The unofficial Shadow Defender Support Thread.

Ok, I've been thinking and want to know if your running Comodo Firewall, Webroot Secure Anywhere and Emsisoft Anti-Malware is Shadow Defender still an asset to beefing up your security or is it overkill?

 

SD is a safety net that can undo some very sturdy infections that Webroot and Emsisoft alone may not be able to fully undo. This is the reason why SD is present on all my systems regardless of the fact that I run Comodo, Avast and MalwareBytes' Antimalware.

 

Thanks CyberMan969, That's just what I needed.
Can you tell me what exclusions in SD you use for Comodo?

 

Comodo stores a lot of its settings in the registry so SD exclusions won't work. I found the easiest thing was to export the Comodo configuration settings before exiting Shadow Mode then re-import them after rebooting in order to make any changes permanent.

 

If i install SD in a system with Rollback rx already installed and revert to an old snapshot which doesnt have SD(without uninstalling SD),Will i have problems with MBR and Rollback Rx?

 

CSKfan, In a way, it's really more a Rollback RX question than a Shadow Defender question but a good question nevertheless. I can't give a definitive answer to your question but I think if I was doing it I'd uninstall Shadow Defender before trying something like that, to be on the safe side.
What I know about these matters you could write on the back of a postage stamp but
my non expert hunch is that you'd probably be ok.
Test it on a system that doesn't matter first though, these low level kernel drivers can be funny things. I suppose maybe, it boils down to a sort of "authority", can one program, delete, move, ignore, the rules instituted by the other for it very existence, both with "claims" of their own, battle of the giants scenario, who will dominate? will negotiation happen? or will both be locked up in a death grip, fighting for areas of territory, that each claim as their own.

ps Do a backup first.

 

No problem in that regard. I did that a few times when I had Rx installed with SD and it worked as expected.

TS

 

You're welcome Taran. I use no exclusions whatsoever. When updates are available for Windows or for my security apps I restore my latest clean RX snapshot that contains all previous updates, update, reboot if necessary, then save a fresh snapshot that includes the new updates, and finally go back into shadow mode.

 

+1

Rebooting into a snapshot that has no SD installed is no problem at all.

 

For me being a beginner I found the commit box very useful
All I have in the exclusion box is my download folder and Operas bookmarks and mail folder

Are those sites that have SD at a discount safe?
I found one site I can get SD for $25 which is in my budget.

 

Do we have to reboot if we want to commit the changes to the system?(or)We should reboot to discard the changes?
I have set SD to Enter Shadow Mode on Boot for 2 volumes(OS & Data).
Can i commit changes without rebooting the system to both partitions(ie. OS as well as Data)?
How to commit Firefox bookmark and ABP subcriptions updates to the system?

 

Just for the heck of it, I popped SD support an email today.

Lo and behold...I actually received a reply!


Now, the [potentially] exciting part...

No proof as of yet that this was actual contact with SD's original developer, Tony, or someone impersonating him. But it's contact nonetheless .

 

NO
(or)
YES...only if disk is used by system.

Yes...you can do it...it's from SD help file

From context menu you can do it in each file manager (system or non-sysem) by clicking RBM on important for you file/folder.

 

While using SD,under what circumstances do i have to reboot the system?

 

When the system partition is in Shadow Mode, you have to reboot the system in order to exit Shadow Mode.

 

As I understand it

1)
When you are in Shadow Mode if you are setup to re-boot into Normal bootup
you can commit files and folder/s containing files but not folders with nothing in them. You can commit by right clicking in Windows Explorer on a file or a number of files and folders and then continue your Shadow Mode session and maybe commit some more without reboot at that point but it's only when you re-boot that you will see your changes permenantly committed, alternatively, you can do these same things from within the Shadow Defender gui itself.
2)
I know some members here have settings for bookmarks etc within Shadow Defender but I just unshadow and update stuff now and again
3) As far as I know you can run say you C:\ Shadowed and E:\ unshadowed amd maybe even the other way round by using the tick boxes (members please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

I have written (emailed) to Shadow Defender site to verify
(Mods please note that I will not post any email reply that I receive from Shadow Defender site and this is my own text).

My email was as follows

.....................................
Hi,
I am a member of the Wilders security forum (sdmod) and the ex Global Moderator for the Shadow Defender forum.
A Wilders member posted yesterday that he had had contact with someone from this site who claimed to be Tony.
Tony has been missing for quite some time and has offered no support during that period to users and members for the Shadow Defender product. I have written (emailed) and pmd Tony many many times (in my role as Global Moderator) and have not yet received a reply. If you are the genuine owner and developer of Shadow Defender please email me and post some proof to the Wilders forum as many of us know you there and can verify by what you say if this is the genuine Tony.

if you are the real Tony please answer these questions

1) Why have you abandoned the support of your product for such a long time?
2) Why have you not answered my numerous emails and private messages sent to you?
3) Why did you abandon and not fix the Shadow Defender forum when it was broken?
4) If you have been aware of the interest and concern shown for your welfare, why have you not contacted anyone?

I have no intention of probing into private matters but questions need answering.


I would be obliged if you would post your reply to me as an email and post a copy to the Wilders Security Forum so that members know what is going on.
Patrick (Global Moderator Shadow Defender forum)
There are very long Shadow Defender threads on Wilders that you can post to.

Many people have come to believe that the current Shadow Defender site is a sham and a scam, either stolen or hijacked from the original developer so if that is not the case please speak out in a convincing way rather than leave everything up to conjecture and gossip

yours sincerely

Patrick (sdmod) on Wilders


................................................................

 

I love SD.
For what do you use exclusion and for what do you use commit feature in SD?

Does SD has self protection feature against malware?

'Shadow Mode' indication is always on top(ie,When using firefox 'Shadow Mode' is displayed at the top.I don't want to move that indicator sideways or bottom)How to make firefox window always on top so that 'Shadow Mode' indicator does not affect the view of tab's title.

Do you use SD on demand or Real time except during updates?

Has anybody got SD on Win 8?Does it work well on it?

 

I don't know about first question re Firefox.

Users run Shadow Defender in different ways depending on what they want from it so there is no definitive answer.
Some run in Shadow Mode all the time and have settings (exclusions) that bypass that mode for their updates.
Some use it "On Demand" when testing a new software and only go into Shadow Mode then.
Some go out of Shadow Mode to update their anti virus etc.
Some only run Shadow Mode in sessions when they feel the need.

I personally use "commit" from right click within Windows Explorer when I'm in Shadow Mode and want to save file/files to realtime.
re updates, I go out of Shadow Mode to update my antivirus etc..

As far as I understand it (please correct me members if I'm wrong) Exclusions mean that those files etc are exempt from anything that Shadow Defender would normally do (irrespective of Mode) and you would set these Exclusions up in Advance of your use of Shadow Defender. I've personally never used exclusions so I don't know a lot about it.

I can never over-emphasize enough to any person that is just learning how to use programs like Shadow Defender. Always keep a full (up to date) backup of your whole disk, and then you can play around more freely without fear of doing the wrong thing and losing everything.

 

I expected that I would not get a reply to my email from "Tony" at the Shadow Defender site and that's exactly what's happened.
Anyone who has control of the site can easily say that they are Tony and if the site was hacked and taken over, (as I believe) then this "contact" with our member is probably just a ploy to increase the income stream by pretending "support" to achieve some level of "legitimacy".

Since Tony disappeared I've been contacted by many of people that claim to know Tony intimately and that have "just spoken to him yesterday" and (without exception) none of those people have replied when I have asked them to verify their contact or "elucidate"

 

Hi Patrick,

It's just been 2 days (and just 1 weekday in China) since your attempted contact. I'm still hoping that you'll receive a reply on Mon or Tues of next week.

TS

 

Yes maybe so, but email doesn't take that long, he doesn't have to deliver it by hand. As you may have guessed I'm not holding my breath for a meaningful reply.

 

I bet the silence continues from the mysterious owners.

 

Well! Some news, good, I hope, I've had a reply to my email to Tony explaining what has happened but really not enough information (at this stage) to be sure that it really is Tony, so I've replied and asked for more detailed information.

This is not a verbatim (for respectful reasons) but

The gist of his reply was that he has not been on the internet for a long time for personal reasons, he doesn't speak English much and he uses Google translate and the Shadow Defender Forum was asked to be taken down by his space server provider who requested to close it because it was spammed by viruss.

I'll post when I hear more.

 

That is good news,I hope we hear more.Thanks