Hi guys,
Just wanted to post another awesome program to the freeware section that I discovered watching another one of Barnacules (Jerry Berg)'s YouTube videos. The program is called GlassWire, and once installed allows you to monitor your computer and see every single connection to the internet or even your internal network right from one simple interface. There are several other tools available that perform the same type of monitoring (generally called packet sniffers), but this tool is different in that it tells you which executable or process on your computer is making any outgoing or incoming connections to the internet and allows you to easily check and see if you have any programs installed on your computer that you might consider to be nefarious in nature (i.e. malware or spyware).
The program itself has a simple interface and shows you the exact time frame and to which IP addresses or servers the app is connecting to, and gives you the ability to instantly block that application from accessing the internet so that you can prevent other applications from sending out unwanted data as well as help keep your computer safe. I strongly urge you to watch Barnacules' video showing GlassWire freeware edition so that you can gain a better understanding of how the program works. Here is a link to his video:
How To Protect your PC & Network with GlassWire - Barnacules Nerdgasm
I have used this program myself now for about three days and have discovered several instances of programs "calling home" such as any time you use Microsoft Edge within Windows 10 (as the browser reports your entire history to Microsoft so that they can target you with advertising). Chrome nor Firefox send your data to any websites, and GlassWire can help you prevent things like this from happening using your computer with this application. There are several versions that you can pay for that will give you extra features if you choose to buy one of the paid versions of this application, but I've personally found that the freeware version is more than adequate for my needs as it allows me to block all connections I wouldn't want to happen on my personal computers.
Here is the link to their website:
http://www.glasswire.com
If you have any questions about the program or comments please feel free to post them in this thread and I'll respond at my earliest convenience. Cheers!