Noobie Questions About Little Snitch

[Kathsr]

Good evening all. I have a couple of what are probably dumb questions about using Little Snitch but Imreally need to know this stuff before ai buy it.

1.) Will Little Snitch stop incoming connections when my MacBook Pro is connected to the internet but shut down?

2.) Do I have to be in a browser for Little Snitch to detect incoming connection requests or does it notify you if you just have the computer turned on and sitting idle?

Thanks a lot for bearing with me on this. Really appreciate it.

 

[zakarhino]

There are no dumb questions @Kathsr

1) If your computer is shut down then supposedly it won't be connected to the internet. If you mean when Little Snitch is shut down then no it won't stop incoming connections as the software is disabled and unable to act as a firewall; however Little Snitch isn't really something you can "quit" or "shut down", it's continually running in the background. You can however toggle if you want the Network Filter feature (what stops connections) to be toggled on or off.

2) Little Snitch works at the kernel level so it manages incoming/outgoing connections for all software on the machine including the ability to stop system level connections such as iCloud services (prior to macOS 11 anyway, Apple changed the way kernel-level network extensions work so that Apple's connections bypass any user installed Firewall, an extremely anti-user move). Even with your browser closed Little Snitch will notify you about incoming connections and allow you to block them automatically.

It's a great piece of software I highly recommend it. Even if you don't want to use the firewall connection blocking stuff it's extremely useful just for checking out what software on your machine is phoning home.

 

[Apple_Robert]

1) If your Mac is turned off, Little Snitch won't work nor will any other app. You could turn the screen off on your Mac and leave it running. No need to turn off the Mac at night.

2) No, you don't have to be in a browser for Little Snitch to work.

 

[Kathsr]

Thank you both so much for indulging me and providing such clear answers. Little Snitch is exactly what I need.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

One thing to keep in mind: Little Snitch tracks the decisions you make on what to block. If you change your mind about an app feature you blocked, you can find it in Little Snitch's log and remove it to restore full functionality.

Sometimes it isn't clear what something is doing when Little Snitch reports on traffic, so it can be easy to make mistakes at first. Some reported items require a bit of research. The more you use it, the better your intuition will become on what needs to be blocked and what should remain unblocked.

 

[400]

I find that if response starts to get a bit iffy or some cloud feature stops, especially if subscribed to a block list and it updates, disabling Little Snitch briefly is easy to prove it and then ferret out the culprit to re enable.

The pings around the globe is rather interesting, gave me something to do for a while blocking certain places.