anyone heard of Online Armour?

I have only played about with this beta for a short time but it already seems a polished product.

1. I had an initial error with the serial key sent but support quickly corrected this and overall they seem very keen and on the ball.

2. Installation was easy with the Wizard and only 1 process is loaded, OnlineArmor.exe which takes up 10MB VM. The program takes up 11MB disk space and gives a very clean uninstall as well.

3. OA did not have any effect on the speed of my computer startup and the only slight slowdown was seen on some web pages with numerous image files, which meant the Web Screen was doing its job. It appears to be very stable and I have not yet seen any conflicts with my hardware/software.

4. GUI and Help-File were clearly layed out.


Overall I am impressed so far with this program and it should show a number of further improvements in the future such as Registry protection.

I am looking forward to Kareldjag putting OA through his tests.

However, my only criticism so far is that the initial purchase price of $39 with annual renewal fees after this. This seems expensive compared to the opposition and for a new HIPS program to the market.

But OA is definitely a security program to keep an eye on

 

Well the autoruns and IE watchers are both registry protection, although they are pollers atm.. should be noted that OA works with Windows 9x, it wouldn't w/ regdefend style registry protection. My favorite feature is actually the web screen, which prompts you on java applets, activex, file downloads, etc, and will also filter out some exploits like Kye-U's Proxomitron filters. It will also alert you if you recieve a phishing email. Enter your bank as a trusted site and you won't have to worry about it anymore

I think the database will make a big difference. Once that's full (of both trusted and malware files) the price will be a lot more worth it, especially with the features that are planned.

 

Hi Blackcat - The current version has a non-polling registry protection proxy, which if I understand correctly is similar to that offered by Reg Defender. However, OA only currently uses the proxy to check for a few things like programs requesting to Auto start, changes to IE Homepage.

What we're trying to achieve with OA is ease of use... everyone who asks me, I tell them we're making it for their mum - so when we put in the registry protection stuff, it has to be done in a way that's easy to use.

So, its basically this - OA technically can protect the registry - but doesn't at the moment, because we need to think about the UI. I think we have it sussed how we're going to implement it, but we need to get 1.1 squared away and released before we put any more features in there.

The good news is that the version I am just about to put on the website looks like it could be the 1.1 final release - so, work may start on the new version on Monday.



Mike

 

Hi again Blackcat... definitely agree with your last statement

You know what, I hate pricing. Its so difficult picking the right price for a product, and you can never increase it without upsetting people. Too low and the marketing weasels get on my back and say "why should you sell a superior product for less. Nobody's gonna buy that." I'm sure they'd want me to sell it for $99.95 if I'd let them. Greedy little chaps that they are.

Here's why I think Online Armor is worth $39.95 (and $14.95 per year thereafter).

The subscription includes all of the new releases of Online Armor - not just pattern updates - so, when for example OA v2.0 comes out - if you subscribe, you get it. Simple. If you have a valid susbscription (or within the first year of purchase, you will *always* have the latest and greatest OA. No sneaky weasel upgrade tactics... just good old fashioned auto update.

If you don't renew at the end of the 12 months, your OA will keep working with all of the features, you just won't get the new stuff. Since we don't rely on signatures (although, we use them, to help users identify the processes) - you're not really that much worse off.

We've noticed our beta testers are using all sorts of security programs (paid, or not). One popular one seems to be RegDefender - $29.95 if I remember right. Now, these features will be in v1.2 of OA. We're also looking at adding in a personal firewall (a good one) but that will probably be v1.4 because writing firewalls is, umm. hard.

I guess my point is that all the fruit that's going into OA over the next 12 months alone will definitely be worth $39.95, so even if you don't think its worth that price now it soon will be.

12 months from now, you could decide if it's worth shelling out another $14.95 based on your experience with the product and if you're happy with what you've got at that time


Mike

 

Hi Notok

Not for long v1.2 will have hooking protection to prevent various types of nastiness. I'm not sure what you mean by "SafeNSec covers files" - but if you drop me a note, if the feature is any good I will add it to the to do list.


Mike

 

Hi Mike,

For many years I worked for many different software firms and I was also on the board of directors of many startup software companies. I think your pricing schedule is very well thought out, competitive, and will hopefully support all future development/sales efforts. I think that having a strong sales model is important to users, since users are in a sense investing in a company/product and it is good to know that there are sufficient resources to support continued development as the security landscape changes.

Good luck with your efforts!

Rich

 

No, they're not

It was "fun" making sure OA worked on Win98, but we didn't resort to polling to do it!


Mike

 

Ah, very cool, good to know

 

Mike, thanks for your comments and I hope you can stick around here in the future.

I am looking forward to the progression of OA

 

Hi Blackcat,

As soon as we get OA launched, try and keep me away

Actually, I have a question for the group - when we launch, we're going to have a 15d eval period for the product, which should be enough to demonstrate its value. I've had conflicting thoughts over a free version. On the one hand, this is a great way to get users. On the other hand, it's a great way to get enormous bills for bandwith and support - because even the free version needs to be adequately supported.

If you could pick one element of OA which would remain free (including some of the upcoming features like registry protection) - which would it be, and why?

My personal preference would be to have a 15d eval of OA, which after 15d converted to the free version which only gave registry protection like RegDefend. (arguablly, $29.95 of value ;-)

Anyone have any comments on that?

 

A free version would be a great idea for users and a good way to attract potential customers But, as you say it may cause some initial headaches for your company.

The preferred feature may depend upon what security setup is already in use and what level of expertise is being targeted.

Newbies may plump for a firewall or the application control. More experienced users who already have one or more HIPS programs installed may choose another non-overlapping feature.

 

Hi Blackcat.

You are a little bloody champion matey posting all those screenies. Thanks a lot.

Time taken is sure appreciated from this little black cat duck, lol.

Also thanks to Mike for his answers and taking notice of feedback. Good to see, hope continued development goes well for you mate.

Mike kindly emailed me the key and I shall have a play on the weekend.

Cheers, TAS

 

That's pretty evil. But if I used only freebies, I think registry protection would be highly appreciated.

 

I'm starting to regret buying Regdefend.

 

I have a similar strategy, if my Aunt and Uncle can use a piece of software, anyone can They do take the odd note though

A very good strategy indeed Mike.

Cheers

 

I really don't think so, I would make it 30 days, that is a very good length, it gives you a very good feel for the software, you will find quite a number choose 30 days as a eval period.

As to what feature to default to after this trial period, you could give the user a choice, click on x, y or z, if you don't make a choice now it will default to x.

My 2 cents.

Cheers

 

Evening all

well I have had this on trial for a while now and I have to admit that I am impressed, not just with the app, but also the support to the beta testers from Mike etc. I have just done an uninstall test of my copy as my "final " validation so to speak, and i can report that its uninstall is as neat as every other aspect of its performance. I am going to d/l the latest version later and see how it has improved. I do have a concern regarding future development though. This only my opinion, but for what it is worth I dont see the need to incorporate a firewall into OA, It plays very happily with ZA on my machine as it is. I would hate to see a great application like this lose its focus and as a result, rum the risk of a sprawl into mediocrity.

Regarding cost and trial periods, I do not think the pricing is too high if the support from the company to purchasers proves to be as good as it has been to the beta testers. If the developers can provide the resource to offer a 30 day, fully functional trial then great, but if the resource implications in doing so meant a deterioration in their support capacity I would prefer a shorter trial. I do not personally see the need to offer any functionality after the trial period, this is a commercial venture. However, if I had a choice, i would keep either the web shield or the registry modules thanks very much!

HD Rider UK

 

I don't mind a all in one application, so long as it remains a leader in all pieces of software incorporated in to the application, and you have the choice to install each piece of software or not. As well as the ability to uninstall each piece of software, so if you wanted the firewall you would click on it when asked during installation, and later on you decided you no longer wanted it, you then could easily remove it and run another firewall.

Cheers

 

I had concerns about this as well, Mike had assured me that you could disable the feature and use another without problem, if you so choose.

 

That will be good then, just seen too many applications where they bundle and you can't dissect Choice is good

Cheers

 

James - why? When I looked at it, it seemed to be a good piece of software.

I'm glad you're supporting small vendors, because without people prepared to buy from the small guys like us products like OA don't happen.

 

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind words, comments and criticisms. I have a bit of a confession to make - in my last upload, there's a bug in the programs screen so it doesn't show the "parent" program correctly - unfortunately, this has automatically updated out to everyone. It doesn't affect the function of the program, it's just *really* annoying.

Sorry about that - OA is always cleanly installed on my PC at the office (emptying the programs list) and auto updated on another PC (where I didn't notice it on account of dancing like a maniac due to a successful fix of a wierd compatability issue).

Just to deal with some of the comments in posts overnight -

Free version - I think this is going to go on the back burner for now, and we'll see how it goes with the product once its released. I want to focus on supporting a single version of the product (although, the idea of choose your free component is cool.)

The firewall. OA is not going to expand into a massive "Internet Security Monstrosity", it's going to stay focused on what it's designed to do - which is not so much generic antispyware as protecting your mum's computer from all manner of nastiness. Think of it as a free-time recovery for techs with parents (or non-tech friends).

I don't want to say too much about what its going to do - but you *will* be able to turn it off it you don't want it, and OA will always play nice with other security products such as ZA.

As with everything we've tried to do with OA, we want to make it powerful *and* easy to use. I'm not sure that firewalls currently fit this description, but the one in OA most certainly will. Rest assured, it won't ever see the light of day if we cannot get it working to a very high standard.


Mike

 

I can confirm the very clean procedure.

However, my firewall was triggered during the uninstall as OA tried to call Home. Is this to stop another install?

 

Hi Blackcat - yes, the licencing system needs to talk with the server to prevent multiple installs.

Mike

 

Will there therefore be any leeway in the full version for more than one install on the same machine?

Over time, I can envisage a number of events which may mean more than one installation may be necessary. Or do we have to "roll-back" in some way?