OK, since this was my first post here I did not expect the conversation to get so lively. I appreciate every single input. I thought my initial request was simple and clear with the words “non-tech” and “family members” but for the curious I will expand a bit.

For starters of course I am the “sys-admin” of my families tech life, my main personal PC is not Windows based but every member of my family is because every flavor of Linux I have convinced a family member to try has resulted in utter failure for them, sad but true.

They like the simple UI over the Windows firewall because I had no success trying to get them to understand/use the built-in windows version “Easy” to block per-process out/in traffic “Easy” to block ALL traffic, etc… Having them understand/use traffic blocking at the app level has made all of them much safer/smarter users. I start them with almost everything locked down, they open/monitor what they use, nobody shares a PC so this works perfect.

and finally for me, I needed Open Source so I can inspect the code for any tomfoolery, make any custom changes needed/wanted, and compile on my own. Free is never a requirement, I will always support the devs of software I end up using.

Thanks again for all the input, I read and followed everything, I was not planning on this much TMI but felt it warranted after reading the responses.

Update: I just discovered that TinyWall is now FOSS, GitHub Link If a very powerful, easy to config/maintain Windows firewall that is also now FOSS is something your interested in, I highly recommend giving TinyWall a try

Started a couple years ago with a simple home network website using Flask to simply save/organize my notes.

It has slowly grown into an entire eco-system that manages/records my entire life, from work to play and everything in between.

• Music player that organizes huge collection of mp3’s, scraps the album cover artwork and lyrics, integrated converter (youtube,spotify etc.), playlist to stream/copy to any device, statistics on everything and dozens of other percs/tools/toys custom built.
• Custom news, weather, sunset/sunrise, daylight savings reminders
• Easy on the fly statistical analysis of anything with advanced and simple graphing
• Easy on the fly AI, ML playground
• Reminders, text messages for all upcoming rocket launches (scraped and rss feeds of course)
• Manage my entire home automation setup/status/cams etc.
• Dozens of music related applications for learning/practicing/recording/tracking etc.
• Many, many more applications, just scratching the surface here but everything is automated, I don’t want to work it, just enjoy it.

Sometimes I feel a little selfish for keeping all this to myself (my entire household uses it too) but I’ve been programming and building websites for decades and it’s nice to work on something that has no schedules or expectations and the cherry on top for me is zero worry about security or compatibility.