Lady Fitzgerald said:
I'm intrigued by Windows Firewall Control. How does it work? I'm using Zone Alarm's free firewall right now but ran into an issue with a recent update and I'm considering switching. Does Windows Firewall Control "train" itself by, every time an application tried to send or receive a transmission, posting a popup that asks you if it is to allow or disallow a transmission either permanently or this time only?
Windows Firewall itself can notify when a program is blocked, but only for inbound connections. If you're behind a NAT router then you'll probably only see alerts from other local devices.
EST free firewall for win 7 home-wf_notify.png

With WFC the alerts are for outbound connections. There's no learning mode but there are other useful modes, for example Notifications = Low, that will allow signed programs.
EST free firewall for win 7 home-wfc_note.png

If you use the recommended Medium you need to check the logs for any svchost and System blocked connections. Or set Notifications = High. Besides that you need basic understanding of local and remote ports and protocol so you can configure the rules properly, for example that the local port will change between connections but not the remote one, that many programs uses not one but many remote IP's so it might be easier to allow all remote IP's.

You can allow temporarily for X no of minutes, or permanently. But it's not as "user-friendly" as some other products. There's a demo here: Windows Firewall Control 4 - YouTube
At 05:00 the product is activated so the notifications will show. But watching all you'll get to see the different windows, alerts, rules, logs. And different ways to allow a program.