Several problems with ProcessGuard

[jhovila]

Hello, world!

PG would be a great addition to the line of defence, but I was not able to get it work properly. There was a bunch of problems making normal use of my PC quite impossible. Hopefully these issues can be solved somehow. :)

Version info:

- Windows XP Pro (English version) SP 1
- Process Guard 2.0

I tried installing PG 2.0 on a rather fresh installation of Windows XP Pro. Installation went ok, and I restarted my PC to let PG do it's "learning" stuff. I ran just about every program, making (in my opinion) sure that PG has seen every possible process.

I then restarted again, now running PG in normal mode. Bunch of problems turned out immediately:

- Logging in took very long. Way too long. During the logon process, PG asked for permission to run several processes it had apparently not seen before. Many times the information screen showing details of the process in question was empty - there was no process name, no name of the executable file etc. Just an empty confirmation screen.

- After allowing all the processes to run, the logon process was finally finished. But when I tried to run any program from the start menu, it would not start. No confirmation dialog, no error message, not anything. Furthermore, this jammed the explorer process that handles start menu and desktop. I was not even able to shut down properly.

After several crude restarts, I managed to teach PG to let the most vital processes to run, and logging in started working properly. Well, almost. I still received empty confirmation dialogs. Running programs from the start menu also started working normally.

Next problem was the "human confirmation" dialog. It's a great invention, but it gets rather irritating having to type confirmation several times when shutting down one single program. I guess it has to do with the fact that most programs have several child processes. I think there's need for further development here: one confirmation should be enough when shutting down one program.

There was also something wrong with the configuration window where you should be able to manage the list of protected programs. The header of the window was scrambled. The file selection dialog seemed to work, but when I picked a program to be added to the list, nothing actually happened: the list remained empty no matter what I did.

Any idea what is causing these problems? Could it have something to do with anti-virus software? (I'm using F-Secure Client Security 5.52.)

Cheers!

- Jyri

[Pilli]

Hi jhovila,
-{ Quote: " one confirmation should be enough when shutting down one program." }-
You usually have the option to say "OK to all"
-{ Quote: "Could it have something to do with anti-virus software? (I'm using F-Secure Client Security 5.52.)" }-
Like any new low level software it is better to install with no other programs running.
Process guard will start in learning mode and you should run every program that you usually use, as you have done.
The trial version of Process Guard does allow you to just one protected process which is a bit limiting so you must select carefully.
With the trial I would probably select my firewall as the protected program, providing it is not Zone Alarm, alternatively something like AdWatch or an anti-Trojan program.
There will be a new version of Process Guard out soon, maybe this will work better with your setup.

HTH Pilli

[Gavin - DiamondCS]

Could be related to disk health, or other low-level system drivers. I'd also ensure you have the latest drivers for video and BIOS which could help, also maybe try to remove some running programs or even malware which is very important.

Generally we see that systems which are very stable and updated work perfectly, its hard to reproduce these problems on fully working machines. Older hardware seems to be a possible issue, if something is degrading or not right it will show up quickly in the form of problems..

Please let us know if anything suggested helps !