New plug-in : nsisFirewall
nsisFirewall is a small NSIS plugin that allows you to perform easily 2 tasks :
* Add an application to Windows Firewall exception list
* Remove an application from Windows Firewall exception list
There exist already 2 NSIS plugins that deal with Windows built-in Firewall :
* A big one providing a lot of functionalities : Most of them you will probably never use
* A small one that can only disable/enable the firewall globally : This is a completely insecure idea !!! (nsisFirewall is even smaller than this one)
But what most installers requires is only a simple way to ensure the application about to be installed will be able to access Internet. And in particular :
* You don't want to wonder if this version of Windows has a built-in Firewall : nsisFirewall can be used on all version of Windows and will report gracefully if the action could not be performed
* You don't want to wonder if the built-in Firewall is currently enabled or not : Just register your application. So if the Firewall gets activated, you can still access Internet
* You don't want to disable the Firewall globally, even temporarily : This is insecure ! Do you think the user would be happy with that ?
* You don't need to open a specific port : By registering your application, you give it already full right to access Internet and listen to incoming connection
So check out my nsisFirewall Homepage