PeerBlock

Developer	Peerblock, LLC
Last updated	Dec 4, 2010
Release date	Nov 22, 2010
Works on	Windows [+] • Windows 7 • Windows Vista • Windows XP • Windows 2000
License	Open Source
Group	Recommended

PeerBlock Description

PeerBlock is an updated version of PeerGuardian which blocks connections from bad IP addresses.

There are many bad computers out there. Some have been hacked, some want to find out what you are doing. PeerBlock uses frequently updated lists of these bad IP addresses and blocks any connections going to or coming from them.

Signed driver

PeerBlock uses a digitally signed driver meaning those using a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or Vista can also install PeerBlock without any problems.

iBlocklist Lists

PeerBlock has set up its own lists cache which allows for faster and more reliable updating than the original PeerGuardian lists.

Full installer

PeerBlock features a full installer so you can easily install and uninstall it again.

Other improvements

There are various other improvements compared to the original PeerGuardian application. These span from list manager improvements, allowed connections not being displayed by default to reduce CPU load, a save button in the settings area, and downloaded lists being verified before they are installed.

PeerBlock Change Log

• Display Yellow Icon if HTTP is Allowed - While HTTP Blocking is disabled, the PeerBlock tray icon will turn yellow to warn you that your system isn't as safe as it could be.
• Fixed "PeerBlock doesn't block unless update at startup" - Thanks to a code contribution by one of our users, "wopeg", we now have a fix for this problem.  Many thanks wopeg!!
• Limit Max Size of History.db - In the Settings panel, there will be a new option "History Size", defaulting to 100MB.  Setting this to a non-zero value should cause the history.db to be pruned/archived once it reaches this size.  This should help prevent problems with history.db becoming corrupted and/or growing to an absurd size.
• Systray "Allow HTTP" instead of "Block HTTP" - In the menu that appears when you right-click on the PeerBlock systray icon, the "Block HTTP" item has been renamed to "Allow HTTP".
• Warn if Exit While Blocking Recently - When you attempt to exit PeerBlock, if we've blocked some non-HTTP packet recently (i.e. within the past 60 seconds), we will pop up a warning message.
• Force PeerBlock to Start Enabled - If PeerBlock was disabled when you last exited it, it will now start as Enabled the next time you restart it.
• Allow HTTP for X minutes - The systray right-click menu has two new options: "Allow HTTP for 15 minutes" and "...for 60 minutes".  After the specified amount of time has passed, PeerBlock will revert to Blocking HTTP again.
• Click on tray icon to minimize window - Previously, left-clicking on the systray icon would merely display the PeerBlock window . . . even if it was previously displayed. Now, if the window is currently displayed left-clicking on the tray-icon will minimize it; and if the window is currently minimized, it will restore it.
• "Friendly" URLs - PeerBlock is now using "Friendly" URLs for most lists, instead of the URLs you can find at iblocklist.com.  These new URLs should actually be meaningful, instead of something like ".../?list=kpjsadfkljawjefklajwef".
• List-Add Sanity-Checking - After you've added a new URL-based list in the List Manager, PeerBlock will now perform a "sanity-check" of that URL.  It checks to make sure you haven't added the iblocklist.com "Description URL" instead of the "Update URL", lets you know if you're adding one of the Default Lists, checks for duplicates, recommends iblocklist.com URLs instead of other sites' URLs, etc.  PeerBlock will also offer to fix these URLs for you when possible.
• List "Optimization" - When you first upgrade to r277, PeerBlock will ask if you will allow it to "optimize" your lists.  If you let it, it will change bluetack.co.uk-hosted URLs over to iblocklist.com-hosted ones, rename list URLs to the new "Friendly" URL-names, and remove duplicated list entries.
• Saves "Last Known Good" Config - Each time PeerBlock successfully starts up, it will save aside a copy of your configuration as peerblock.conf.bak.  This way if your regular config file, peerblock.conf, ever gets corrupted (or you end up with some bad settings in there) and that prevents PeerBlock from starting, it will be able to load this saved copy instead.
• Multiple-select of Rows - You can now Ctrl+Click multiple lines in the main window as well as on history (and in the List Manager), to allow/block/copy multiple IP addresses at once.