How do I set the firewall like it's brand new??

I'm new to Netsh and need some help with something. What I want to do is set the firewall to a state where nothing is allowed inbound or outbound. Once I have done that, I want to add programs to the whitelist one at a time. What I want is to be able to start with a clean slate.

I thought resetting the firewall would do that, but it doesn't (at least not for me).

I have the command to block all inbound and outbound traffic...

Code:

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles firewallpolicy blockinbound,blockoutbound

Hope this question is clear.... if not, feel free to ask anything
Thanks in advance for any help!

Code:

netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=all

You will most likely also want to allow svchost.exe for DNS, updating certificates, windows updates, etc.

Code:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Svchost DNS" dir=out action=allow protocol=UDP remoteport=53 program="%WINDIR%\System32\svchost.exe"
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Svchost TCP" dir=out action=allow protocol=TCP remoteport=80,443 program="%WINDIR%\System32\svchost.exe"

Hi, just wondering how you are intending to use this. There is quite a bit of background activity by Windows, updating apps, app content, 3rd party programs validating registration etc etc.

If you are aiming to whitelist only those things you know, that would exclude a lot of others.

Put another way, how would you know what you're blocking?

I remember that Zonealarm firewall (many years back) could prompt the user to allow or deny access. That is, the user could have control, but be prompted. That might be still the case, and would address the issue of determining what should and shouldn't be allowed.

Manage application interactions

The application control feature literally keeps an eye on all running processes and their behavior, and if the learning mode is selected from the setup process you are prompted whenever applications interact in order to allow or deny their activity if you consider it suspicious.

Easily set up the security level

Settings can be fully customized, with sliders to adjust the level of security the application should apply. Furthermore, all programs can be viewed, as well as their status and trust level, and you can fully manage them and add your own.

Download ZoneAlarm Free Firewall 15.0.159.17147

When I create rules for WF, I temporarily allow all outbound, then use LiveTcpUdpWatch to watch the traffic and create rules accordingly. I use IPNetInfo to get IP ranges (for CDN). My rules for comparison: