DSA - Questions and answers

[tepe2]

I sent some questions to Privacyware Support. See below, I hope it will be useful to some of you.
(XP FW means Windows XP firewall)

-{ Quote: "1. Will DSA shutdown the XP FW or part of it, or in another way change the
way XP FW work?
<<<Like the XP Firewall, DSA is also a desktop firewall and once installed,
DSA will become the default firewall rather than the XP Firewall. So yes,
DSA will close the XP Firewall. If you exit DSA, the XP Firewall will
re-start. You can run both apps simultaneously, however, but you will need
to re-start XP FW.>>>

2. Will DSA add to or offer more inbound protection when used together with
XP FW, or inbound protection will be the same?
<<<DSA offers layers of protection that the XP Firewall does not, including
Process Monitor and System and Application anomaly detection. DSA monitors a
number of system activities that the XP Firewall does not. Please refer to
the information outlined in the following url for details:
http://www.privacyware.com/dynamic_security_agent2.html.>>>

3. If I use DSA would you recommend to shutdown the XP FW? Why or why not?
<<<DSA will automatically close the XP Firewall when started. You can
certainly activate the XP Firewall and run DSA and XP FW simultaneously if
there are features in the XP FW that are important to you.>>>

4. Latest version of DSA is 1.0.8.8. Do you plan to release a new version?
If so when?
<<<Yes. Next version will not add any significant new features, but will
support Windows Vista 32 bit OS. The next major upgrade to DSA will not
likely be released until late Winter/early Spring.>>>

5. DSA seem to be very popular among users in wilderssecurity.com forum. Do
you mind if I copy your reply into a thread at wilderssecurity? I will
respect whatever your answer is.
<<<You are free to distribute my response any way you like. I hope the
information is helpful to you and others. Please let me know what other
questions you may have.>>>
" }-
To choose AV or AS is easy for me. To choose firewall is almost impossible. Maybe thats why I still use Windows XP firewall:)

DSA is one of the alternatives I consider. I know DSA offer something Windows firewall does not. But could that be said about Windows firewall too? What does Windows firewall have that DSA does not have?

I also consider DSA together with another FW instead of Windows FW. But that would have to be a FW without HIPS, so OA is out of the question.

[Hairy Coo]

If you arent already aware,suggest you download Webroot FW(see thread),which is largely DSA,or of course Privacywares,Private Firewall

[Wordward]

Hey HC how ya doin? Did you notice the response tepe2 received said DSA hasn't been updated? I'd imagine this is also true of the version used by WDF, wouldn't you?

[Hairy Coo]

Guess so-you're the expert;D But any update seems mainly Vista 32 ready.

[19monty64]

-{ Quote: "Hey HC how ya doin? Did you notice the response tepe2 received said DSA hasn't been updated? I'd imagine this is also true of the version used by WDF, wouldn't you?" }-
DSA hasn't been updated yet, WDF has as discussed here (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1099659&postcount=23). DSA to be updated later. HTH

[Hairy Coo]

Thats what the PrivacyWare reply said- but the future update "Next version will not add any significant new features, but will
support Windows Vista 32 bit OS"

I see what you mean,Wordward questions whether the WDF DSA is the updated one,which it isnt-my reply didnt decipher properly-


EDIT


Espressos post isnt correct re WDF not containing the HIPS feature etc-its just a matter of turning on DSA-there is no other HIPS feature.

His post was before the method of turning on DSA/HIPS was posted.

This is the PrivacyWare post

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1099305&postcount=7

All this is discussed in the WDF thread.

WDF is already Vista32 ready.

[tepe2]

-{ Quote: "If you arent already aware,suggest you download Webroot FW(see thread),which is largely DSA,or of course Privacywares,Private Firewall" }-
Thanks. I do follow this thread. And OA thread. And other firewall threads.

I am going to trial Prosecurity when the last version is out of beta. I think it is better for me to decide on firewall after trial Prosecurity. If I end up using Prosecurity I dont need a firewall with HIPS included.