AppGuard News and Feedback

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by Eirik, Jul 2, 2010.

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  1. Eirik

    Eirik Registered Member

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    Let me re-phrase...

    Each and every Windows (or Mac or Linux for that matter) must have at least one account with local admin rights.

    Each and every Windows (or Mac or Linux for that matter) PC should have at least one non-admin account for day-to-day use of the PC.

    This adds up to two unique login accounts per PC, if one follows Microsoft recommended practices.

    AppGuard requires nothing more. One should designate the admin account for "super user mode" to alter parental controls, leaving the other account(s) as falling under parental control.

    Does this clarify?

    Eirik
     
  2. Eirik

    Eirik Registered Member

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    Hi Greg,

    I'm afraid I have no additional information on how 'browser guard' works. So, I cannot answer your question. It is not included in our 3rd party test regiment.

    Just a wild guess... They mention Javascript explicitly. I wonder if this means that their technology parses Javascript and suppresses a short list of various syntaxes (commands). If this were so, I'd see no problems of co-existence. However, I'm almost certainly wrong about how it works.

    Actually, I know little about how MemoryGuard literally operates. All I know is that it somehow monitors attempts by processes to allocate or alter the memory of other processes. So MemoryGuard is not trying to stop the initial penetration of malware as does ASLR, DEP, SEP, etc. Instead, it prevents the malicious instructions in one process from planting malicious instructions into another process, preventing it from spreading and containing the intrusion to the original at-risk process. As this process is usually guarded it cannot harm the system. Also, as this process may be guarded in privacy mode, the harm it might do in user-space can be likewise contained.

    Bottom line: I don't know. They could be complimentary. Although, like others, I prefer to use as little security software as practical. Thus, I use multiple web browsers in hedging web browsing risks. AppGuard ensures that nothing escapes the context of a web browser. And, the use of separate web browsers ensures that what happens in one, does not mess with another. Which means I designate one browser for sensitive stuff, another one for risky stuff, and maybe one or two others for in-between things such as web-based email or anything else with credentials involved.

    Cheers,

    Eirik
     
  3. Greg S

    Greg S Registered Member

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    Yes it does. Looks like I won't fall into that category. I don't have a Standard user account in Win 7. I thought AppGuard was my Standard user account
     
  4. Eirik

    Eirik Registered Member

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  5. Kees1958

    Kees1958 Registered Member

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    Eirik,

    Was just teasing on how I hope future AppGuard features will look like.

    What I meant was that UAC or LUA in Vista/Windowns does protect higher rights objects / processes from tampering with by lower rights objects. AppGuard's memory guard fills in a hole in this by protecting memory/dll injection. Hence side by side protection.

    Appguard has a tradition of low pop-ups/user intercation rrequired. I am wondering how you are going to combine this with the new memory guard
     
  6. Eirik

    Eirik Registered Member

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    My missing that raises another funny point. I read your posts so meticulously to extract every ounce of perspective that I do not 'see the forest from the trees' as it were.

    I don't believe MemoryGuard generates any prompts at all. AppGuard only populates the AppGuard status tab and Windows Event Log with blockage details as to what happened.

    We hope the beta will expose MemoryGuard to numerous environments so we can encounter whatever there is to encounter from the standpoint of unexpected prompts from 3rd party applications or the OS, behaviors, and compatibility issues.

    Cheers,

    Eirik
     
  7. jmonge

    jmonge Registered Member

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    cool eirik it will be stronger;)
     
  8. Kees1958

    Kees1958 Registered Member

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    Well Eirik,

    Funny thing is I proposed to Ilya (of DefenseWall) to bring out a 'light' x64 version of DefenseWall (even offered to share the expenses of development when I was allowed to co-market it), the new AppGuard has all the pragmatic smart protection of that light version, only thing I would add is something like 'Windows 7 Firewall control'. Ilya has so high quality standards that he felt any x64 product of him should be as good as his x32 products. I agree that theoretically the protection is less, but in daily practise (combined with OS internals) it would not differ that much.

    Bottem line
    Wndows 7 (64 bits) with UAC on standard with office aps and internet facing aps running with admin space of registry and directiories protected, plus a deny execute policy on the user space (AppGuard's driveby protection) really tackles 90% of the problems. With MBRGuard integrated and the new MemoryGuard it will bring protection to 99% IMO

    Only shoot in the foot user mistakes (disabling protection and installing) by other family members are risks left (so I would pledge for password protecting the settings)

    Congrats it will be a powerfull pragmatic security add-on for Windows 7 x64 bits Home version owners. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

    On XP/x32 bits systems DefenseWall was a no-brainer. For the small lisence you paid you got all the goodies plus better protection and preconfigured of XP Pro or Ultimate versions.

    For Windows 7 64 bits home versions, AppGuard has the same no-brainer protential (since lisence of AppGuard is cheaper than Ultimate and requires less configuration knowledge). Just add a good free Av like Panda or Avast and your well protected.



    Regards Kees
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2010
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