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cyberdude
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 41 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

hello @tjp63 

i have checked Windows Security Center and noticed that Windows Firewall was not enabled after i received the New version update R107/108.

i would expect to receive the images as seen in the service doc in my earlier post that Mcafee Firewall is enabled and followed up with Windows Firewall after a new version upgrade or after a complete reinstall.

also when everything is running as expected to be able in the mcafee app to have settings to verify that both Firewalls are up and running.

if one of them is off for instance an alert should be seen to take action.

going to WSC to check is strange in my opinion and should be possible from the mcafee app.

 

cyberdude
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 42 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

in Windows Security Center Windows Firewall is not enabled currently.

only Mcafee Firewall is on

looking at the Windows Firewall it is saying; in light gray color Windows Firewall not active since i have other party Firewall installed 

no option to enable Windows Firewall in Windows Security Center

no clue how i can switch on Windows Firewall with Mcafee together.

does anybodie knows perhaps ?

tjp63
Contributor III
Message 43 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

I received some updates yesterday. Not sure if they were about the firewall, but they were more than just virus database updates. The Total Protection is still version R108. The "advanced firewall" is now build 1.8.46.0 and version 1.8.256.

I haven't seen differences in the interface, but when I open Security Center, it now shows McAfee's firewall being turned off, but Windows Firewall being turned on. If I hover on those, McAfee shows two options, "Open App" or "Turn On". "Turn On" does nothing, "Open App" opens McAfee which shows the "advanced firewall" is on. Windows Firewall shows only "Open App". For the Antivirus, McAfee is turned on and allows "Open App". Windows Defender is turned off and has no options.

As far as I know, this is not how it's supposed to go. Windows Defender Anti-Virus/Firewall is the default. It's not exactly bad, but it's pretty much the one you use if you're elderly who only uses Facebook and does video calls to relatives. You want more, you buy a security suite, and the suite then overrides Windows built-in features (as McAfee does here with their AntiVirus and used to do with their firewall).

It seems to me now that Security Center is confused. It recognizes McAfee's firewall is installed, but since it doesn't protect your computer, it shows it as being turned off, so it offers you the choice to turn it on, but that does nothing. Windows Firewall, meanwhile, is turned on, but unless you really tinker with it (and sometimes not even after that), it will fail certain security checks that McAfee's previous actual firewall passed.

This is quite a mess. If you ask me, if you buy McAfee's Total Protection (or Bitdefender's Total Security, or whatever other option is out there), you expect to get TOTAL protection in that one package. Something that takes over from the built-in features and provides you with total protection that you can configure to your liking. The fact that Advanced Firewall uses Windows Firewall for anything is just wrong. It makes you pay for something that came for free with Windows. McAfee might as well sell "Advanced Calculator" that does nothing except opens the Windows Calculator in Scientific Mode.

Furthermore, even if McAfee manages to fix this, the fact remains that they took out what's arguably the most important feature in their software, and they did it without any advanced warning to users, at all. If they did it once, what prevents them from doing it again? How can you trust a software like this? And when their customer support is on the level of "uninstall and reinstall and it might work for two days", this is not good. In the over two decades of using McAfee, I thought getting rid of Anti-Spam was the worst they could do, but it was nothing compared to this.

cyberdude
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 44 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

yesterday i noticed the mcafee icon on the taskbar meaning a program update. did reboot after finishing and went opening app.

didn't see any changes on the app but thought that the Firewall version had changed as you just discribed.

no change in settings or so.

your situation in Windows Security Center is now different than mine. it has Mcafee Firewall on but Windows Firewall is off and no option to turn this on there on my end.

don't know if this supposed to be visible or that when Mcafee Firewall is on it connects under the hood also with Windows Firewall and it is as supposed to be.

in my opinion it should be visible in the Mcafee app that both are up and running or an alert should be come up.

tjp63
Contributor III
Message 45 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

Windows should alert if the anti-virus or the firewall is turned off. I tried turning McAfee's real-time scanning off, and got the Windows alert. I switched the scan back on, and then turned off the advanced firewall. No alert, but the Security Center showed Windows Firewall being on, and McAfee being not off, but snooze. After turning the advanced firewall back on, Security Center then showed both firewalls being in "manage providers", but in the main firewall tab, Domain/Private/Public network all showed that McAfee is on and Defender Firewall is not active at all.

In the main firewall tab in Security Center, all the settings ("allow an app through firewall" and so on) are greyed out. You can't make any settings on Defender Firewall. If you want to change settings for incoming connections, you have to go to McAfee's advanced firewall and click the link at the bottom. If you want to change settings for outgoing connections, you seem to be completely out of luck because Advanced Firewall's supposed to handle them, and that doesn't offer any settings, but you can't even turn it off, you can only "snooze" it, whatever that means.

Again, it seems Security Center is confused, sometimes thinking McAfee is on, sometimes not. Windows is not known for being flawless, far from it, but this time I think the blame goes to McAfee. From the top of my head, I can't think of a single firewall except this new "advanced firewall" that would handle only outgoing traffic and leave the rest to Defender Firewall. If there are some, it would be interesting to see how Security Center reacts to them, but I don't think there are. Offering no settings and leaving over half the stuff to the free built-in program defeats the entire purpose of purchasing an additional firewall.

By the way, McAfee had actually informed that anti-virus and firewall had been turned off, but unlike before, those notifications no longer are "always on top", so I saw them only after closing all other windows. Not a very secure update to before.

Tarek1
Contributor III
Message 46 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

Any support or help from moderators/customer support is much appreciated.

Venkat_YM
Moderator
Moderator
Message 47 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

Hi @tjp63 

Greetings from McAfee.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

In the new versions of LiveSafe and Total Protection, we've included a new firewall implementation. Here, McAfee Advanced Firewall works with Windows Defender Firewall to provide your computer with comprehensive and effective protection of inbound and outbound threats.

Please refer our below article for more information regarding inbound and outbound rules.

McAfee firewall inbound rules aren’t migrated after updating LiveSafe or Total Protection

Alternatively, you can always contact chat support using the link below for immediate assistance or call our helpline number 24/7 (866-622-3911)US.

McAfee Support

If this information was helpful in any way or answered your question, please mark it as the accepted solution and give Kudos if appropriate.

Regards,
Venkat

tjp63
Contributor III
Message 48 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

Hi,

Nice to hear from a moderator. In the link, I couldn't find any information regarding outbound rules. That's what people, including me, are asking here.

Just to give you an example, let's say I download a program called SuperCalculator (no reference to any real program intended) that seems legit and is indeed not a virus, but has a nasty tendency to "phone home" and give the developer all kinds of info. In the previous firewall, at least when set to "stealth" and to "ask me to decide", it then informed me that this program wants access, and gave me a choice of allowing it, allowing it once (useful if there's a registration process that requires Internet connectivity), or blocking it (for all other scenarios). The previous firewall also allowed me to allow or block specific ports for outgoing connections and it kept a detailed log. Where are these options in the new "McAfee Advanced Firewall"?

People like me would probably also like to know why this change was implemented? Why is the Windows Defender Firewall used now for incoming traffic? Based on tests and user experiences, Windows Defender Firewall, while certainly better than nothing, is just not very good, which is why people are willing to pay for third-party firewalls, the kind you used to offer, and the kind practically all your competitors still offer.

It seems that, at the moment, there's no real difference between having "McAfee Advanced Firewall" installed or not. It doesn't do anything for inbound threats, which are left to the built-in Defender Firewall, but it also doesn't do anything for 99.9% for outbound threats since it's not configurable, at all. Every program has free outbound access to the Internet without the user knowing or it being logged anywhere, let alone being able to restrict that access. I think you'll agree that this is not what could be described as "comprehensive and effective protection of outbound threats", and as for inbound threats, McAfee is basically saying that Windows has a comprehensive and effective protection against those "out of the box", without the need to pay for additional software, which might or might not be true, but isn't exactly good advertising.

I think what we'd want to know is whether this is the way it's going to be from now on? Is McAfee's Firewall, for all intents and purposes, gone for good, and if you need or want the features it used to have, you just have to switch to another security suite? Any info you can give on this would be greatly appreciated because several people have found your chat and phone support "a bit lacking", to keep things polite.
Srfnken
Contributor III
Message 49 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

Hi @Venkat_YM 

What we are wanting is to know how to set outbound rules with this new version.  McAfee took away all of our options to set specific outbound rules that we use to have.  How can we set outbound rules in this new version?????

Venkat_YM
Moderator
Moderator
Message 50 of 77

Re: Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

Hi @Srfnken 

Greetings from McAfee.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

McAfee aware of the alert viewer issue and working towards the resolution. When it comes to firewall in the new build version McAfee has advanced firewall feature which automatically monitors for outbound connections for inbound connection to edit and block please refer our below article.

McAfee KB - Firewall in new LiveSafe and Total Protection (TS103342)

Alternatively, you can always contact chat support using the link below for immediate assistance or call our helpline number 24/7 (866-622-3911)US.

McAfee Support

If this information was helpful in any way or answered your question, please mark it as the accepted solution and give Kudos if appropriate.

Regards,
Venkat

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