While all the stock apps on Windows 10 are never meant to cause you harm, there might be other third-party apps that can actually give you pain. So, it is better to block them from accessing the Internet. It can also be useful if are on a metered connection and want to prevent any particular app from accessing the Internet even in the background.
Either way, the good news is you can successfully block any program from accessing the Internet for an indefinite time. Plus there are also ways to block access for a particular network(e.g., Domain Network, Private Network, Public Network), giving you more customizability.
How to block a program from accessing the Internet
- Go to Windows Search and type Control Panel. Click on it to open it.
- Click on Windows Firewall in Control Panel or you can just click on Network and Internet options
- Click on Network and Sharing Center.
- At the bottom left corner, you have another Setting named Windows Defender Firewall. Click on it.
- Click on Advanced settings.
- Click on Outbound rules.
- On the right side, you have an option called New Rule. Click on it.
- Click on Program and Next.
- Click on Browse to find the exact location of the program. Usually, all the programs are in your C drive>Program files.
- After selecting the program, choose Block Connection. Press Next.
- Now you need to tick the rules. If you don’t want the program to access the internet no matter what, you need to tick all the three boxes.
- Give it a name(In the name you can write Block and then the name of the program, e.g., Block Chrome)
- Click on Finish to get it done.
After you are done with the above steps, open the program you have just blocked it from accessing the Internet, now check if is consuming data. Does this trick block the program you wanted to block? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image Source: Fossbyte
