AppGuard 4.x 32/64 Bit - Releases

Does it always force you to enter your license again?

 

Need to set the correct time and click on the Activate, or set the correct date and reboot the system.

http://i.imgur.com/aVDgNj4.png

http://i.imgur.com/kvBJ7To.png

 

I wonder if malware would be able to change the time, or date effectively shutting down AG to bypass it. I think BRN needs to address this issue. Have you emailed BRN at appguard@blueridgenetworks.com or barb@blueridgenetworks.com about the issue?

 

Same thing happens on my computer, every once in a while a video will freeze the computer, I force restart, and maybe a third of the time on reboot the date has changed to 2094 and a notice comes up that the license for AppGuard has expired.

(I've tried searching on why the date change on crash happens, with no luck. Maybe it's a timing issue with the motherboard, since I built the computer and I'm not a tech by any means. Or maybe it's software related because the frequency of the crashes seems to fluctuate depending on security software installed and even Windows updates. Or maybe it's Sandboxied Chrome and its Flash, which is what I use for video.)

After putting in the correct date and rebooting, sometimes AppGuard needs to have the license key entered again. And sometimes AppGuard then says I can't do that since the license is already being used, and I have to contact customer service to say the software isn't really running somewhere else. In one case when contacting customer service it sounded like I was over my limit on re-installs and they were stretching things by allowing another one. Not complaining about AG customer service, they've always been very helpful, but it seems like this date glitch might not happen with many people, or isn't known about by customer service.

 

The licensing date glitch has been there for at least as long as the new licensing scheme has been in place.
Also, AppGuard's protection shouldn't remain off at boot-time/first logon while it tries to call home. During this time it's possible to have user space executions etc

 

Are you referring to the X on the notification area icon (which eventually turns to a padlock) when Windows boots up?

 

Yes. It was reported quite a while back by several different people.

 

I have the same problem. AppGuard protection remains off at boot while BRN tries to dial home to check it's license. I upgraded to Eset Smart Security 9 yesterday, and it did not alert me to BRN trying to dial out until about a minute after everything had already loaded. During that time AG still had not enabled it's protection. I wish they would switch to an in house license system. The one they are using through a third party has been nothing, but trouble for me. Many times when I roll my computer back I have to enter my license information again even though the image I roll back to already has AG installed, and activated. After this happens so many times I have to contact BRN to reset my license because it shows me having too many activations for the same license. I was informed the license system was making me enter my license again because I had too many hardware changes after rolling back my system to a previous image. It turned out to be the external hard drives I plug into my computer. If I don't have the same external drives plugged into my computer as previously then AG deactivates itself. It must use some type of point system. If it detects too many hardware changes then it deactivates AG, and makes the user enter their license information again. This can be dangerous since the user is not being protected during this time. It definitely should not be treating external hard drives the same as changing one's OS drive.

 

I've got exactly the same problem at the moment. I've been doing some AV performance testing using different AV products. After testing each product, I restored the system from an image on an external drive that already has AppGuard installed, but no AV. The image was made on the same machine, just prior to start of the testing cycle.

Yesterday, AppGuard deactivated itself and can't be reactivated with my license details. I contacted support 24 hours ago but no response yet. For the moment, I'm back to relying on Sandboxie until this gets sorted out.

Even though I uninstalled AppGuard each time before restoring the image and have an always-on working Internet connection, it looks like either AppGuard failed to contact the licensing server or the licensing server failed to decrement the activation count. Either way, the licensing system seems to be unreliable.

 

I hope BRN understands this is a problem that needs to be fixed. It would be a really bad situation if AG disabled itself on workstations on an Enterprise Network without the Admin knowing.

 

I think Barb C made a post about this, saying that the AppGuard service was indeed running at Windows boot/load, but the GUI remains on X until a connection to licence server can be established (or until outbound connection attempts are allowed).

I've performed 2-3 backups and restores since going back to AppGuard on a full time basis. I use Acronis TrueImage 2015. I am yet to encounter a failed backup or restore with AppGuard already installed and Internet access switched off at the router. I haven't had a need to uninstall the program or keep an active connection during this process to keep AppGuard active or licenced.

 

Nor did I previously. I too have done this kind of thing several times in the past and this is the first time I've encountered a problem.

I've now had a response from AppGuard Support who have issued me new activation details but the password they quoted is different to the one I was given when the new licensing system came into force when AppGuard 4.0 was released, and which I have previously used successfully on more than one occasion to activate AppGuard after uninstalling and reinstalling.

Here is an extract from my reply to Support requesting further clarification: -

I was trying to activate AppGuard using the only licensing details I have ever been previously given. This isn't the first time I've reactivated AppGuard after uninstalling and reinstalling and it has always previously worked, but not this time. I wasn't entering the activation credentials incorrectly, but it does look as though the licensing system may have got into a bit of a mess.

If you read the whole of this email, starting at the bottom and working upwards, you will see the licensing details I was given when AppGuard 4.0 was released. Although the license ID is the same, the password is different from the one you have given me. You will also see that I was told when I registered as a beta tester for AppGuard 4.0 that my existing license had been bumped up to add an additional activation, rather than creating a separate beta license.

Although I have been able to reactivate AppGuard 4.2.8.1 using the new password you have given me, I am concerned as to what has happened, so I logged into the License Portal to check the details. Within the License Portal, Company Name is showing as "WILDERS 4.0 BETA TEST - PEGR". All other sections: "Licenses & Activations", "Payment History", etc, are blank. It is therefore impossible for me to check what kind of license I have (beta or paid) and how many activations it is valid for (1 or 4).

Please confirm what kind of license I have (beta or paid), how many activations it is valid for (1 or 4), and why all other licensing details: "Licenses & Activations", "Payment History", etc are blank.​

I am now awaiting a further response.

 

While I'm waiting for a response from BRN, here's my best guess at what may have happened.

New licensing details were issued for AppGuard 4.0. The password I received at the time was valid for AppGuard Version 4; otherwise it wouldn't have been possible to activate and reactivate AppGuard Version 4 as I have done many times.

Somewhere down the line, the License Portal came into existence. The License Portal login screen clearly states that license activation passwords are not valid for logging in. Whether this portal restriction has always existed or was added later I can't say. What I can say is that I am able to login to the portal using a combination of the email address that AppGuard is registered to and the original AppGuard 4.0 activation password.

Putting these two pieces of information together, my guess is that my AppGuard activation password was changed without my knowledge in order to satisfy the requirement that the activation password cannot be used for logging into the License Portal. However, if this is what happened, I was never notified of the change of password until I ran into a problem activating AppGuard a few days ago and contacted Support for assistance.

As the only details present for me in the License Portal are contact details, with all other sections relating to licenses not completed, it is impossible to tell from the License Portal what kind of license I've now got, number of activations allowed, number of activations used, etc.

All in all, not a great customer experience.

If anybody else wants to check their license details, here is the URL of the License Portal: -

https://license.blueridge.com/solo/customers/

Note: If you don't know the login password (I didn't), just enter the email address that AppGuard is registered to and click on the Forgot your password? link to get the details sent to you. That's how I discovered that my original AppGuard 4.0 activation password is now the login password for the License Portal.

EDIT: Barb has explained that this happened as a result of my license accidentally being moved to another customer's account. She has given me another license to use while this is being resolved.

EDIT2: My account is now fixed (thanks Barb). I was wrong about how the different passwords work. Providing the account is setup correctly, a license can be activated using either the customer password or the license activation password. A license activation password cannot be used to login to the license portal though. Only the customer password can be used to login to the portal.

 

I signed up more recently (mid-June).
The license id and password they sent then, actually does log me in to the License Portal! But all I see are contact details ... there is no other information.

 

Then the question now is: Can the password they sent you in June still be used for activation? From my experience and what the License Portal screen says about login and activation passwords having to be different, I'm guessing not.

The only way to know for sure is to uninstall AppGuard then reinstall and try to activate again using the password they sent you. If it won't activate, you would need to contact Support for assistance to get a new activation password, just as I did. Might be better to find out now though rather than potentially get a nasty surprise later.

EDIT: This is all incorrect. EDIT2 in post #3690 above has the correct details.

 

Did you try adding your license to your account via `Product Registration`?

Spoiler: Links

Product Registration

Code:

https://license.blueridge.com/solo/customers/AddLicense.aspx

Licenses & Activations

Code:

https://license.blueridge.com/solo/customers/License.aspx?LicenseID=PUTYOURIDHERE

 

OK - I see the Licenses & Activations section now ... strangely it shows Date Issued as Feb 15 2014, when in fact I bought the license on June 13 2015.
Also with a different Activation Password to the one they sent me.
And ominously Actinvations Left = 0, although Deactivations Left = Unlimited.
Confusing.

 

I had no problems logging in with the credentials I received when my license was transferred from v3 to v4. The only surprise was that I only have a single user license.

 

I tried that and it worked, thanks. However, it also generated another new activation password at the same time. It appears that every time a license is added, a new activation password gets generated automatically.

I have now had an email from Barb, saying that there has been an adminstrative error in my account, which she is resolving.

 

Good one lol, i didnt thought of that

 

Thanks for the tip, Pete.

It appears though that in my case it wouldn't have made any difference. From correspondence I've had with Barb, it appears that what happened was that my license details got moved to another customer's account by accident.

Barb is getting arranging for my license details to be moved back to my account. In the meantime, she has provided me with another license to use while it is being resolved.

 

Hi marzametal,

First, apologies for the time it has taken me to reply to this. I have had so much going on at work recently that there has been little time for anything else. I'm on annual leave this week, so now starting to catch up on personal stuff.

The main use for Private Folders is to protect personal data from unauthorised access by browsers. Web browsers normally have no need to access personal data. When surfing the Internet, all access to personal data should be prevented to guard against the risks of data theft, file encryption, etc by malicious websites.

Folders containing personal data should therefore be designated as Private Folders and web browsers should have Privacy Mode set to On.

The problem with setting Privacy Mode to On for all Guarded Apps is that many of them process personal data files, which are likely to be located within Private Folders (to prevent access by web browsers). These applications won't be able to access data within Private Folders if Privacy Mode is set to On.

There are a couple of additional points to consider.

The first point is that User Space applications automatically run in Privacy Mode. To temporarily turn off Privacy Mode for a User Space application, allow unguarded User Space launches from the tray icon before starting the application. To permanently turn off Privacy Mode for a User Space application, add the application to the Guarded Apps list and set Privacy Mode to Off.

The second point relates to System Space folders used to hold data. Wherever possible, folders containing personal data should reside in User Space. However, there may be the occasional application that will only allow its data files to be located in a System Space folder. It will then be necessary to make the data folder an Exception Folder to allow write access and it won't also be possible to make it a Private Folder as well. This is a limitation of AppGuard.

Sandboxie.


Regards
pegr

 

Hi Cutting_Edgetech,

Apologies for the delay in replying.

Yes, that's exactly how to give a System Space folder User Space file access write permissions and application launch restrictions. To all intents and purposes, it effectively "moves" a folder from System Space to User Space. (Not quite the same thing as a true User Space folder though as you can't also make it a Private Folder - see my response to marzametal above.)

As User Space is intended for holding data rather than running applications, I agree with you that it's usually better to install applications in System Space wherever possible and run them from there, adding them to the Guarded Apps list if they need to run guarded.

Regards
pegr