users who make use of the built-in firewall. The program, compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of supported Windows operating systems, is available for download at the developer website. (via)

A good way to perform security tests on antivirus firewall software programs are so called leak tests. These tests simulate different kind of attacks and manipulations on a computer system without actually doing any harm to it. They usually present statistics at the end telling the user which tests the antivirus firewall software program passed and which it failed.

Comodo Leaktest is but one of the many available leak tests on the Internet. The security software is testing a total 34 different attacks and manipulations of a computer system running the Microsoft Windows operating system. Depending on the antivirus and firewall software in use some, all or none might spawn alerts.

The software program will display a score in the end. The maximum amount of points is 340, 10 for each test passed. Each test is explained on a local html page that gets downloaded with the software program. Those information can be used to find out why a test has not been passed. It does require some research though as the information provided are only answers to the questions what the test is doing and what the harm is if the test fails.

The leak test can be divided into different categories. It will begin with some rootkits tests followed by invasion, injection, info send, impersonation and hijacking tests.

Comodo Leak Test is a portable security software that will test an antivirus firewall software that is installed on a Windows operating system. It provides the means to find out if your computer system is still – partially or fully – vulnerable to common attacks encountered locally and remotely.