Top Apps to Block a Program From Accessing the Internet on Windows 10.
Working from home for three weeks, I realized that broadband is the most important choice you can make. Well, I don’t have it and I am addicted to my mobile data. Now, most of my daily limit is half a day depleted because dozens of applications on my PC are running in the background and downloading the Internet. The easy way out is to block internet access for certain apps and allow the ones I use. So, here are the best apps to block program access to the Internet in Windows 10.
Read: How to disable Windows Firewall from the command line
Applications to block a program from accessing the Internet
Own method
Before we get to apps, Windows might initially block internet access for apps. However, this is a bit tricky and will require creating a firewall rule. Here’s how to do it.
- Go to Settings Update & Security Firewall & Network Protection, scroll down to Advanced Settings.
- In the left sidebar, click Outbound Rules. In the Actions pane on the right, click New Rule.
- Now in the New Outbound Rule Wizard, select Program and specify the path to the file you want to block. In my case, I want to block Chome from accessing the Internet. If you click the Browse button in the dialog box, you will most likely see something like.
% ProgramFiles% (x86) Google Chrome Application chrome.exe
- Windows somehow ignores this path, so just replace% ProgramFiles% (x86) with C : Program Files (x86). You can also manually navigate to the section and copy the path from the top of the browser. Remember that in most cases you will need to block the “.exe” file.
C: Program Files (x86) Google Chrome Application chrome.exe
- Click Next Block Application Next.
- Check all three options: Domain, Private, and Public, and click Next again.
- Give it a name. You can write a description if you like. Then click Finish.
- Chrome will no longer have access to the Internet. You can also disable or remove this rule at any time from the Outbound Rule menu.
This is a more complicated option, and I’m sure most of you won’t want to spend so much time on it. What’s more, third-party apps work with just a tap and provide additional features like allocating bandwidth for apps, viewing data history, and more.
1. Simple Firewall
Simple Firewall is a free and open source application. This one works a little differently and is more of a utility that helps you modify the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP). It doesn’t have the best interface, but it effectively blocks application access to the Internet. The app home page consists of a list of enabled and disabled apps. It automatically adds any application that has Internet access. To block an application, simply click on the checkbox, which will place it in the list of disabled applications.
In addition to this, it also has a blacklist section that, when enabled, blocks Windows telemetry data and malware. The app has a portable version and an exe version. It’s less than 1MB, so if you can ignore the crude interface, this is a great option.
Overview
- Blocks specific applications.
- Blacklist for Windows malware and telemetry data.
- Open source and free
- Supports both installation and portable
Download Simple Wall
2. The small wall
If you like minimalistic apps, you will love this. Tiny Wall is free and sits discreetly in the icon bar on the taskbar. All controls are found in the app bar along with the network speed monitor. To block an application from accessing the Internet, you can select the applications to block or add them to the whitelist using the control option in the application bar. You can also use a hotkey (shortcut) to activate Internet blocking for a specific application. This makes switching very easy and fast. Moreover, if you want to protect the settings, you can also set a password for it.
There aren’t as many options for setting rules as a simple firewall, but if your primary goal is to block Internet access, this will do it without a problem.
Overview
- Multiple Ways to Block List
- Internet Speed Monitor
- Minimal Tray Icon App
- No Ads & Free
Download Tiny Wall
3. Net specified
Net Limiter, one of the widely offered applications, is the best internet traffic control and monitoring tool available to Windows users. The application is quite light, its size does not exceed 10 MB. It has a traffic management tab right when you open the app. This makes it easy to know the exact download and upload speed. You can also give one application a high priority to give it more bandwidth.
Net Limiter has Lite and Pro variants, but there is almost no difference between them.
Most often I use connection blocking. You can specify whether the application will have access to the Internet or not. Moreover, you can also set rules for applications. For example, you can set a quota for applications, after which the Internet will be blocked for a specific application. NetLimiter works flawlessly, but with the only caveat, it’s a paid tool. You get a 30 day free trial and publish it, you need to shell out $ 29.95 to proceed.
Overview
- Monitor Internet Traffic
- Firewall to block specific applications
- Connection History and Data Statistics
- Change Topics
Load Net Limiter
Concluding remarks
So, here are the easy ways to allow or block access to certain apps and services on your Windows PC. I like using Tiny Wall as it sits in the taskbar area and is very easy to use. Moreover, I can set a password so that no one can access and change the settings. Here is my list of the best apps to block Internet access to specific apps on Windows.
Also read: How to enable DNS-Over-HTTP (DoH) in Google Chrome