Stop Windows Spying with one click Firewall

[@AndrewTSq]

Someone should write a software that just send random wierd data to those sites microsoft sends data to.

[@igorthelight]

An interesting idea xD

[@duncanchestnut5583]

Actually, that's a great idea The only thing worse to these malicous spyware companies than not getting your data is getting all of their data junked because they don't know what is and isn't real

[@ShaferHart]

That's a very stupid way to get yourself prosecuted under the CFAA. Funny though.

[@LunatiqHigh]

@@ShaferHart Fuck em, worth it. lol. Have a few billion people do it at the same time. lol

[@yanniskorsavvidis7111]

There was a chrome extension which was sending random search queries to google.

[@d-tech3190]

Windows ignores the hosts file for certain domains related to Windows Update and Windows Defender. It's done in order to prevent malware from abusing the hosts file in order to prevent Windows from being updated.

[@blikthepro972]

the malware is preventing other malware from saving you

[@AriinPHD]

terrifying.

[@bbbl67]

My concern is with any 3rd party apps is that they sometimes inadvertently block services that are required by your apps to work properly. And then comes time for long debug processes and it eventually turns out that the 3rd party app you installed was causing the problem all along.

[@Oddbrother]

That's another thing I like about Portmaster. It's more transparent and helpful in narrowing down what causes the problem to streamline the debugging and troubleshooting process. Or at least finding out why it's blocking something an app needs on that one machine.

[@PrivacyisFreedom]

I've been using portmaster for over a year now and would never use any windows computer without it ever again. It cannot be more easy to have privacy for free. If a program doesn't work you unblock it, it's that simple. The only exception here are vpn's, you have to unblock multiple exe's for them to work but that's not difficult either, it will all show up in the portmaster.

[@deang5622]

Any decent software vendor should tell you in their documentation what ports are needed for their app to work.

[@ami443]

it made my pc slower, so i uninstalled it...

[@andrive]

True. Comdo firewall

[@confeds]

Thanks!

[@jackjack3358]

Sorry but I would expect you to show what this portmaster is also sending away to their servers while recommending it. I'm guessing you did your due diligence but it's better to show that to users too, because now I feel like I'm just swapping whos spying me rather than stopping it

[@pcsecuritychannel]

Portmaster is open source and anyone can inspect the source code here: github.com/safing/portmaster. Due to the nature of how such firewalls work and cause the DNS is encrypted, it isn't easy to "show" what is happening in Wireshark, as it will look like gibberish to the viewer and doing an in-depth investigation of code is not going to be the kind of content that the same viewer complaining about the lack of investigation in this video is going to watch.

[@gxplay9404]

@@pcsecuritychannel You could make it at the end of the Video, or a quick overview but its not all about what the average viewer would watch rather than quality of the content for many peoplel, really knowing if the application is secure, and not evolving to another channel just ignoring the probaple downsides (no front here, just many channels are like this already) just objectively reviewing all of it.

[@jackjack3358]

@@pcsecuritychannel Fair point on code analysis, I wouldn't expect that anyway. But a short part where you could analyze if portmaster is calling any random URLs or not would be nice, and would certainly show up in wireshark as you know. As you know, just because something is open source doesn't mean that it can be clean or compiled distributed binary is 1-1 identical with what's on github. I'm not saying portmaster is shady, but you know, they can easily add something to github and distribute a different binary that does more or less same with telemetry in it.

[@monkeydluffy2063]

@@pcsecuritychannel you don't have to do the in-depth analysis in a video, like you said it will be gibberish for most people - but you could tell us that "I checked and this is not sending a homing signal to its own servers with all this info" etc, OR show a 1 minute highlight of what you found, else why even recommend a tool I agree with @jackjack3358, why should I bother with another tool that might be doing the same thing as microsoft

[@pcsecuritychannel]

@@jackjack3358 The whole idea of an encrypted DNS is you can't see the URLs being visited in Wireshark or a network monitoring tool, that's part of the point of a privacy tool, so there is no way to visually "showcase" what URLs you are visiting once you install the application (unlike the Wireshark logs I showed before).

[@lostpacket]

Your channel is great bro. As a former sysadmin, I get so frustrated with people promoting AV crap just for $$$. You are honest, to the point, and give real world quantifiable data. On a side note, you sound a bit like Buildzoid (a guy with a name in the motherboard and gpu hobbyist arena for analyzing board layouts).

[@Cloneufc]

Thank you for this. I've been playing the same game for four years. My ping was always at 44ms. With Portmaster my ping dropped from 44 to 40-39ms. That is a nice improvement!

[@nadtz]

I do most of this via my firewall but going to check this out as it's always nice to have open source apps to recommend to my less tech savvy friends.

[@65matt75]

pfBlocker FTW

[@sylverpepper]

How do you do it yourself via your firewall?

[@nadtz]

@@sylverpepper Opnsense lets you use blocklists and they include most of these domains. I also blackhole a bunch of stuff via pi hole.

[@CyanureNeko]

I use Simplewall to block everything by default and allow connections manually, is a lot of work at the start and not so friendly but still a great tool! Will def give this a try as well

[@ao4514]

What is simplewall ?!

[@ReheatedDonut]

@@ao4514 free, open source firewall that just blocks everything and when something needs to connect it alerts you. You can then say OK don't ask again, or OK allow for X mins, or just ignore and it will block it that one time, or select to block completely.

[@CyanureNeko]

@@ao4514 Short answer: Hard firewall that allows you to block any app (or even ports/ips) on your pc, and like I said before, I have it set to block everything and it will prompt me when a program is trying to connect to the internet to ask for permission it also shows the connections just like the one on this video

[@CyberPun]

NotSoSimplewall

[@avinashjagdeo]

Tinywall works for me. The thing about the advanced firewalls with all the crazy features is they are resource hogs.

[@DavidM2002]

I have a Synology router which has a great way to create filters to block these web sites. It would be really nice to just have a list of the spy web sites to add to these filter without having to introduce yet another app or service. Great video and very much appreciated.

[@ShainAndrews]

Doesn't it have scripting capabilities? I don't play in the consumer stuff so I don't know... but it seems like you should be able to pull a black list from your source of choice.

[@DavidM2002]

@@ShainAndrews Thanks Shain, I never thought or even knew about that.

[@ShainAndrews]

@@DavidM2002 That's the core of the magic sauce. Manufactures curate their own "proprietary" black lists. There are quite a few robust list available... lists that assist populating the "proprietary" lists.

[@sk3ffingtonai]

So far, so good. Thanks. Generally, if it's Open Source, I'm in, almost always more secure due to how it's developed.

[@jamie5388]

Along with the transparency of anyone being able to review the code.

[@ShainAndrews]

That's like dropping your shorts because a stranger told you they're a hooker then asking the community why it burns while you take a piss. The community will collectively agree that indeed they were a hooker... But based on your results not a clean one, nor were either party using best practices. All of this "open source contribution" occurred after the fact. Moral of the story. There is no panacea. Anything can be open source, but open source does not equate to safe, clean, or best practices. By the time enough competent eyes review the code the damage is done.

[@olympiawa]

@@ShainAndrews Interesting analogy but in this case you're the doctor with the test results. You can go see for yourself and make your own judgement about the software. Open source doesn't equate to safe, clean, or best practice per se. However, with a little due diligence, you can find out with far more ease and certainty than a proprietary piece of software.

[@CubensisEnjoyer]

@@ShainAndrews analogy is overkill for a pretty simple idea. open source isn't inherently secure and users shouldn't assume it is. not sure wtf you're on about

[@jamie5388]

@@ShainAndrews It's still better that the code is up for open review by anyone than not? Plus over time open source projects develop a trusted reputation as many already have unlike the hooker you reference. Funny how you attempt to cast a stain on open source code by assumed comparison to a hooker. That alone says a lot. Closed source does not equate to "safe", "clean", or "best" practices either as those are all subjective. The difference is that with open source individuals at least have the opportunity to perform their own due diligence of examining what they use in their hardware and developers know that their reputation is on the line when users can review it. When you buy stuff you should be able to examine it for anything unscrupulous which is known as freedom. Therefore, if anything would compare to the dirty hooker it would in fact be big tech monopolizing with closed source as you don't know what your getting. Big tech and government is well proven to be unilaterally untrustworthy! I'd rather trust something I know than something I don't. Big entities that monopolize can't ever be trusted as proven through their manipulation into controlled monopolizations along with their govt collusion = TRASH. Windows and Mac have both had plenty of viruses/breaches plus they have govt back doors. They give ZERO shits about your privacy or anonymity and security is about perception (whose security?) as it's clear when you read the LAs.

[@anaveragehuman2937]

What a fantastic tool! Thanks for sharing this with us :)

[@macethorns1168]

And did you independently verify that no spy traffic was leaving your network? Or...?

[@Blizl0x]

Holy shit this is awesome! Open source, great looking, simple with advanced settings! Great share!

[@3191DX]

this was posted 30 seconds ago? And i got the recommendation?

[@NaldinhoGX]

Same?

[@owolo]

what's the problem?

[@FatBiscuitYT]

KZbin have been testing recommendations by boosting people you do not necessarily watch on your home page.

[@KC-nd7nt]

Ditto

[@artorias550]

I simply use malwarebytes firewall control. It is free and can be set to block everything by default and ask about unlocking. It is hard to tell what you can block (for example gaming services might be necessary for gamepass games) so you need some epxerimentation.

[@honkhonk538]

While it is useful, you can't leave it and forget since it'll most possibly be a source of "why is x application not working" a lot of times because of its global "Force block incoming connections" rule and it wanting you to use a DNS server and nagging you about it (Had cloudflare and was wondering why almost all sites weren't working, turned out cloudflare was down back then and portmaster was routing my DNS to it, so when things are malfunctioning this the first thing i look at now aside from incoming connections) Also sometimes it classifies things it cannot properly identify as "Network noise", ran into issues with streaming software like Sunshine and had to disable incoming connections ruling for all the "noise connections" to save myself hours of more guesswork Just something to be aware of that's going to make your like much easier when using this

[@videodude8137]

Yes, I had had that issue with O&O Shutup.

[@PrivacyisFreedom]

I'm happy to see that a bigger channel promotes the portmaster software, it's an amazing privacy tool that's easy to use! Every windows user should have this on their PC because it's free and opensource and protects your privacy. You can block all major tech companies in the filterlists settings! Simplewall is great but this is more advanced and superior. Great video mr security!

[@devalue7064]

why just windows? i use it on linux too

[@BleepBlop-rh9lm]

I wish the pro version was not subscription based. It's too expensive.

[@PrivacyisFreedom]

@@BleepBlop-rh9lm Yeah 10 euro a month isn't to cheap. But you have to consider you get a new IP for every program you use, it's the first program that does that (so far i know), tor does it only for the browser and vpns give you only one IP. Speaking of vpn's, mullvad is great and half the price of portmaster. I think both programs are worth paying for.

[@PrivacyisFreedom]

@@devalue7064 Ofcourse portmaster is great no matter on which OS you use it, i tried it on debian and it didn't work just saying, maybe they'll fix that someday if they haven't already. After all their website advertises the portmaster for debian based system, so it was werid when it didn't work there.

[@colonelfustercluck486]

yeah, not much difference in features between free and the $4/month service. To get the good version it's $9.90/month..... and that's the one you should get@@BleepBlop-rh9lm

[@HamedEmine]

This should complement Simplewall so well

[@ReheatedDonut]

Not use if it's worth using both? I have simplewall and looked at portmaster about a year ago and ended up just using simplewall

[@malipedduparthiv6147]

does this by any chance introduce any latency when playing games? does it reduce internet speeds?

[@igorthelight]

It is not reducing internet speed and "most likely" not add any latency.

[@PRODBYNDRU]

You also recommended Comodo Firewall before. How would you compare these two?

[@tanjifoyo3821]

This is a good one

[@abdessamadben2025]

You just gained A new subscriber . Btw lately i figured out i had a rat and a miner in my laptop because of security tools you mentioned in your videos After disinfection,i made sure that my pc is well secured with the tools you said in your vids❤️👍

[@PrivacyisFreedom]

You made the right choice, this channel is as good as portmaster.

[@int_pro]

Any chance you've been able to place wireshark on your network -- or is it check hardware firewall logs -- to see if traffic to these nefarious IP truly stops once that application is used? Nice to "trust but verify".

[@f3rny_66]

there is no "trust but verify" in sponsored content ;) I tried portmaster and it uses more resourses than chrome, too much for a personal firewall

[@CarbineKiller]

FWs only block the traffic in question, not the process. i assume MS will try to cause such traffic to originate from legitimate processes/executables, so blocking at last-mile-to-ISP (perimeter) would be beneficial for your entire network.

[@macethorns1168]

Of course he didn't, otherwise he wouldn't be posting this video making those outlandish claims.

[@rygull]

Portmaster has been a favorite of mine for a while. The SPN feature (replacing VPNs) is a bit jank and needs work but overall it's a must have. The only complaint i have is the price because it costs way to much to justify for the general public.

[@CyberPun]

Yeah right. It is an open source software. You have been cheated if you paid for that.

[@Blox117]

@@CyberPun the price is for the vpn, sherlock

[@CyberPun]

@@Blox117 NordVPN is better. Try that.

[@ami443]

I just tried it for one hour, and it made my pc slower, so i uninstalled it !! never more !!

[@bbbl67]

What does SPN stand for?

[@FurryNonsense]

That was a lot more than just one click

[@Google-Account12]

Portmaster does not sit well with VPNs or similar virtual network devices, however

[@sebimmbasti]

Check the DNS-Settings... it's always a very bad idea to use a DNS which is not set by the VPN provider. AFAIK portmaster does not accept the system dns, you have to set one in the settings (I may be wrong here).

[@parenta3682]

I'm wondering if there will be any video about recent malware called Pikabot, I'm curious about how it hides and spreads.

[@Wierie_]

i like free stuff. i dont like microsoft taking my stuff for free

[@mykothy]

This software is well known by linux users. It is also very handy software.

[@l0I0I0I0]

You've sparked my interest!!!

[@sebas0469]

Would love to see a comparison between Portmaster and Glasswire, both Free and Paid options.

[@rooboy69]

or comodo Firewall

[@ConstitutionalRepublicStands]

I've had glasswire for a couple years, both free and paid versions, and im here looking for something better if that tells you anything

[@rodd8445]

I’m using comodo firewall, do you recommend swapping to this one? Because I like the control of the processes that comodo gives me and port master doesn’t have (or at least you didn’t show us)

[@gr0wnup5]

A problem with Firewalls on Windows I've noticed is some AntiVirus softwares enforce their own Firewall (like Bitdefender) and thus bypassing all custom rules we set as Windows Firewall rules..which is slightly annoying

[@e1woqf]

That's not slightly annoying. That's a No Go. Any OS behaving like that cannot have a place on any of my PCs.

[@thomask5434]

There is a reason Bitdefender Antivirus exists. Its basically the same without the firewall.

[@randydietmeyer5883]

I love plug-ins that provide these type of services but always recommend a dedicated hardware firewall which protects the whole network. I use the Firewalla Gold which is extremely easy to set up and manage but of course there are others as well.

[@marcfabricatore1506]

Hi Leo, I am a big fan of your channel. Thank you for all you do!

[@namaanda5349]

I used simplewall for a while, this might be a nice one to try

[@mjmeans7983]

Has someone confirmed that: 1) the source has no precompiled binaries; 2) it compiles without needing to download any precompiled binaries; 3) when executing it literally can't automatically download and then run or link to any precompiled binaries/libraries or scripts?

[@gilgilbert5866]

When I downloaded and installed Portmaster, I could not connect to any sites with any of my 3 browsers (Edge, Google. Firefox). I only got a error message that stated, "Could not connect to the Internet, would you like to retry?" Once I uninstalled port master, then I could reconnect to the internet again. Go figure? I guess I will keep playing with it although when I first installed Portmaster, I went with the default settings

[@grim.reaper]

Been using this since it was in beta, it’s pretty good!!

[@pax5072]

i used old version of portmaster and that version did not log your every activity, but in this new version they log everything what software you open and what website visit etc and that seems pretty sus to me even it's open source!

[@MiyazakisPVPexperience]

Could you elaborate? Where can I read up about this

[@hillwalker8741]

was looking for a safe link to portmaster here - a search does not instill confidence of what to click on

[@yb5336]

It would be more helpful if you post link for the tool in the description.

[@RechargeableLithium]

@yb5336 If one can't Google, they should donate their computer to someone that can use it.

[@Blox117]

@@RechargeableLithium why would one use spyware?

[@LunayderKater]

A Video Idea: how safe is a Sandbox really. testing multiple sandboxes like Virtualbox VM, Windows Sandbox.. e.t.c and showing the worst case scenario if flaws are being used.

[@Bob-The-Guy]

I installed this but my web browsing has become unpredictable with some sites not coming up while others are fine. I've had to reboot my system one time because this was clogging something in the OS. Finding fixes is difficult. This app needs a very good in depth tutorial. When I shut it down, everything goes back to normal.

[@nieluys]

Problem is that after I installed Portmaster, it broke my remote connections to other computers, so had to uninstall it as I could not find what it was blocking...

[@Alex_Martz]

Free?, remember that when the product is free then YOU are the product!

[@igorthelight]

Ever heard of Open Source? ;-)

[@Alex_Martz]

@@igorthelight never in my life, do tell me more 😂😂😂

[@igorthelight]

@@Alex_Martz xD

[@comrade_marshal]

Meanwhile emmess who wants you to pay a hefty amount for their products and then harvest your browsing and usage data to earn more from you. Better to become commodity for free than to be one after paying

[@comrade_marshal]

Meanwhile emmess who wants you to pay a hefty amount for their products and then harvest your browsing and usage data to earn more from you. Better to become commodity for free than to be one after paying

[@starupiva]

I blocked all incoming and outgoing ports on the Windows Defender firewall and yet hacker was able to connect to my system and run group policy on my system. I could see all this happening and I just snapped the connection. MS needs to focus on creating a strong , unbreakable, sandboxed core OS with firewalls av and no rooot access at all. The applications need to run on another layer altogether.

[@DigitalPhreak765]

Does it work for Windows 10 as well 😀😀

[@mbitenas87]

Why are using edge in the first place?

[@m.m.4609]

The spying but also the HORRIBLE new sleep mode forced upon is, and Microsoft not giving a damn, I decided its finally move over to Linux. I'd had enough of their BS , almost burning my laptop because the new sleep mode NEVER works like intended and Microsoft silently removed the option to go back to S3 Sleep mode.

[@Blox117]

what do you mean?

[@Intimatycal]

Wow, i thought im the only one having problem keeping my pc in sleep lmao windows became a fucjing cancer

[@Praxss]

thanks for covering this Application

[@baldknobby]

Can this be used on a raspberry pi, like pihole?

[@myfranci560]

Block this is forbidden to the Microsoft policy?

[@NotMolly-jf2rh]

Portmaster shows up in many sites. Which to download from?

[@kingan0n1mal99]

14 minutes with 800 visualisations is insane!

[@poqdavid]

I really like Portmaster too I just wish it was more compatible with DNSCrypt and other VPNs without needing to do any config changes

[@revplays6471]

You can just use Control-D at Router or device level to do the same thing. and it has similar features + added Proxy for bypassing specific app based IP or the whole device.

[@Dispatch4131]

ControlD is the best purchase I've made in a while. The ability to use community filters and it being compatible with almost every device is great.

[@revplays6471]

@@Dispatch4131 true that haha

[@the_2663]

Hi, thank you for the information. Can you also please do third party software firewall testings/review as well. 😂

[@d.nicely]

No link to PortMaster... why?

[@SafingIO]

Thanks for the video!

Hi, when can we get another free av test-comparison? Love your channel

[@ViktorEviltronics]

Simplewall ? No?

[@pwhv]

can you do the same but for macos? please 🙏🙏

[@igorthelight]

Google "Little Snitch for MacOS" and "LuLu for MacOS" ;-)

[@addusernamehere]

3:49 what does he mean "I wouldn't recommend it as a replacement for an AV"? Thanks.

[@sniperwork]

Does it works with Kaspersky Total Security? It already has an In-built firewal.. So just wondering.,

[@CYBERSECURITY.101]

Yes, Portmaster can work with Kaspersky Total Security. Portmaster is a complementary firewall that can provide additional security features and protection. Kaspersky Total Security's firewall is a good basic firewall, but Portmaster can offer more granular control over your network traffic. For example, Portmaster can be used to block specific applications or websites, and it can also be used to create custom firewall rules. However, it is important to note that using two firewalls at the same time can sometimes cause problems. This is because both firewalls will be trying to control the same network traffic, and this can lead to conflicts. If you do experience problems when using Portmaster with Kaspersky Total Security, you may need to disable one of the firewalls. Here are some tips for using Portmaster with Kaspersky Total Security: • Make sure that both firewalls are configured to allow traffic to flow between them. This will ensure that your applications can communicate with each other and with the internet. • Be careful not to create conflicting firewall rules. This can cause problems with your network traffic. • If you experience problems, try disabling one of the firewalls. This can help to isolate the problem. Overall, Portmaster can be a useful addition to Kaspersky Total Security. However, it is important to be aware of the potential for conflicts and to take steps to avoid them.

[@mdasrafulislamsagordurrany]

Portmaster or Comodo Firewall?

[@wannabedal-adx458]

Will definitely add Portmaster to the list of software to investigate. Question, does this replace O&O Shutup? Also question about crowdsec, does it replace having AV software like Kaspersky or Sophos? Thanks

[@lukasbruderlin2723]

@wannebedal-adx458 - still would set all privacy setting in Windows itself (and you still can use O&O Shutup for that)... because that will reduce the load and noise from Windows even trying to collect and send! Also in case Portmaster might theoretically fail... so you still have the first line of preventing the worst! Short answer: Yes, still use it ;)

[@SonOfJoy]

Hey TPSC, I was wondering is it possible to disable Windows Defender so that we can use PortMaster? If so, can you make a video on how we would do that properly, please? Thanks for everything you upload.

[@Holycurative9610]

I've disabled it completely on W11 but it's a real trial. On W10 you could use regedit to get rid of it but Microsoft have made it much more difficult in W11, you need to find a good tutorial to follow!! I've also removed Edge and One Drive the same way but m/soft do not make it easy... You also have to watch updates as they tend to try and put everything back.

[@Bob-The-Guy]

I assume you do not have to disable the Windows firewall? The two firewalls are running side by side?

[@CA-JA]

Port Master is extremely powerful. It will literally stop apps and services from accessing internet . It was also annoying at first when I couldnt use some application 💀. So you have to make sure you enable or disable blocking on certain apps

[@slapme3582]

Finally portmaster presented in tpsc 🎉🎉 Maybe the SPN next ?

[@ed7895]

I have a question : i have Kaspersky Total Security installed, is this kind of Firewall is compatible with ? ( Because Kaspersky T.S include is own Firewall and maybe it can create conflicts, slow-down or instability ? )

[@luctiber]

I have a candid question…. How do I know port master is not collecting the same data as ms was doing 😭

[@-AnyWho-]

i usually use windows firewall with windows firewall control program, would this be better and would i use that instead of windows firewall or along side it??

[@naapsuvaimne740]

this would be better

[@wallychambe1587]

I used to use Zone Alarm years ago until it got obsolete!😲😲

[@ea168]

i installed it and websites wont load. even youtube.

[@pabloburgos2377]

Disconnected me from the web completely. I was unable to access anything.

[@VexMega]

I had a problem with this program , eventually he randomly starts blocking everything so i had to disable or uninstall to make things works again.

[@DM-qm5sc]

But what about Win 10, isnt this happening under another domain name?

[@Martin-ot7xj]

Hi, please make a tutorial video about Sophos Firewall for Homes and small offices. thnx

[@MatiasAyesa]

Hey man, how are you doing? Great videos overall. Are you still using this software? Would you recommend me getting it?

[@taddeustentakel8598]

Sadly, it heavily interferes with my strong anti-spyware and adblocking software called Adguard, not sure if Adguard does already what Portmaster

[@Alex_Martz]

Is this better than TinyWall free firewall?

[@naapsulusmurmurusmurmurus2392]

this looks more like pi hole

[@ellooku]

Thank you man. I hope this blocks Windows updates as well.

[@DigitalCaveDweller]

@pcsecuritychannel The moment I installed this program, Windows 11 Pro "Smart App Control" allowed the install. Every connection on my computer was blocked including any and all internet communications. "Smart App Control" will not let me use the uninstaller and I had to install a premium version of an antivirus and quarantine the app, but technically it is still installed since "Smart App Control" from Windows 11 will not allow the uninstall. Do you have any tips?

[@DigitalCaveDweller]

Portmaster is the program upon which I commented

[@MidasGoldKing]

Can we use it with Bitdefender total security? can it interfer with it? thanks

[@ShainAndrews]

Somewhat related subject. Setting up Quad 9 DNS. I spent three days trying to get it working on my home network. When I went to verify, Cloudflare was the only result I got. Which is fine... but I set my router for quad 9... then google, then my ISP. Why TF is my router stuck on Cloudflare? Must be a bug. Three routers later same results. Tried three different client machines with different OS's. Same results. Didn't matter what configuration changes I made on the router, or the client interfaces. Fine I'll direct connect the client machines to the ISP. SAME fing' results. Then it dawned on me... Firefox was the common denominator. That little shit sets all DNS to Cloudflare. I'm sure it told me this at some point in my life... Might be a good piece for you to cover. Especially showing your audience how to verify what you set is indeed how it is operating. I deal with route leaks all the time... just didn't expect it at the application layer.

[@coMa2003]

Where's the difference to a DNS, like NextDNS, that does the same?

[@Q_QQ_Q]

These spying are in windows 10 as well.

[@kaieteurcanada]

Good to know..tnx... but how does it play with windows firewall, do they get on well together?

[@rodrigocorreia7510]

sorry one doubt remained, does this program replace a regular firewall? Should i disable my current firewall to install it?

[@Kakarot4ssj]

Thank you for what you do. Keep up the good work

[@Brockxz]

Just a warning, no matter what kind of software firewall you use, MS is still communicating. Just put some port monitoring device and you will it.

[@lukasbruderlin2723]

@Brockxz could you please explain?

[@macethorns1168]

@@lukasbruderlin2723 Simple: connect *only* your Windows PC to your router and monitor the egress traffic on your router.

[@daggarflynn9637]

I like it. I would like it even more if this were running in layer 3.

[@generic6099]

they use a kernel driver on windows

[@glowiboi]

What does the free version of Portmaster offer, i dont understand the difference in their pricing.

[@mbk0mbk]

I had tried this or similar one few months ago, had issue with it eating ram and endings up restarting the app every few hours to avoid that, cause system slowdown and ended up just adding blocklist in host and using other ways in system filters

[@vismithams]

What about NextDNS app. Because it can added in number of devices

[@Klabautermann-phy]

Where do I download postmaster safely?

[@michaelbouckley4455]

I would be interested in what it does, and how it works on Linux

[@tho3238gw]

US only :/ did has effect on it if we are on uk ?

[@dr.mortal2894]

what a nice information will be, is to know how much CPU usage those apps have? i had Comodo Internet Security for couple months and makes my system feeld a little bit slower after a fresh install, and i looked in the task manager and saw, that comodo uses 10-15% from my CPU (5800 x3d).