Lost all my firewall rules!

[nickster_uk 1]

I've been having some issues charging devices via USB so as part of the troubleshooting process, I decided to uninstall the USB controllers and root hubs in the device manager.  After restarting Windows, I was hit with loads of firewall prompts which I thought was a bit weird.  After checking the firewall settings I was shocking to discover all my rules and zones had disappeared, leaving only the default rules present.  All other advanced setup settings which I had configured were ok.

 

Is there any way I can get these rules back please?  I spent many hours configuring application and home network access and I'm a little peeved at the prospect of doing much of it again.  I had a backup of the rules but that backup was exported about a year ago and I have made quite a few changes since then.  I suppose I could use that as a base to work from but ideally, I'd like the lost rules back.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1 - ESS v6.0.316.0 (I know it's an old version but I kinda prefer it to newer builds).

[Marcos 5,259]

Rules are stored in C:\ProgramData\ESET\ESET Smart Security\EpfwUser.dat. If this file gets corrupted (e.g. due to a hw failure, turning off the computer suddenly while writing to this file, etc.), you may lose your existing rules. Other than that, I can't think of a reason why your rules would get lost. Perhaps we could check what data it actually contains.