Windows has had its own firewall, which is now known as part of the built-in Windows Security offering, since Windows XP, but while early versions were a bit wonky, it’s actually been very good since the days of Windows Vista. Unfortunately, it’s not very easy to configure, and some malware knows how to turn it off altogether.

This is where TinyWall comes in. The brainchild of Hungarian developer and computer scientist Károly Pados, TinyWall is designed to address those shortcomings and many others. It starts off with a much more secure default configuration, and gives the firewall a sane, albeit slightly obsolete-looking user interface that makes it easier to decide what to allow and what to block.

On top of that, TinyWall introduces a rather straightforward way of adding new apps to the approved list without blasting you with pop-ups all the time - although it blocks everything by default. It also makes sure unknown apps can’t simply creep into your system, turn off the firewall, and start doing bad things to your PC.

As Pados says, the Windows firewall “possesses almost everything a man” - or woman - “could ask from a firewall engine.” What TinyWall offers is a better way to use that engine and access all of its power. If you want a simple but effective and powerful firewall for Windows versions from Vista onwards, this one does a decent job, though with a dash of overprotectiveness.

That said, TinyWall’s best feature is perhaps the fact that it’s 100% free of charge, and there aren’t any ads, artificial limitations, or upgrade limitations that other free-to-download security apps might impose instead of outright demanding payment. According to the website it also doesn’t collect any user data or telemetry behind your back, so you can rest easy knowing your sensitive information is for your eyes only.

Notably, it only checks for updates once in a while automatically, during which time the current version of TinyWall running on your computer is delivered. This automatic option is on by default, but you can choose to opt out of automatic updates in the app’s settings (right-click on the TinyWall icon on the right-hand side of your taskbar).

It is also open-source, and anyone interested in its code and other details can access the source repository on the platform’s GitHub page.

Nonetheless, if you’re really happy with the app and insist on paying at least something, there’s a Donate button in its settings, where you can choose to pay whatever amount of money you wish to cover the hosting, hardware, and software costs of running the software - through the developer’s Patreon account.

Furthermore, TinyWall was designed with single private users, small-office, home-office computers, and family PCs in mind, and Pados points out that it can’t really cope with headless machines, servers, and networks with more than five computers as it lacks support for a command-line interface, remote management, and domain-controller integration.

Setup

Installing TinyWall on your device is as simple as it gets. Just head over to its official website, download the installer (its latest version as of the time of writing was released on April 6, 2025), and run it from your PC. The app has no drivers or kernel components installed, which keeps your system stable and clutter-free.

However, if you aren’t able to access the internet after the installation, there’s a reason for it. TinyWall has just blocked everything on your device from accessing the World Wide Web, and you’ll have to unblock it manually, app by app, process by process, until you get to what you need.

This isn’t particularly user-friendly, especially for a beginner who isn’t well-versed in the ways of firewalls of this kind. Nonetheless, we managed to unblock our WiFi and could continue using TinyWall as intended. This mechanism also had a positive side in making us feel super-protected, so there’s that.

According to Pados, the latest TinyWall release - 3.4.1 - has introduced some changes, including a quicker way to open the Connections window by middle-clicking on the tray icon, a Last Modified column to keep track of exceptions and allow you to easily spot auto-learned rules, as well as a much faster opening of UI windows in case of multi-second delays.

The developer has also fixed the tray icon not showing up after each device boot, something many users had complained about, as well as bringing other improvements, such as fixes for some rare crashes or a dependency update to a non-vulnerable version - in a what was the first update after three years of no significant news (March 14, 2022).

User experience

If overly chatty firewall apps drive you crazy you’ll appreciate TinyWall’s approach: rather than bother you with every single thing it discovers, it automatically blocks known baddies and doesn’t use a single popup. Approving new apps goes manually, and it offers some advanced features such as time-based rules and blocklists.

We particularly liked the use of hotkeys: when you want to approve an app, simply press the hotkey combination (Ctrl + Shift + W) and then click on the app’s window. It’s a tiny app too, so it won’t have any negative effect on your PC’s performance.

Meanwhile, the interface (well, the app’s settings, as there’s no interface per se) was nothing to write home about, looking like it needed a little refresh and a coat of paint to go with the times, but for a completely free-of-charge app, we’re not complaining. Much.

Here, in the ‘General’ tab, you can access options such as language selection (automatic, English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, and a handful of others), whether you want the app to automatically check for updates, prevent modifications to hosts file, prompt for exception details, block internet during display power-save, as well as enable/disable global hotkeys, blocklists (port-based or domain-based malware), and password protection.

The second tab pertains to ‘Application Exceptions,’ where you can choose to detect software automatically and edit the list of applications that you’d like to grant network access - thus allowing only those apps to communicate, add or remove them, or collectively remove all of the listed software.

Then, there are Special Exceptions, referring to special tasks or applications that you’d like to enable on your machine, including the recommended ones (Filtered ICMP Traffic, Windows DHCP Client, Windows DNS Client, Windows Network Discovery, Windows Store Update, Windows Time Sync, and Windows Update) and optional ones (File and Printer Sharing, Pingable local machine, VPN L2TP/IPSec, VPN PPTP, Windows Defender, Windows Remote Assistance, and Windows Remote Desktop).

Finally, the Maintenance tab is where the Donate button is, alongside the information about the platform, its developer, and links for importing/exporting settings, updating, the app’s official website, and the GitHub page.

Clicking on the TinyWall icon in the taskbar will show you your download and upload activity in KiB/s, allow you to change the protection mode (Normal, Block all, Allow outgoing, Disable firewall, and Autolearn), enter the Manage interface (settings), list the active connections, elevate the protection, unblock LAN traffic, enable blocklists, whitelist by executable/process/window, and shut down the platform.

And the best part? TinyWall is compatible with other security software, including all antivirus file system protections and blocklisting software, although certain ‘web shields’ by specific security suites might prevent control of applications separately using TinyWall.

That said, the developer notes that no other firewall except Windows’ should be active alongside it. Furthermore, he also recommends making sure that any HIPS, anti-malware, or behavioral analysis programs are set not to restrict TinyWall, which often requires additional configuration in the other security software.

Protection

TinyWall doesn’t operate the way other firewalls do. Specifically, most firewalls work on the same interaction principles in which, in essence, whenever an application is trying to access the internet, they display a popup asking the user what to do, which may sometimes be annoying but also less secure.

This is because, on an average computer, a lot of applications want to access the internet. Displaying a popup for each of them makes it possible for unneeded programs to gain access to the network, by way of the user ending up blindly granting unnecessary rights to many different apps without verifying, something that Pados refers to as ‘security fatigue.’

On the other hand, TinyWall takes a different approach, entirely forgoing popups that urge users to whitelist apps. In fact, it doesn’t even notify users of any blocked action in real-time, initiating whitelisting or unblocking manually from the list of running processes in the app or by using a hotkey and then clicking on a window they wish to allow.

According to Pados, this approach is better because it avoids popups, but “still keeps the firewall very easy to use,” and the user will only notice that a program has been denied internet access when they can’t use it anymore and users will only unblock applications that they actually need and none more, which he believes is “optimal from a security standpoint.”

Indeed, this does sound sensible, and in the end, it all comes down to weighing between user-friendliness and security.

The features that help TinyWall protect your device from malicious actors hiding on the internet include the platform’s automatic learning mode, firewall tampering protection, optional password lockdown of settings, Windows Store and UWP support, and support for both WSL and WSL 2.

But that’s not all - TinyWall also boasts various quick modes, support for temporary/timed firewall rules, boot-time filtering, filtering of promiscuous apps, port-scan prevention, the option to always allow communication within LAN, and another option to restrict an application to the LAN.

Add the recognition of safe software and impostors, full IPv6 support, active blocking of hundreds of trojans, viruses, and worms, hosts file protection, integrated port and domain blocklists, open port listing, and lists of established and blocked connections, and you’re getting quite a capable security app.

Being such a tiny platform, as in, without an antivirus, scanning, and other cybersecurity features present, TinyWall hasn’t been the subject of interest by any third-party antivirus testing labs like SE Labs, AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, or even MRG-Effitas that we usually consult with to get an independent opinion on the products we analyze.

If you’re concerned about the lack of independent tests or the missing security suite features, then it might be a good idea to use TinyWall with Windows’ built-in Microsoft Defender, and if you do - note that the performance impact on your device will be minimal.

Indeed, upon installing and running TinyWall, we haven’t noticed absolutely any effect on our testing machine. It was like there was nothing running on it at all - no RAM wasting, no CPU overload, just a plain and simple firewall running in the background at all times.

Final verdict

TinyWall will actively block trojans, viruses, worms, and other forms of malware, and prevent the modification of Windows firewall’s settings by malicious programs. And it will do all of this without you needing to know about ports, protocols, or application details.

But probably its most appealing feature is its no-popup approach. Most firewalls will display a popup asking you what you want to do whenever an application is trying to access the Internet. Not only is this annoying, but eventually you’ll just start granting access to everything to get rid of the popups, which isn’t very secure.

TinyWall gets around this problem by expecting you to whitelist programs that you actually want to be able to access the Internet. When you find a program has been blocked, it’s easy to add it to the whitelist, and then you can continue with what you were doing.

Founded by developer and inventor Patrick Kolla in 2000 and distributed by his company Safer-Networking Limited, SpyBot Search & Destroy is a veteran of the malware wars, dating back to the first adware in 2000.

And while its free version doesn't actively scan for viruses – that's reserved for the paid Home and Professional versions – it still does a decent job of finding and fixing adware, malware, and spyware.

Indeed, Spybot’s offering arrives in three versions for consumers - Free, Home, and Professional - each with its own set of features and capabilities, as well as pricing options, but no superior extras like you would get with more popular names, such as a password manager, a firewall, a VPN, or similar.

For instance, the free tier covers anti-spyware features (removing adware, tracking software, keyloggers, and other unpopular software), system immunization (protecting your system by blocking access to malicious sites, tracking cookies, and suspicious browser plugins), startup tools (lets you manage what gets loaded at system startup and how), and rootkit scan (defending against rootkits that efficiently hide themselves and their actions from users and other system processes) making it an exceptionally basic offering.

However, if you choose to pay $18.99 in order to upgrade to the paid Home edition, then you’ll get a one-year license for Spybot’s specialized antivirus engine, live protection scanning and monitoring all newly created and running processes on your system, automatic malware signature updates multiple times per day, Spybot task scheduling, and protected repair environment for opening a new Windows desktop and Start Center so other software cannot interact with it - very cheap for the entire year.

At the same time, going for the Professional service will cost you $27.99, but it will also throw in a bunch of extras, including anti-beacon privacy protection and anti-telemetry tool, system registry repair to do some basic cleanup and repairs toward improving user experience, priority customer support, secure file shredder with multiple passes, a simple script editor, and command line tools to schedule tasks without user interaction.

You can pay via a credit card, PayPal, or wire transfer, and purchase as many licenses as you want in one go. Unfortunately, there’s no option for a free trial or money-back guarantee if you’d like to test the full service first before making your final decision and paying for it.

Setup

Installing Spybot is a relatively easy and speedy process, but involving more steps than expected - including signing up on the website, downloading the installer using the link provided in the email, selecting language among multiple options, choosing the Spybot edition (Spybot + Antivirus or just Spybot), picking the mode, and more additional tasks.

For instance, when you install the program for the first time, it asks you whether you want to take the reins and manually adjust the settings or let the software automatically configure its settings. This flexibility is great for both beginners who don’t have much technical know-how and experienced users who want to tinkle with the program themselves. Don’t worry, you can switch between versions once the software is installed.

After starting the program for the first time, select the option to update the program's malware signatures, then go and make yourself a coffee and put your feet up for a while – it'll be a while before it's ready to begin scanning for malicious software.

Once it's done, you can choose to either scan your whole system or just the selected files (those in your Downloads folder, for example). Again, expect to wait sometime for a full system scan to complete, as it's thorough. On our test machine, it took about 15 minutes to scan about 390GB. We’ve seen slower, but we’ve also seen faster than this.

That said, the system scan did get stuck once for us, standing at 99.7% for 40 minutes until we decided to call it a day, and press ‘Stop scan.’

Interface

The Spybot - Search & Destroy interface is nothing to write home about. It’s a bit old school in appearance and displays three main elements - the Last system scan with a ‘Scan system’ button, your device’s Immunization status with an ‘Immunize’ button, and the last update information with an ‘Update’ button.

Next to the Spybot logo at the top of the window, there are three status indicators for live protection, internet protection, and software updates if you’re using the premium tier.

Now, here’s where things get a bit (more) awkward. To get more details, you need to click on the ‘Show details’ link in the bottom right corner, which reveals a more comprehensive set of tools with some icons, which makes the whole thing look a bit more like a proper antivirus app.

Still, these actions are also accessible from the first window and the toolbar at the top, which makes the program all the more confusing, as you get stuck clicking on the various options everywhere, some of which take you in circles back to the same place you started, while others take some time to figure out.

Then, there’s another strange thing we noticed - if you click on the Spybot icon from your taskbar, it will just prompt you for a System Scan and take you to a the interface - one where you'll see all the system scan options - tools for detecting active malware and tracking cookies in browsers.

This part provides the information on the last system scan, and your device’s current security status, while on the left-hand side, you can view options to pause/stop the active scan, fix selected found issues, save the scan log, show previous logs, or seek assistance. Here, you’ll also be able to see additional details for any threat in the results list after the scan is completed.

There’s the classic toolbar at the top of the window looking like your typical Explorer window instead of a stand-alone antivirus program. However, considering the fact that its creators are planning to launch a new version of the service, called Spybot - Search & Destroy 3 (the currently available version is Spybot - Search & Destroy 2), it might look better after the overhaul.

The bar contains ‘Tasks,’ where you can pause/stop the active scan, fix selected found issues, save the scan log, and show previous logs; the ‘Associated Tasks’ tab, with Start Center, Settings, File Scan, Immunization, Quarantine, and Report Creator - all the additional options that we were looking for.

Selecting the ‘Online’ tab will give you options for reporting false positives, requesting additions to Spybot's detections, and accessing malware removal guides - all on Spybot’s online forums, as well as the ‘Help’ tab that can open the obsolete-looking Help Contents and the About section, with version number, parameters, license terms, and the like.

Any threats it identifies will be flagged up for deletion. Sadly, there isn't much information about what each malicious program or file is other than its category, type, location, threat level, and rule, so you'll need to do your own research if you're curious or want to be on the safe side that you’re not removing anything important.

Features

Scanning the system after the initial scan didn’t get any faster and took about 13 minutes the second time, about the same amount of time on each subsequent scan. That said, there’s a handy option to stop the ongoing scan whenever you feel like it or show scan results so far without stopping the scanning action.

Selecting File Scan from the Associated Tasks allows you to add files and or entire folders from the picker to scan them individually.

Interestingly (and laudably), Spybot is capable of performing more than one scan simultaneously, which we tested by firing up the system scan at the same time as the file scan for which we selected an entire folder filled with files. However, if you want to scan additional files using the right-click method, they’ll be added to the queue.

In terms of other features, the Spybot - Search & Destroy immunization tool works by blocking access to websites known to contain malware, as well as slamming the brakes on tracking cookies and nasty plugins. It’s particularly handy if you share a PC with someone with a cavalier approach to link-clicking.

The Settings section allows you to pick out a language for the interface, (English, German, and Russian as ‘official languages’ - i.e. proofread and verified by Safer-Networking Ltd. - and Spanish, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, and Ukrainian as ‘contributed languages’).

You can also determine the reach and flexibility of Spybot’s system scans in the Scope tab - scanning the running system and active users, scanning the running system and all of its users, including those not logged in, and/or scanning any inactive/external systems as well.

Then, the Categories area lets you (de)select different malware categories Spybot will scan for, the Browsers section facilitates choosing which of your browsers you want to scan or exclude from scans (Chrome, Brave, Firefox, Thunderbird, and Edge), whereas Ignore Lists are there for products, items, domains, and URLs that you want skipped during scans.

You can also schedule the Spybot client to automatically run certain tasks (updates, scans, and immunization) at specified intervals, choose which helpful dialogs (including non-critical ones) the app will display to inform you about the current situation and ask for confirmations of actions to take, and manage any alerts popping via Spybot tray icon.

Then, there are advanced settings that include System Integration for managing the right-click Explorer options, the autoplay behavior when connecting external media, and the Spybot tray icon.

Here you can also set the options for System Services - stopping/restarting scans of single files during on-access or custom demand scans, and internet connections; as well as for downloading and installing updates in the background after every boot.

Meanwhile, the Portable Browsers options allow Spybot to detect portable browser versions (currently supports Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Seamonkey, and Google Chrome), and the Internet Protection part lets you decide if you want to use Spybot proxy or your own proxy to download updates.

Finally, go to Download Directories to choose the locations (and their sub-directories) in which downloaded files will receive special scrutiny from Spybot’s malware-seeking and destroying capabilities.

Protection

AV-Test hasn’t been testing Spybot - Search & Destroy since 2017, and other great names in the antivirus analytics industry (like AV-Comparatives, SE Labs, MRG Effitas, or even Virus Bulletin) haven’t been testing it at all, so it’s impossible to tell whether third-party testers have the same experience as we did.

In our experience, it performed okay when scanning (if we gloss over the fact that it got completely stuck when scanning that one time), but it failed to prevent downloading a test malware file on our system. Instead, Microsoft Defender jumped in to protect us.

Other reviewers didn’t have much luck with Spybot - Search & Destroy either, arguing it was underperforming in terms of detecting many malware and phishing threats, cumbersome and awkward dashboard, and its properly working functions still not coming close to the industry’s heavyweights like Norton and Bitdefender.

Final verdict

All things considered, Spybot - Search & Destroy is a rather mediocre cybersecurity app that has a confusing user interface, looks very obsolete, and is missing many features you’d expect in a paid antivirus service, like a password manager, a VPN, or at least firewall - which is something many of its competitors boast. There are some decent protections, but these are nothing to write about. Still, for the price, it’s better than nothing and can complement Microsoft Defender’s more capable platform.

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• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
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