Prevx

Hello everyone!

Im tryin out this software. It seems pretty good...well if it does all that its site page claims is able...i woundnt need antivirus and firewall. I think they exaggerate a lot. But so far i like it and i have turn off teatimer since prevx does the same function and it takes very few physical memory. It would be nice if you expert privacy guys write something about this piece of software.

The only concerning issue i found out so far is the statment they made -though very clearly statemente unlik others product that make same things- about sending the info about the virus, worm, malware or whatever that prevx detected to their site for only analize purposes. I hope they dont spam me.

Kind Regards.

 

I'd also like to hear comments about the Home edition of this software. I tried a month or two ago and kept suffering from system shutdown and it was blocking my Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail program from internet access.

 

I have been using Prevx Home Edition for quite some time now, very impressed, I also use Firefox without the issues you are seeing.

Cheers

 

labrie: There has been quite a bit of discussion around the board about Prevx, you might want to do some searching. I've been using Prevx since early beta and love it, and I haven't found any of their claims to be exaggerated. As far as spam goes, they never collect your email address or any personally identifiable information, so they wouldn't know where to send it. In my experience, I have found nothing worth worrying about with Prevx. However if you still feel the need, the Pro version will allow you to turn that function off, along with some additional protection, and only costs $20.

Regarding TeaTimer, if you install a lot of software it MAY be worth it to keep it running as it specifically detects spyware signatures and will block those. You are right, however, that some of the extended protection (like registry startup items and IE BHOs) do overlap.. hopefully the SpyBot team will add some configurability to TeaTimer at some point.

VectorThunder: Prevx does not work at a network level, and cannot block traffic like a firewall. If Prevx really seems to be the culprit, it would probably be due to a conflict with some other software on your system. You should contact Prevx support for help on that. Their support is excellent, and if there is a problem with the software they are likely to fix it, which helps everyone that uses the same software you do.

 

You said it far better than I, very nice Notok

 

You still beat me to it!

 

LOL, you are in my past, and I am in your future

 

lol, uh oh, now you're scaring me!

 

You may be right that it was in conflict with some other software, though what that software was I really don't know. I use McAfee Firewall and AV program and SpyBot and SpywareGuard at system start-up so I really don't see how they could have caused a conflict, plus I have the 'safe' WinXP SP2 configuration given on http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm so even less system start-up items than most users.

It most definitely DID shut down and block both Firefox and Thunderbird programs and Prevx support were unable to give any assistance short of suggesting I disable it.
http://tcwozere.co.uk/smileys/scratchhead.gif

 

Wow, I have quite a list of security software that is very simple to use and maintain and have not seen your problem. And it is disappointing to see that Prevx support could not resolve the issue.

I did have an intermittent problem with a program that took more than 8 hours to find using imaging software. It taught me the value of Acronis True Image. To me this would be the best solution if you really wanted Prevx.

All the best...

Cheers

 

Tx a lot for explaining...im using this program and i dont have any problem so far. The only thing i see is that uses a lot virtual memory...what is this? and why? -obviously if you know -

 

If blackspear uses this program...sure must be good.

 

LOL, well I do like a stable FAST system, anything that makes it cranky gets the flick real quick

Cheers

 

hehe...same here..., and even if i have memory enough to stand the software...but i feel like im wasting my system when an av. takes over 50 mb or more...you can see my post bout f-secure

 

Have you tried Nod32?

See screen shot.

Cheers

 

ProcessGuard is better than Prevx IMO.

 

Yes i have!! I fell in love....lol...but i found etrust 1 year free...and i think i will keep it...its very similar to nod32 in memory usage and fast scan. Though nod32 is much more configurable and better heuristics also...but its not free!!

 

i use both...am i overlaping?

i use pg free..of course

 

No, not at all, 2 very different functions. I have PG3.1 full verision and are highly impressed with it.

Cheers

 

At one time, I was using Prevx (a previous version) along with PG 2.5 and Teatimer. There was an "abnormal" system crash which I think was caused by the overlapping functions of these programs. The sequence of events was such that the registry was left in a corrrupted and inconsistent state that I was unable to recover from. I had to do a complete reinstall of Windows XP.

Since none of these programs have been designed to work together, I think it is entirely impossible that an abnormal event will cause one or more of these programs to begin "processes" that it will be unable to complete - leaving the system in an unstable "state". For this reason, I am running only PG 3.0, and its low-level logic, at this time. I believe that they can all be active at the same time and running at the same time. What concerns me is how they will interact with each other if some unexpected event occurs - e.g. system crash during an install that is caused by the intereaction of these programs or otherwise.

So far, I have not found any real answer to this concern, which is why I continue to be cautious. If I was to run PG and Prevx together, I would be sure to take regular external image copies that I could use for recovery purposes in case the system becomes totally inaccessible as happened in my situation.

Comments?

Rich

 

ProcessGuard should be enough already.

 

For more information on the differences between PG and Prevx (apples and oranges), see a previous discussion here:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=47248&highlight=prevx

You can also use the search function of the forum (at the top of the page), searching for Prevx brings up 185 threads..

richrf: I actually thought your concern was addressed quite well here:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=324893#post324893

 

Hi Notok,

The message that you refer to does present one possibility of what happened. But it is difficult to say exactly how the registry was so totally corrupted. I couldn't even get into safe mode or Windows XP at all. These, deep-level security programs, each have their own logic, which is pretty much unknown and therefore uncoordinated between the different processes, and there are probably certain kind of events that will disrupt the process flow for normal termination and leave the system in a corrupted state. Who knows why? But it does happen. Everything may seem OK untill something abnormal ocurrs, and then things can go really wrong. Over time, I guess, more and more of these issues will become known.

Rich

 

I think on some computers that PG and PREVX do not get along. On some systems they do get along better...not sure why this is so.

Whoever is unfortunate to have a system where they don't get along might have to do a reformat. It is probably advisable to make a backup of your system when installing any low level drivers.

Right now, I think the trend for most security programs is to install low level drivers in order to lower the chances of the program being terminated and to provide other security related functions. The more of these driver/services that are installed the more likely the system will be unstable.

I am starting to get more careful about what I am choosing to run.



Starrob

 

Hi Starrob,

Yes, this pretty much echos my current point-of-view. In some respects, it is like have two AVs installed. These low-level protection programs can step on each other and cause unpredictable problems. It is definitely a good idea to maintain an iage backup. My choice was Image For DOS ($19) from TerabyteUnlimited. I use an external Maxtor USB drive. For some reason, I couldn't get any of the image copy programs to work with the WD external drive.

Rich