And here I thought this was going to be a giveaway thread for recently updated games (you know, the ones with the blue dots) (or free gog employees?)

Oh joy, my Steam games are borked. lol

What is happening and why? Ignored updates until Microsoft forced themselves upon you so hard that nothing works as it should anymore?

Forced mandatory updates...

I remember where there were huge bugs in Vista that hadn't gotten fixed, but someone hacked the DVD drive (allowing them to copy DVDs), so an immediate mandatory patch to lock the drive more was pushed...

Priorities... right?

If only I had the luxury of such a choice. lol

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

Windows updates are that dodgy it's best to get the latest ISO and reinstall fresh.

//www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

I need to set up a multi-boot option and load the drive image that came with the PC onto a partition that is permanently offline. o.O

Why exactly? I'm not sure the reason.

Mhmmm

To disable the forced updating.


Their own children probably hate them. lol

That isn't required. You should update, but when you choose to. Personally i end up formatting every 6 months or so, get the latest ISO, put it on a USB stick and install it.

I have a quick backup method so it's pretty quick for me.



Ever since the days of XP, you'd get a fresh install, use Windows Update, wait hours and find it slower than before you updated. So i took to installing updates on an ISO to find it faster after a fresh install (than what you would updating after installtion) but it also helped me avoid problems of things going wrong.

It's weird how Windows works, in that things get left behind, junk piles up, still after all these years, install something, or update and it ends up like an infestation you can't get rid of properly.



But anyway, you can disable Windows Update, and prevent it connecting out. So if it's ever enabled, it won't be able to connect, but the initial setup can be a bit of a pain for those not so tech savvy.

Please enlighten me!

I think it's pointless because anything you do can be undone. It's just a matter of time. I watched windows use Edge to load a page that reset my registry edit. I disabled Edge and some of my games were borked. It's insane.

This is disabling Windows Update, however it has been known to turn back on, but since i modify my Windows 10 ISO prior to installation, that for me may have been prevented anyway, as i havn't had it turn back on.


Secondly and most importantly is the firewall, now you can do it with the Windows Firewall, but the thing is, it can re-add rules you remove, and it gets a bit hectic, and i feel the way it does stuff a bit counter productive.

When i was initially testing it, i found rules i disabled got overrided by a new rule that was created once i had exited out.

I may have another go at some point, i still have the config file.



Anyway any firewall that lets you use custom rules will do, but it's time consuming initially, basically with Custom Rules you should start with nothing, so when you first try to use anything nothing will be able to connect to the internet, not even Windows.

Depending on how it's setup, you may need to add a Global Block Rule first like:

Block - IP: In - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any

But with 2 rules you can be browsing the internet, providing you use Firefox and are plugged in via Ethernet. :)



Rule #1

C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe

Allow - UDP: Out - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any - Source Port / Single Port: 546 - Destination Port / Single Port: 547

Allow - UDP: Out - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any - Source Port / Any - Destination Port / Single Port: 53

Allow - UDP: Out - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any - Source Port / 68 - Destination Port / Single Port: 67

Block - IP: In or Out - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any

Personally i always add a block rule like that (in the correct order) that blocks anything that doesn't match one of the allowed rules.



Rule #2

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe

Allow - TCP: Out - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any - Source Port / Any - Destination Port / Any

Block - IP: In or Out - Source Address / Any - Destination Address / Any



Done, you have Internet Access via Ethernet through your browser, depending on the firewall you decide to use Comodo Firewall, Zone Alarm, whatever the setup may be slightly different, this is using Comodo Firewall, so it depends on which one you choose, and it will need to allow custom rules, where you have full control of what goes in or out.

Updated.

Once that is done, you just follow the same idea as firefox for each application you want connecting to the net, most firewall programs will tell you what is trying to connect, and you can unblock it from there and give it a rule.

Rules you should be able to setup easily like so (see image), so you can quickly give an Application a rule and continue on, you don't/shouldn't need a block application rule as it should automatically block all applications no assigned a rule, but i do, so i don't see it popping up everytime i run it.

But with a similar setup, nothing will connect in or out without your say so, if you use Windows Store, M$ Edge it will get trickier, the less Windows 10 stuff you use, the easier it is, as you'll notice somethings always trying to connect out.




You'll also notice that i set firefox to TCP: Out only. Thats because it will use the same connection for incoming data, and it doesn't need UDP to run.

The only ones that you could allow Incoming data or all data for that matter is multiplayer games. But truth be told i can't say i've noticed much difference and they will mostly work fine with just allowing Outgoing TCP & UDP Requests, no ICMP needed.