Alternative for process guard?

Hi all

I searched the board but can't seem to find the answer to my question: since DiamondCS obviously doesn't develop any further it's time for me to move away from it: although I paid for the product (with "lifetime upgrades" ) if they don't further develop they don't keep up with new threads so I need to move on.

So I was wondering: who, former PG-user, now uses an alternative, which one, and why that one?

I'd appreciate any replies,

Thanks in advance & bye,

H.

 

Though I now longer use HIPS, AppDefend was teh first alternative I tried. I liked it because it wasnt complex like SSM and you could have it prompt for hooks and stuff instead of just block like PG would.

Theres many other choices available as well; you can find a list here.

 

Processguard was my first (three or four years ago) introduction to the paranoid world of computers
After I noticed that the support forum was less and less frequently visited by DiamondCS staff I started to look for alternatives.
The second HIPS I used was Appdefend and Regdefend (by a former DiamondCS employee and he is still developing Appdefend)
After 7-8 months I found it to be too intrusive for my taste so I tried Tiny personal Firewall, which wasnt really less intrusive but I loved the sandbox technology. Then TPF was bought by CA who abandoned it. I was really fed up with the intrusive dumb behavior of HIPS so I stumbled upon Prevx1. I loved it because it let the community decide what was dangerous and not (very few popups) Prevx1 gave me some peace at last.
I have tried others as SSM and Online armor and Norton Antibot also.

They all do their job very well.

But then I read some post by tlu and others about windows limited user accounts. For some reason I have always thought it was difficult to use LUA (never used it really)
But I decided to give it a try; throw away HIPS and only use a AV and a Firewall. Now I have the fuzzy feeling of secureness I have been looking for. LUA is even better in Vista. If and when something that could be harmful to windows I get a popup, I dont have to decide if it could be harmful or not, Vista will look out for that, if I am installing something, I now I will get one popup asking for password and after that I dont have to bothered again.
If the software that I am installing (and give permission via run as) have malware in it, I obviously will get infected if AV or my firewall doesent give me a warning, but it is really no big difference to a regular HIPS. I mean at the end of my HIPS era I clicked allow on everything anyways. I was suffering HIPS fatigue

There are other HIPS I have looked at briefly, but I cant really give any verdict of them since I have used them for a very short time., but others have. Software like Prosecurity, Safe´n´sec and Blink for example.
So, there you have some alternatives to Process guard.

 

Hi,

Think of ThreatFire and DSA, as a combo way more effective than ProcessGuard and as easy.

Regards K

 

Thank you all for your replies; I will start working with your inputs ;-)

 

I've also decided to abandon PG for the same reasons. I tried and liked a lot ProSecurity which seems to be as light as PG and very effective according to some tests posted here at Wilders.

I'm running most of the time on a virtual system, and I still haven't made up my mind whether is worth having HIPS or not, only time will tell.

One thing for sure: Even though PG and ProSecurity are light, my computer is faster without them.

 

Have you tried System Safety Monitor (SSM)?

I run both ProSecurity 1.4 beta 2, & SSM paid version (on 2 different images). PS & SSM are ~about~ equal in protection, but my computer is more responsive with SSM than with PS. Hopefully this will change by the time 1.4 has all the wrinkles ironed out & gets out of beta, but for now my computer is faster when I run SSM than when I run PS.

 

Was in exactly the same boat as you. PG user with apparently no where to go. I have looked around and whilst there do appear to be a number of good alternatives IHMO the one that comes closest to being a PG rplacement is ProSecurity Free, as that version only really protects processes (but that is all that I really need as I am running KIS as my main security set-up and that has PDM).

I took the plunge and installed it (PG properly uninstalled first of course) and have not really looked back since. Installation was easy using the set-up wizard (although it can take a while to carry out the scan...45 minutes in my case) and it does run light. The only thing that could be improved is the GUI that looks a little unpolished IMHO.

It is so good on my PC that I am even gong to investigate the paid version to see if it can provide and alternative to PDM or can complement it.

Hope that this helps?

 

Yes, I have. A lot of people say great things about it, and I have no doubts it must be very effective. Unfortunately it is too complex for my knowledge.

That's the reason I would choose ProSecurity if I picked a HIPS: You don't have to do anything while setting up, and you can fine tune it if you are an expert.

At the moment running virtual with an AV seems to be enough to take care of old and new malware. With virtual and sandboxing solutions becoming more and more sophisticated I don't see a great future for HIPS unless you are an expert who enjoys figuring out what's what, and why.

 

Yes ProSecurity is a good alternative to PG. I personally would use a HIPS provided it can detect when a program tries to access the disc low level, to monitor legitimate programs in case your favorite program or creator of it decides to go Rogue, but hey you need to have trust in your HIPS as well so I guess its a cliche'. What normal every day programs you use would actually have to have low level disc access? I personally have none on my box accept for the malware type scanners and tools that I play with they access the disc low level.

 

I'd really recommend the use of
the last free version (2.6) of Antihook

http://www.infoprocess.com.au/download.php

combined with the last free version of Mark Jacobs Registry Watcher
(though the last link to it on www.portablefreeware.com seems to not work anymore....), sad... I think the author permitted them to post it any longer...

on the freeware side, I think DiamondCS RegistryProt v2.0 is a very fine thing to use alongside Antihook...
Just wonder why no one mentions Antihook anymore?
It still does very fine for a freeware prog, or am I wrong?

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/freeutilities/regprot.php

 

I am not sure, but as it seems, DiamondCS are at the moment overhauling their website (the main site not being accessible for now, but some parts...for the knowing ones )

Maybe they're into something revolutionary now? I really hated the bashing that happened on them - even, but not only, here - after their inner conflict related to having to give up TDS3. Up to this announcement, most people here seemed to be real addicts for that unusual, nowadays maybe dated, prog.

All I have read here was about the company being dying (who knows?), the company not being trustful (anyone tell me why, please? Have they joined any Spyware company now or have they been acquired by Symantec?)

No one ever gave an answer here. Now their board is "archived". Not too long ago it was on top. The amount of support they gave earlier, and the value the people got by their advanced programs THEN, is not being mentioned anymore.

At least, they gave us something exquisite in the past, for free.
And now, they are being treated like a spyware company.
Can anyone answer to my questions, please?

Almost as if bashing on your C64 because you can't get your DSL connection to work with it.....

 

Sad but true.

 

If this is true, then I wonder why the site is "temporarily down for maintenance"? If you don't intend to come back, why be temporarily down?

 

I am not a basher but let me say that if u dream for a dead man to become alive one day, I will not stop u.
I feel sorry for them BTW.