As you can see from the flashing lights of the router / modem, when a computer is turned on and connected to the network, it constantly swaps, even when nothing specific is being done. In a Windows PC, however, there are many programs that run in the background and that transmit data somewhere and that are difficult to control without a specific program.
To check and protect a computer's internet connection, a new program called GlassWire has been released which, in addition to working well, has a simplicity of use that even less experienced people may be able to use it effectively.
Glasswire is a program that allows you to see everything your computer does on the internet by clearly showing which programs are driving traffic and the amount of data used by each internet protocol (web, email, FTP and so on).
You can also see a real-time graph of internet usage and it is a good program not only to check the connection, but also to protect it from malware and software that you don't want to transmit online .
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Glasswire can be downloaded for free from the official website and does not hide any malware or adware inside.
During installation, the only thing that can be disabled initially is the automatic start of the program when the computer is turned on, which can be reactivated if you are satisfied.
Glasswire immediately begins to record the use of the Internet by the computer, with a real-time graph.
In the Firewall tab you can see all the programs and background processes that communicate on the internet.
Under the Usage tab you have more detail on the recipients of online communications (i.e. with whom you connect each program) and the protocol used.
There are also temporal statistics regarding the amount of data downloaded and loaded.
Finally, in Alerts there are messages that communicate to the user every first time that a program or process has used the internet connection.
Glasswire's Firewall feature is very basic, but still effective for securing your internet connection and very easy to use compared to other more complex firewalls (See the best free firewalls here)
If you want to prevent a program from connecting to the internet, just click on the flame button next to it to block its traffic.
you can try, in real time, to block, for example, Chrome or the browser you are using and verify that it becomes impossible to open a website.
By clicking again on the flame, the connection is reactivated.
If you notice an entry with an unrecognizable name, it is worth checking if it is a safe process or not and then, before removing it, disable it with the firewall to prevent it from communicating with the outside.
Pressing the Glasswire button in the upper left corner you access the options and you can reactivate the automatic start if you want to keep it active at all times.
Options include an unknown mode to prevent Glasswire from temporarily logging internet traffic and snooze, to not see notifications for a while.
In the appendix to this article it is worth mentioning an alternative program, similar to the goal it poses, but much simpler is TinyWall to protect the Internet access of the programs on the PC .
READ ALSO: Check internet traffic and monitor the network bandwidth
