Need OA tweaks or other firewall?

I started using Online Armor several years ago (free version originally, now premium). At the time it was light on resources compared to other firewalls of similar caliber. But lately it has been kind of sucking; the biggest problem being that it slows down my surfing. Is there something I can or should do to tweak it so that it would work like back in v3.0 times? (v3.5 worked great too, but with v4.0 has it has been downhill for me.)

Details of problems:

--sometimes when I launch a web browser or open a new web page oasrv.exe grabs half the CPU (one full core on my Dual Core laptop) for a short period and delays opening the web page. If I'm in the process of opening multiple new tabs (bunch of links from a site), this problem can be exacerbated. (oasrv.exe then settles back to 0% CPU usage.)

--sometimes after booting my laptop I have no internet access unless I (re)start Online Armor. This often happens if I previously unticked the 'Launch Online Armor at next startup' option. It may have something to do with 'Block all the traffic during system boot' option which I keep ticked (but I think it may malfunction and remain in effect beyond the boot or even when OA is turned off).

--I also had a problem with one of the updates (to v4.0.0.45), which I consequently had to skip. (fwiw, I reported it in OA's support forum and tried all their suggestions to no avail). Newer updates have installed fine.

--the OASIS update notifications are annoying, but I don't know how to turn them off or hide them.

In terms of other software, I use whatever it says in my signature, which pretty much boils down to Prevx Free without Safe Online in terms of active protections.

Suggestions?

 

pajenn,

OASIS notifications can be enabled\disabled in Programs > Options.

OA doesn't slow down surfing on my XP machines. Are all programs trusted in the Programs list?

Try to find out if it's related to the content of the site (Flash, Java, browser plugins etc.). If there is an incompatibility between your browser and OA it should happen all the time, not sometimes.

 

I'm using OA premium on 4 machines with no noticeable slow down in surfing speed. The only problems I have experienced is OA freezing up for a few seconds when navigating beween its features (Programs, Autoruns, IE-addons, key loggers, host, websites, Firewall, History, and Options) in the GUI. Sometimes after it freezes up the list of programs will disappear from the programs list, and I will have to close the OA interface minimizing OA to the desktop tray. Then when i open the OA GUI again the program list reappears again. This has been a rarity, and has only happened a few time over a 4 month period. Also when installing programs, and choosing installation mode I will be prompted several times for something I have already chosen to allow during installation mode. Those are the only problems I have experienced, and they have been very seldom. Are you sure it is OA, and not a conflict with another real-time app on your machine? I only ask because i have OA installed on 4 machines, and have not experienced your problem. I have OA installed on 2 XP Pro 32 bit, and 2 W7 64 bit Ultimate. I'm very interested in finding out why you are having this problem because i'm on the beta test team, and if it is OA i want to make sure it gets fixed. I'm trying to figure out how to reproduce the problems i have experienced, but I have been unable to so I'm not sure it is OA. It could be something unique to my machine causing this. OA also made the recent jump to becoming W7 64 bit compatible, and i believe this is the reason for some of the problems experienced by some of the users. This was a big hurdle to overcome so I believe if you give them just a little more time then they will have things running smoothly again. They have been working hard to make sure to iron out all possible bugs. They were releasing new builds on a weekly basis before the Holidays. We would love to hear about any problems you have experienced at the new forum. http://support.emsisoft.com/

 

I read your post again, and it seems you are having a lot more problems than I addressed in my previous post. Have you reported any of these to OA forum? You could be a big help with the beta test team since I have not seen any of the beta testers post the problems you are experiencing.

 

Cutting_Edgetech, I've had the exact same issue quite a few times, but some time ago.
The most recent update seemed to have resolved this.
Are you experiencing issues when sometimes at boot-up, you'll get a OA GUI warning/question about blocking OS drivers (with options to trust, allow, block etc)?
(I haven't had any OS updates since a month ago and hash/checksum and VT shows them to be clean... ).

 

A couple of things to try:
1. Definitely turn off "Block all the traffic during system boot". It's not ticked by default. I recall the Devs have said that it can cause problems...which is probably why it's not ticked by default.
2. Disable Web Shield if you haven't already. If you're not using IE as you're main browser it doesn't really do a lot.

 

I've never got an OA prompt at boot-up with a warning about blocking OS drivers or components (with options to trust, allow, block etc)? I have received recent prompts about allowing or denying components of application that I have recently installed like Vwmare Converter, and Wireshark. I placed OA in learning mode after i installed VMware Converter, and Wireshark. I then rebooted with OA in learning mode, and I received prompts to allow or deny components of VMware Converter, and Wireshark. After changing the components from ask to allow, and then trusting them I noticed that OA was no longer in learning Mode. I'm not sure if it changed because of me adjusting settings while it was in learning mode, but if that's the case then why would it block those components while in learning mode to begin with. It happened twice yesterday. After I placed OA in learning mode, and then rebooted I noticed that OA was no longer in learning mode when the desktop appeared. I will be making a post soon over at Emsisoft's OA forum soon.

 

Ok. I unticked both options - I'll report back after I've had time to see whether it helps.

About traffic on system boot, I'd really prefer to block it though. I read that some malicious (or otherwise sucky) programs try to call out during system boot before the firewall has had time to load and start doing its job, which is why many firewalls offer the very option to block all traffic at boot.

 

Yes, although I also keep the 'automatically allow trusted programs to access the internet' box unticked. (I trust the programs I install to run on my computer, but I don't like them to use the internet willy-nilly unless my firewall notifies me first and I clear it).

I don't think it's a plugin issue because both Firefox and IronPortable are affected; I have very few plugins installed on the latter. (I think K-Meleon also suffers from the CPU spikes and slowdown issues although I don't use it enough to say for sure).

 

I had the exact same issue on my XP Pro SP3 system. My fan would be screaming and CPU usage was ~50% for a minute or two at a time. It was really unbearable.
I am also a longtime user (both free and premium) and finally removed it off my system about two weeks or so back. I still have about 6 months on my license but since no remedy was forthcoming I've moved on for now. There were a few others who posted about the same issue on the OA forums.

I've been using Privatefirewall happily since I removed OA and not only does the system run happily, their customer support can't be beat. May be worth a look if you can't find satisfaction.

 

Disabling the Web Shield and allowing traffic during system boot, and some other setting changes I tried didn't help so I backed up OA's settings and uninstalled it.

I think I still have over a year's worth of OA premium license left so I may try a fresh install of it later or maybe see if I can transfer the license to another machine, but for now I decided to give Privatefirewall a try as it seems a popular choice of late. I just installed it, rebooted, and now Firefox is running smoothly again (no more slowdown).

 

FWIW, when I uninstalled I tried a fresh re-install but within a day the issues were back. YMMV. Let us know how things work out with the new setup.

 

1. Where is this "Block all the traffic during system boot" setting located? I am unable to find it in OA Free.
2. FWIW, I use Web Shield for awhile, then it seems to bog things down and I disable it. Then I go back to using it. Not alot of science to that, I suppose... but I am agreeing with you that OA's Web Shield has from time to time felt like it made my XP system run slower.

 

It's not available in the free version.

edit: I have the free version of OA on another computer, and you can see the option there, but it's faded out.

 

It isn't just you; I have exactly the same problems with OA Premium on myXP Pro SP3 desktop.

 

You can disconnect from the Net during Boot.

 

I used OA for a few years until about a year ago when I couldn't tolerate the problems with most of the updates. The moment I uninstalled it my computer seemed to come to life, becoming more responsive with a crisper delivery.

 

And what are you using now?

 

I'm using Outpost FW Pro 7. I even bought a life time subscription.

 

Thanks for that, pajenn. I never would have seen that faded out setting without your image.

 

FYI:
New Online Armor Firewall Forum
English
http://support.emsisoft.com/forum/29-online-armor-firewall/
German
http://support.emsisoft.com/forum/30-online-armor-firewall/