Stealth Firewall

Stealth Firewall gives you granular control over which applications can access the internet. Block unwanted connections, prevent applications from phoning home, and ensure only trusted software communicates over your network.

How It Works

Stealth Firewall is a friendly front-end on top of Windows Defender Firewall. It uses PowerShell (Get-NetFirewallRule and friends) to read, create, and modify rules. Everything you create here lives in the native Windows firewall, so rules persist even when Stealth isn't running.

What it adds on top of raw Windows firewall:

• Searchable, filterable rule list
• "By Application" pivot that joins program-path filters to rules
• One-click block/allow shortcuts for any application
• Live profile management (Domain / Private / Public)
• Connection summary by TCP state
• One-click export of all rules

Rule Modes

Windows firewall only supports allow/block at the rule level - that's the full set.

Views

• All Rules - every firewall rule on the system
• By Application - rules grouped by the program path they apply to
• Profiles - Domain / Private / Public network profile state

Filtering & Search

• Filter by direction (Inbound / Outbound)
• "Enabled only" toggle to hide disabled rules
• Search box matches rule name, description, and program path
• Auto-refresh interval is configurable in settings

Creating a Rule

1. Click Add Rule
2. Enter a name, direction (inbound/outbound), and action (Allow/Block)
3. Optionally pick a program path
4. Optionally set protocol, local/remote ports, and remote address
5. Choose which profiles it applies to (Domain, Private, Public)
6. Save

Rules apply immediately and persist across reboots in Windows firewall.

App Shortcuts

Two one-click actions for any application:

Useful for quickly preventing telemetry, blocking phone-home traffic, or whitelisting an app you trust.

Profile Management

For each Windows network profile (Domain, Private, Public) you can:

• See current state - on/off, default inbound action, default outbound action
• Toggle the profile on or off
• Change the default inbound or outbound action

Connection Summary

The toolbar shows aggregated TCP connection counts by state, pulled live from Get-NetTCPConnection:

This complements Network Monitor when you want a quick health view from inside Firewall.

Export Rules

Export the current rule set (rules + profile state) to a JSON file. Useful for backup before bulk changes, sharing a configuration across machines, or auditing what's currently active.

Common Use Cases

Block telemetry. Stop chatty applications from sending usage data by blocking their outbound network access entirely.

Stop silent updates. Prevent apps from auto-updating without consent by blocking their connection paths.

Lock down public Wi-Fi. Tighten the Public profile when you're on an untrusted network, and relax it again at home.

Audit suspicious processes. Use the By Application view to see exactly what rules already exist for a given executable.

Working With VPN

Stealth Firewall and Stealth VPN work side by side. Combine them for layered protection: use the VPN for tunnel-level encryption, use the firewall to block specific apps from connecting at all, and use Split Tunneling to choose which apps go through the tunnel.

Best Practices

• Start with the App Shortcuts before writing custom rules
• Export rules before any large change so you can roll back
• Audit periodically - Windows firewall accumulates rules from installers
• Don't disable a profile entirely unless you understand the consequences
• Run Stealth elevated for full access; mutations require admin