NIS 20.x (2013) - How can I stop a program from accessing the internet?

Hi community,

 

I have recently installed a couple of programs on my XP and 7 based systems and they always "phone home" for updates and other things. Is it possible to prevent that either through the OS or via NIS? If so, how would I properly identify the part of the program which is attempting access? I don't want to block all access, of course, just those programs that I select.

 

Tnx,

 

Flavio_C