All those exclusions are totally unnecessary. Not only that, neither Windows Defender nor the default Windows firewall requires any special configuration.
I only excluded the whole Addon Manager folder in Windows Defender, but NOT because Windows Defender has a problem with our software (it doesn't), only in order to speed up loading, so Windows Defender won't try to check all files, slowing down the system.
It's possible your problem is caused by ANOTHER software, unrelated to Windows Defender or the default Windows firewall. Check all the other software products you might have installed that might have something to do with downloads, like anti-spyware, 3rd party antivirus, 3rd party firewalls, etc.