SSM - One Opinion, and One Question...

I have been thinking of giving SSM a go for a while, as it seems very popular on here, but I have been put off by lots of people on here saying it is best left to advanced users who know all about their systems.

I saw the free SSM offer on http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ yesterday, and I thought what the hell, I'll give it a go.

After installing, I CAN see how you can get under the bonnet with SSM, and get a lot more advanced and tighten things up more, but as long as you know your system is clean, you can also put it in learning mode for a day or two, and it settles down and seems quite similar, and no more difficult to use than the ProSecurity free, I had before.

I don't understand why so many people on here are saying it is for advanced users only, as it appears to me (intermediate user) that using it in this way, it is no more difficult to use than most of the other HIPS around... I realise that an advanced user will get more out of SSM, but for the average user, setting it up like I have seems more than adequate.

Please do tell me if I am wrong here, as I am still learning, and value the feedback.

My question is, just to check, which features of Comodo firewall can I disable whilst using SSM, to avoid wasted resources and overlap?

 

I go along with you, but better to use learning mode in paranoiac mode as explaind by herbalist on this thread (post #57).

 

You are absolutely correct. Don't let any detractors of this fine product try to convince you that SSM is only for advanced users, or that it is useless. All it takes is average intelligence, enthusiasm and the desire to learn about what goes on under the hood of your machine to use SSM or a similar product such as, perhaps, Prosecurity. It takes time but is well worth it IMHO. A HIPS is an excellent addition to one's computer security package.

 

If a program like SSM is not set up for optimum protection and is not used correctly is probably going to be worse than a lesser program that is more user friendly.

I've just installed SSM for a trial (due to the free giveaway!), and I have had very little time to examine it so far, but my first impression is that it is immensely complicated for those who do not have time, energy and knowledge to get to grips with it. The Registry protection, for example, is hopelessly complex compared to RegDefend or KAV's PDM. Execution protection is far harder to fathom with than Process Guard.

The one feature I do like about SSM is its Parent/Child control, which is more sophiticated than KAV's PDM, but finding your way round this feature may well prove to be a challenge for the average guy who just wants protection. In the KAV forum they often recommend disabling the Application Integrity Control (which has basic Parent/Child control) because users do not understand its functions and are troubled by pop-ups.

Although it is just first impressions, I would say SSM is not for the feint hearted novice, but is best suited to those prepared to do a bit of work. So I cannot really agree with the views expressed above.

 

Yes,

SSM can be used by newbies

I did the same but used CyberHawk in the training period

(see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=921052#post921052 )

 

I'd agree with that. I've paid for and tried SSM for a while now and I've posted on this in other threads.

It seems immensely powerful but put a foot wrong in making advanced rules for programs and it's hard to recover your position. However, I do agree that for those with the time to put in the effort it would be well rewarded. I'm currently in learning mode with the latest version as part of beta testing another product and all seems well. It's coming out of Learning Mode where the fun really starts with SSM

If you can't make some very well informed decisions then as I say, TopperID is right - it can cause more harm than good.

In no way is SSM comparable IMHO (user friendly wise ) with Online Armor, Prevx or Cyberhawk but in the right hands probably more powerful than the 3 combined.

 

SSM and ProSecurity are the 2 really good programs of their class i think, my thought is i dont like the way ssm is set out, since i am used to PS i am boggled by ssm and just my gut does not like its interface, but it is very good and functional

 

What about Phoenixweb's original question: "My question is, just to check, which features of Comodo firewall can I disable whilst using SSM, to avoid wasted resources and overlap?"

I would like to know that too.

 

My guess is application behavior analysis.

 

I have run them both together with everything enabled with no problems. However, I use SSM free, which does not monitor network traffic, so you might have some problems if you run the full version of SSM with everything in Comodo enabled. If you plan on using SSM, then really all you need is the actual firewall function in Comodo. If there is malware trying to do its thing, SSM is much more apt to catch it than Comodo, since Comodo only monitors apps in relation to Internet access. I don't know how the resource usage is with SSM full, but SSM free uses very little resources. I would just experiment and see how things work, starting out with behavioral analysis, etc disabled in Comodo, allowing SSM to handle those duties. That should be more than sufficient. I think most of us already have way more "security" than we actually need, much less having security apps doubling up on duties and causing possible conflicts. When you have several security apps attempting to intercept things at the kernel level, there is bound to be some conflict, so it's best to let your HIPS act as a HIPS and your firewall act as a firewall. No sense wasting resources if you don't need to.

 

I also run SSM plus latest COMODO firewall with no issues to report or speak of at all. SSM FULL here but, I circumvented following the updates and broke away some versions before the addition of the networking feature due to some obvious overlapped that would be expected of it and i must say i feel relieved for that decision.
Also employed along with those 2 with no issues (Yet), snoopFree, CyberHawk, Tiny Watcher + Sentinel2 (start-up only) and that's basically about it for now. LoL

 

This is the second time I've tried SSM. I got it through the GiveAwayoftheDay deal.

I want to turn off the registry guard part. How do I do that? The help manual is hopeless for that part. Aside from the fact that section of help makes no sense at all...I don't want registry protection. I'm looking for something as close to PG as I can get and PG doesn't have registry protection. KAV drove me nuts with the registry protection part of PAD.

Why in the registry section would SSM have given the green light, so to speak, to
Sun Java when I don't even have Sun Java? and to IE cache? I thought the user set up all the rules?

SSM has been driving me nuts about such mundane stuff as dhcp needing access to the registry. It is way too unnecessarily detailed IMO.

 

The closest you can get to PG is PG itself. Like you, I'm reluctant to let go of PG but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. In time, we'll learn to love SSM just as much. Or so I hope

By the way, the freeware proggie DiamondCS RegistryProt works very well with PG:
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=regprot

 

Right Click the registry tab under rules to disable or right click the tray icon to disable.

 

I think topperID said what needs to be said about SSM,with just a few additional unimportant comments on my part:

Said very briefly-hoping not to sadden fantastic masters like Herbalist (but the pupil is just average)- twice i installed SSM Free, the first time i tried to make optimum tweaks including a lot of parent-child ones and even startup changes,result=i was saved by another Acronis image.
The second time i avoided like pest even touching startUp permits,gave only replies to what was asked, limited myself to permission to run for all applications, only started the Registry section after the ONE week LearningMode which had 'covered' absolutely everything.....still one day i found the mouse arrow couldnt stay put and began flickering all over.
I tried to check the disk as symptoms could be similar to a disk failure,but could not even click on anything.Nothing worked and hell broke loose. At the end i had to go to Safe Mode and tentatively uninstalled SSM: at reboot everything was again ok and working well.....
After a lot of cleanup i changed from SSM to ProSecurity free:up to now nothing wrong ever happened.

I agree again.
I was prepared to do a bit of work, but not a LOT of work....
and SSM needs much more than that....

 

OK, another giveaway-of-the-day SSM trialler here.

I like it a lot -- mainly because I like its power and control, and I suppose I'm not overly bothered about putting in the work needed to learn it. At the moment, I've not noticed anything unduly scary, but perhaps a thread for those of us who are learning it and who have questions might be an idea?

Somebody asked how to turn off the registry rules. Doesn't right clicking on your tray icon and removing the tick mark from Rules/Registry do that?

One thing that it seems to me that SSM would benefit from would be a way to save your old configurations and reload them as needed. Perhaps a feature request for the developers here? The idea of creating a whole new Acronis image just to handle my config changes as someone suggested seems like some serious overkill -- though as always, you're better safe than sorry.

 

For all its vaunted power, SSM still has to ask PG for permission to start.

 

Yes it does, but you can also achieve the same result from within the GUI (see screenshot).

Actually I'm not happy with SSM's Reg protection, which seems to be much inferior (in terms of implementation) to RegDefend. Also the pop-ups are far less informative and more confusing than RD.

 

You can do that in the 'configuration' section of 'Options'

 

I noticed that also, but did you have SSM set to 'open with windows' at the time of the PG pop-up?

Actually, there really is no need to be in a hurry to get rid of PG, it is still very solid in certain specific areas.

 

Yeah, I thought about that. I didn't have SSM set to open with windows as I didn't want to uninstall PG just yet and I didn't want the two fighting each other at start up. So, I did wonder which would prevail as first to load at startup if I enabled SSM to open with windows. I believe PG might beat out SSM because I have PG set to load its driver before almost anything else including my AV loads. I didn't like how PG loaded the driver sort of late in the boot process so I asked and Gavin explained how to fix that. I don't know when SSM's driver loads. I'm half-way tempted to let them both load at boot and see what happens but I don't want a locked PC which might be the result!

I realize that PG is still a strong, useful application presently and for some time to come. The only reason I am trying SSM again at this time is because of the GiveAwayoftheDay site deal.

 

Please share

 

Same here!

I don't know that I'll keep SSM 'cos its interface is annoying me badly, but I will give it a fair trial.

Pinga, it is explained in the helpfile as follows:-

I have not experimented to see whether this causes PG to load before SSM, or indeed whether PG loads before SSM even on 'Automatic', for the same reasons as Mele gives.

 

Thanks! Same here - all this commotion around the free SSM edition and its problems made me realise how much I've come to appreciate PG. I'm going to stick with it for yet another while...

 

I don't know what all the problems are with SSM . I have it on two computers and I can't see what anyone can complain about. I used to have PG but when support and development died I dropped it.