anyone heard of Online Armour?

I personally think OA is going to make a great addition to the security force. Been testing the beta version with no real problems. Keep up the good work Mike.

 

Hi BeetleJuice - Thanks for that Unfortunately, if Blackspear is having problems with OA then there is potential for others to have problems as well so we've a way to go.

He has kindly sent me log files and further information, so hopefully we can solve this problem soon.

I suspect that it's some kind of compatability problem - I'll post an update as soon as we have it fixed.


Mike

 

Well the good part is you`ll have it all ironed out in the long run. I`m sure Blackspear`s problem can be fixed.

 

OA Update

Hi All,

A new version of OA has been placed on Autoupdate (and the website) which should fix the following problems:

• Sometimes Safety Check wizard does not run
• Proxy detection problem causes slow start
• Keylogger detector sometimes causes hang
• Couple of cosmetic changes suggested by users
• Ability to re-run safety check wiz from the main tab

Safety check wiz is still having multiple-running issues on some systems :-(

If the update is installed as part of Automatic updates, then the Safety check wizard will run again. It's ok to just cancel it, if desired.

There are a couple of issues still with a few guys (you know who you are )
but we're working to resolve them as quickly as we can and I will pass details on to those people individually about the progress on the problems they reported.

Thanks once again for all your help.


Mike

 

I have a question if anyone knows. Does OA provide any buffer overflow protection? Thanks.

 

Hi Netsurfer - no, not at the moment. There's lots of scope to introduce more features in later versions.


Mike

 

I did not see this problem on previous installs.

But it must be catching. Installed the new version and had the same result

Any luck at your end, Blackspear?

But at least Mike and their support have a very quick response to bug reports/suggestions so they should be able to iron out this one soon.

 

I had a rest from the PC last night, well from installing and uninstalling so I'm going to give a newer version a shot tonight/over the weekend for Mike, and send through a few more logs... If it can be broken, I will break it

Cheers

 

Online Armor new version

Would you like to break my new version? Just uploaded it now

Just putting it up for download and auto update now. It contains the following fixes:

• Really fixes SCW running multiple times!
• Allows selection of drive (if more than one local drive) when doing files scan
• Allows Start menu item status to be set to "Ask" in SCW
• When launching "More" info, IE was launched as system process. We are now reducing the privs. that IE has when launched in this way.
• Canceling Auto update will now cancel it until the next scheduled time, instead of momentarily pausing it
• Automatically remove whitespace from licence key in case users copy/paste spaces, etc

Still looking at couple of problems reported by a few people - more feedback coming soon!

To those guys getting me logs from the logging version - thank you very much for helping and taking the time to fix these obscure bugs. It's very much appreciated.

Regards

Mike

PS - I'm off for the next 12 hours or so due to family commitments. Rest assured, I will respond to any comments as soon as I get back

 

Hi All - just a quick note that the OA Beta program is not taking any more testers... the guys we have so far are fantastic, and have helped get OA to the stage its at.

We've reproduced the few final bugs and should be releasing in the next 7 days after final testing

Thanks for all of the help from the people in the Wilders community.


Regards


Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Just a couple of quick bugs to report with the beta.

First, installation when smooth. The only thing that seemed to take a while was when it was searching Files for "installed dangerous files". While scanning C:\...\RP (I'm guessing Restore Point?) it took a very long time as it as it scanned each entry (from around #55-#160). Other than the length of time to scan the Files section, everything went smoothly.

Reboot after installation went OK, except that when the McAfee Security Center starts up (with the non-popup, video screen looking window that shows the load up one by one of the firewall, AV, Spam filter and Privacy Service) there seemed to be a problem towards the end of startup. There was a screaching noise.....like the needle of a record player scratching across a record....followed by a kind of plucking "bong" noise (like windows makes when some attempt to access something is denied). This happened both times I rebooted.

VirusScan ran smoothly after installation, once it got past the slow start of the scan. Everything else seemed to be working OK.

EXCEPT TrojanHunter, by Mischel Internet Security. I'm running version 4.2, and the scanner absolutely would NOT open upon command. I repeatedly got the Microsoft error reporting message that it could not open, asking if I'd like to report it. I tried rebooting, but the same error happened repeatedly.

I have uninstalled the beta for now, and will try reinstalling in a few days to see if these problems persist. But I just wanted to make you aware of them, in case you'd like to test Online Armor with either McAfee's Security Center 2005 or TrojanHunter 4.2.

Thanks,

JR

 

Hey JR - we have a couple of bits of wierdness going on with OA at the moment - we have tracked em down, and are working on it.

I'd appreciate it if you could retest with the new version, which I hope will be ready on tuesday.


Cheers


Mike

 

Oh yeah, almost forgot....just to add to Blackspear's comment here - I installed using Total Uninstall 2.0, which is a fantastic product for making sure of very clean installations and uninstallations. Total Uninstall went through the "reinstallation" process a couple of times, after I selected "Exit" (meaning, exit the installation - I'm done). It would immediately then begin "reinstalling"....so the third time, I selected "Next" for the next installation rather than exit, and it stopped installing.

Just wanted to add that I had this problem also, although I was using Total Uninstall 2.0 rather than a simple install without the use of any third party software.

Edit: Will do, Mike. I'll pop in here over the next few days to see how it's going and give it a try early next week, maybe by Tuesday.

 

Hey JR - When you say it installed multiple times - do you mean, it asked for a restart and then re-ran the SCW? Or the Total Reinstall did something strange with it, like make the whole setup run ok?

Mike

 

No Mike, the Security Check Wizard only ran once (during the set-up phase)....and other than the length of time scanning the Files section, that went VERY smooth.

Total Uninstall kept wanting to "reinstall" the beta....and that's why I was thinking that perhaps there was a problem with Total Uninstall, and that's why I forgot to mention it. Could be something with the Zip function there, though, not for sure. But then I remembered Blackspear and Blackcat's earlier posts about having a problem with installation, and that it was "reinstalling" for them. Since I was using third party software to monitor the installation, I didn't think of it offhand....but since it is still in beta, and I'm sure you want to know everything that happens like this, I thought that I would go ahead and mention it to you.....to leave no stone unturned.

 

OK, I am going to *tentatively* say that this is not *really* OA's problem, because BlackSpear and co had a problem with SCW looping, rather than the installer running around in circles on them.... but it COULD be that OA had somehow clashed with it. Just so I am 100% clear -

1. You started Toatl Uninstall
2. You installed OA
3. You went thru SCW once.
4. Life was good, birds were singing and butterflies (ie OA Started and appeard in the tray)
5. Total then went and spoiled it by restarting the beta install.

I have to ask (and apologies if its a rude question) - did OA throw any popups saying TOtal wanted to access the registry - if so, what did you do).

Last question - I'd really appreciate it if you could repeat this - using the logging version from www.tallemu.com.au/downloads/OASetupLogging.zip

This will create evilly-detailed logs in the "Logs" and "Watchers" subdirs of the Online Armor folder. Every byte thru the proxy, every file accessed - itr would really help.

[If you do, take care to turn off autoupdate on the final SCW screen, otherwise OA will check versions and get "latest" files from the site]

You could just press the "Stop" button on the "Files Scan" page to save time.

Cheers


Mike

 

Hi everyone,

I haven't tried OA yet, but just got my beta key. Just wanted to say that I liked how MikeNash sent my key with a personal response about the beta, and let me know about possible problems I might encounter with the current version.

I thought that was pretty cool.

I'll try OA out this afternoon, and give my opinion

 

Hi Clowny and all other beta users,

If you are a user of ProcessGuard, WormGuard, and/or RegDefend, I would be interested in knowing whether there is any incremental gain/loss of security protection when these products are compared with Online Armour. This would include RegDefend with Kent's and Tony's "additions". Thanks for any info.

Rich

 

Hi Rich,

Regdefend currently provides protection that OA does not - for example, you can customise the keys that RD monitors. In its current incarnation, while it protects the registry in the same "proxy" way as RegDefend - it just OA only looks after a limited set of keys.

So, if you have regdefend, don't throw it away just yet (wait until OA 1.2 )

The main "Extras" that OA provides (and it's 1am here, so bear with me) are:

Web Shield - effectively proxies all HTTP traffic looking for security exploits - for example, IDN spoofing, cross site scripting (against protected bank sites), local drive access attempts, activeX objects used in drive-by downloads.

Mail Shield - similar thing, but for POP and IMAP mail clients. Incoming messages are checked for attempts to use security exploits or other deceptive tricks against sites in the protected list.

Hosts and DNS - OA protects against cache poison attacks (protected sites) and looks after the hosts file.

Keyloggers - we detect these fellas based on behaviour - so no sigs needed.

I'm sure there are things that PG/Wormguard do that OA doesn't - but I'll leave it to others that are familiar with them to answer that.

Hope that helps some.

Mike

 

I have sent a email nearly a day and i still haven't recieved a beta key.... was i suppose to sent a PM rather than a email? ( Edit: may be my mail servers problem..... >< )

@Mike...... Stop teasing me!!

Finally a company make security software that is easy to use and effective. I also notice it is from the australians again. ( Like DiamondCS )....

 

Hi Mike,

With the latest beta, I am having a problem between it and The Bat!. I started a thread over in your forum under Bug Reports.

 

Hi iWod - I respond immediately to all key requests - so either I didn't get your message, or your spam filter got my reply


Mike

 

I'm pretty sure this relates to an issue that has cropped up in the last few versions. There will be a new version on the site tomorrow - as usual, I will post here when it's up.


Mike

 

Thanks Mike for the detailed response. It's lots of help.

If anyone has any additional comments, I would appreciate it.

Regards,
Rich

 

Yep, that is absolutely correct....there was no problem with SCW "looping", the actual "install" process seemed to occur only once on OA's part. The Security Check Wizard only went through the initial process that one time. The problem seemed to be with Total Uninstall repeating the finality of the installation process, and that was eventually ended by selecting "next" (for next installation) rather than "exit" (which is typical for finishing most installations). There were no notices or pop-up alerts that were given by OA during the "TU reinstallations" indicating that any app wanted access to the registry or anything else of the sort.

Very nice sys tray icon, BTW....