If for some reason you need to block a certain Windows 10, 8.1 or Windows 7 program from accessing the Internet, doing so is relatively simple, and you can use both built-in system functions and third-party free utilities to set appropriate restrictions.

Winaero OneClickFirewall is a simple, free utility for Windows that makes it easy to enable or disable blocking programs from accessing the Internet:

At the same time, by blocking access, this utility uses the same mechanism as when manually creating rules in the Windows firewall, it simply automates it.

Comodo Firewall

In addition to the built-in Windows system utilities, you can also use third-party solutions, one of them is Comodo Firewall, which is also available in a free version on the official website https://personalfirewall.comodo.com/ (if you have a third-party antivirus, be careful, it may conflict with a product from Comodo, it is better to use the existing features).

After installing the firewall, follow these steps to block the program from accessing the network:

Apply the settings, after which the selected program will be blocked. If you need to unblock access, click the "Unblock application" button in the main window of Comodo Firewall, mark the program and click "Unblock".

In conclusion, two more nuances:

• If you block a program's access to the network in order to disable updates or some functions, keep in mind that some software does not use the main executable file that you launch for these purposes, but auxiliary .exe files or separate services. Some of them already have rules in the Windows Firewall and you just need to find and change them.
• If you are setting restrictions for parental control purposes, it may be better to use other means, see.

After such manipulations, Opera will no longer be able to transmit any information, but it will be able to receive. To deny a program access to incoming traffic, you must repeat the above steps only for the incoming connection rule category. We think there is nothing complicated about this. To remove our established ban, it is necessary to delete this rule in both sections.

In life there are a variety of situations in which we need knowledge of a personal computer. One of these things includes the question of how to block a program’s access to the Internet. If you suspect a program of viral activity and believe that it has been infected by some kind of Trojan, then the first thing you should do is limit its operation. Uninstalling such programs is dangerous because the virus can spread to other applications. Therefore, we will figure out how to block a program’s access to the Internet so that it does not leak information about you to an attacker.

Windows

Let's start with the most popular operating system at the moment. How to block a program's access to the Internet? Windows 8 uses a firewall known to everyone since the first operating systems. In fact, this method involves extreme measures to ensure the security of a personal computer. Remember that if you block Internet access for any application using this method, it will only be possible to open it in the same way. The main condition for this method is to use the computer administrator account, so if you are trying to do this trick on a work computer, then most likely you will not succeed. It is also worth mentioning that the recommendations written below on how to block a program’s access to the Internet also work for earlier versions of operating systems. In this regard, Microsoft adheres to conservative views, leaving the interface the same and changing only the software component.

Fast way

So, how do you block a program from accessing the Internet through a firewall? There are two similar methods that you can use to configure your firewall. But the beginning will be the same. The first thing you need to do is launch it. To do this, click the "Start" button - - "System and Security" -

Now we are ready to block the program. First, make sure your firewall is turned on at all. However, you can be sure of this if you are constantly bothered by access permission requirements when launching various applications.

1. With the Firewall window open, look in the menu on the left for "Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall."
2. As the name implies, if you have problems not only with blocking, but also with lack of access, then here you can also add the program to exceptions.
3. To block a program, just uncheck all the boxes next to its name.

Digging deeper

If you are a system administrator or a caring parent who has decided to punish a child by blocking his favorite toy, and your charges are at least a little computer savvy, then you can use other advice on how to block a program’s access to the Internet. Windows 7, and any other operating system in this family, will allow you to configure a special rule in the firewall.

To do this, first repeat all the points indicated in the previous paragraph. After this you need to do the following:

1. In the main menu of the firewall, select "Advanced settings".
2. We need to configure "Rules for outgoing connections".
3. Select the appropriate tab on the left and click “Create Rule” on the right.
4. The rule type, of course, is “For program”.
5. Next, specify the path to the application executable file. It will have the extension .exe. In rare cases, this may be .bat or any other extensions of the programs being launched.
6. In the "Action" tab, select "Block connection".
7. We apply the rule to all computer profiles.
8. And finally, enter the name so that you can find this rule among others.

That's all. We have blocked the program we need. Now, if you want to return everything back, you just need to find the created rule in the list and select “Disable rule” in the properties.

Antivirus

In addition to the firewall, there are other ways to block program access to the Internet. For example, you can use antivirus programs. Let's look at this process using Kaspersky as an example. You will need Kaspersky Internet Security of any version.

1. After installing and updating this antivirus program, open the control center.
2. Select "Protection Center" and in the upper right corner click "Settings".
3. Select the “Firewall” sub-item, turn it on and enter the settings again.
4. In the window that opens, in the “program rules” tab, we find the application we are interested in. Click "Change".
5. Select "Network Rules" - "Add".
6. In the new “Network Rule” window we configure. Action - "Block". Title - Web-browsing"
7. Now you can safely press “Ok” in all windows.

This method, like in Kaspersky, to block a program’s access to the Internet, is quite universal, but anyone with at least a little knowledge of computers will quickly find and remove the access restriction.

Firewall

Sometimes users are interested in the question of how to block a program’s access to the Internet with a Firewall. This is actually another name for the standard Windows Firewall. Of course, you can download a third-party firewall application, but no one can guarantee that the application you receive will be 100% safe in itself. Attackers often create or infect programs designed to protect users' computers, and since before installing any antivirus it is necessary to remove or disable the old one, virus infection occurs very quickly. In general, the choice of Firewall is yours.

conclusions

Once you've learned how to block applications' access to the Internet, don't rush to mess around with it. Be sure to save your data or simply make save points for Remember that if you are not knowledgeable about computers, then any of your actions can lead to irreparable consequences, after which there will be nothing left but to turn to professionals.

On all computers with the Windows operating system, a special defender - a firewall - is installed and enabled by default. Its main task is to limit Internet access to suspicious applications and services. That is, if the firewall considers that any action of a program or service may lead to malware being downloaded to the computer, which will harm the system, it will automatically disable Internet access to the suspected application.

Is it necessary to turn on the firewall?

The firewall is enabled by default, but you can disable it at any time. But you shouldn’t do this just like that, since the computer’s protection will noticeably decrease, and the chance that a virus will get onto the computer will increase. Therefore, it is better not to disable the firewall unless it begins to work incorrectly, and this can be expressed in the following: the firewall will begin to block Internet access to applications that do not deserve it, mistakenly considering them dangerous.

This can happen due to a conflict between the built-in and third-party firewall installed with the antivirus, and also because the blocked program is unofficial, that is, it is a pirated copy. But this problem can also be solved without disabling the firewall, but simply by adding the blocked application to the exclusion list; how to do this will be described below in the article.

Is the built-in Windows application reliable?

The official Microsoft firewall is designed to provide minimal system protection. Of course, since Microsoft specializes in more than just security, third-party firewalls will do the job a little better. But if there are no other firewalls installed on your computer, then you should not disable the official one. Which firewalls are best to use to fully protect the system will be discussed in one of the following paragraphs of the article.

Setting up a firewall in Windows 10

If you decide to use the standard Windows Firewall, then it is worth knowing what settings you can change and how you can do this. But first, let's figure out how to enable and disable the firewall.

Activation and deactivation

How to open a port

If you use a router and connect it to your computer with a LAN cable, you may encounter the problem that the Internet will not be transmitted over the cable. This happens because the port to which the router is connected is blocked by the Windows Firewall. To get rid of this error, you need to unblock the required port:

1. Using the Windows search bar, open your computer's Control Panel.
2. Go to the System and Security section.
3. Open the Windows Firewall tab.
4. Open advanced firewall management options.
5. In the list on the left side of the window that opens, select “Rules for incoming connections.”
6. Let's start creating a new rule.
7. Select the rule type “For port” and move on.
8. Select the protocol type. You can find it in the router settings, on its box and the official website.
9. Select the “All local ports” option to open all ports at once, or select only one and enter its number.
10. Now you need to select an action for the ports. Check the “Allow connection” option and move on to the next step.
11. At this step, you need to select the profiles for which this resolution will be carried out.
12. All that remains is to name the rule you created and enter its description, but this is not necessary. This needs to be done so that in the future it is easy to find this rule and change it if necessary.
13. Now, in the left part of the window, select the “Rules for outgoing connection” item, and then perform the above steps 6–12.

Add to exclusion list

If your firewall mistakenly blocks applications that you know won't harm your computer, you should add them to the exceptions list. Applications on the exclusion list are not affected by the firewall.

1. Launch Control Panel.
2. In the general list of settings, select the “Firewall” section.
3. Click on the “Allow interaction with the application...” button located on the left side of the window.
4. Click the "Change Settings" button to confirm that you have administrator rights.
5. Find in the general list an application whose Internet access was mistakenly restricted. Mark it with a checkmark. You can set separate parameters for private and public use of this application.
6. If the application you need is not in this list, click the “Allow another application” button and specify the path to the program that you want to add to the exceptions.

How to block an application's Internet access

In the previous paragraph, we discussed how to add an application to the exclusion list, but sometimes the opposite situation may arise when you need to block Internet access for a certain application without disconnecting from the network. You can do this as follows:

How to update

To ensure maximum protection for your computer, you must have the latest version of your firewall. But you won’t be able to update it separately from the operating system, since all the necessary innovations are automatically added to the firewall along with Windows updates. That is, you do not need to update the firewall manually.

Windows Firewall Control Overview

Firewall Control is a special third-party program from Microsoft that does not provide any additional features to protect your system, but allows you to make more detailed settings of the already installed Windows firewall.

1. You can download the program for Windows 10 from this site - https://www.comss.ru/page.php?id=765.
2. In the main menu of the program, you can choose one of four operating modes: with high filtering, all incoming and outgoing Internet connections will be blocked, even if they do not violate any rules; with medium filtering, which is recommended, only those outgoing connections will be blocked that violate the rules set by the firewall; with low filtering, outgoing connections that fall under one of the blocking conditions are blocked. The most recent "No Filtering" mode disables the firewall completely.
3. In the lower right corner of the program there are icons that give access to blocking and unlocking applications. For example, if you want to block Internet access for an application, then you can click on the folder icon with a cross and specify the path to the file that is responsible for launching the desired application.
4. In the “Rule Management” section, you can view detailed information about all applications and services, find out which of them are blocked, and what type of connection is blocked for them: outgoing or incoming. In the same section, you can change the blocking settings for each application.
5. In the special block “Create a new rule” you can begin to create a new rule in detail, if necessary. For example, this can be useful for opening a port.
6. In the Notifications section, you can enable or disable the firewall's ability to send you service messages.

Use the operating system firewall (firewall).

If you use a third-party firewall or antivirus with a built-in firewall, you can configure it there. However, if there is no such software, and you do not want to install and bother, then you can use the 3rd option. Believe me, it is no worse than the first two options, on the contrary, it is clear and effective. So let's begin!

The first thing you need to do is open the Windows Firewall. To do this, go to Start – Control Panel – Windows Firewall.

A window will open where you will need to enter Advanced Settings.

Here we need to create a rule for a specific program that needs to be prohibited from accessing the Internet. To do this, go to Outgoing connection rules and select Create rule on the right side.

Here you need to select Block connection and click Next again

Here, let all the checkboxes be checked, click Next again.

We are almost there, all that remains is to enter the name of this rule and its description. The name must be written (name it the same as the program itself). The description can be written according to your wishes, this is done for convenience. Now click Finish and our rule will appear in the Firewall list.