BlackFog Privacy

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by liba, Feb 2, 2018.

  1. JEAM

    JEAM Registered Member

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    This morning I checked the Notification Area (Windows 7) and noticed that the BFP icon was red. Hovering over it said, "Protection inactive." Clicked on it and all the tiles in the home screen were gray. Then clicked on Update and the program crashed.

    Went into Reliability Monitor and it turns out there was an apparently failed attempt to update BFP late last night:

    BFP error.png

    Within a couple of seconds of the crash that occurred after I clicked on Update, the red BFP icon disappeared from the Notification Area.

    Suggestions?

    P.S. BFP seems to have been uninstalled completely from my computer! There's no item for it in the Start Menu and it's nowhere to be seen in Programs and Features under Control Panel.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2020
  2. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    Last edited: Jul 29, 2020
  3. JEAM

    JEAM Registered Member

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    Thanks for the tip. Tried it and now I can't install BFP. I'm getting the following popup during installation:

    BFP C.png

    Strange, this didn't happen before when installing BFP. And according to Programs and Features, I do have that x64 Visual C++ redistributable installed. Twice, even: version 14.22.2781 installed on 12/21/19, and now version 14.24.28127 installed today (presumably while reinstalling BFP).

    What should I try next?
     
  4. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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  5. JEAM

    JEAM Registered Member

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    The MS Troubleshooter also failed to uninstall (or, for that matter, to install) that Visual C++ Redistributable. Nor could I do anything with it via Programs and Features --> Uninstall Program.

    However, after rebooting, I tried to install BFP again and this time everything worked. Go figure.

    And I'm down to just the 14.24.28127 version of Visual C++. I guess it's true what they say, "When all else fails, reboot!"
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2020
  6. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    Glad its all working, sounds like the MS installer had not completed correctly and the reboot allowed it to clean up.
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2020
  7. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    @Darren Williams ,

    BF is still randomly blocking YouTube. Disabling Execution allows access.

    Thanks.
     
  8. JEAM

    JEAM Registered Member

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    New question about BFP: when I open the Dashboard, all the tiles there (Advertising, Profiling, etc.) are grayed out. When I hover the mouse pointer over a tile, a while outline appears around it, but then if I click on it, nothing happens. Is this normal, intended behavior? I would expect the Dashboard to provide details about what lies behind each of the tiles, otherwise what's the Dashboard for?

    One other, unrelated question: in the Settings, what does checking/unchecking the Application Gateway checkbox do?

    Thanks!
     
  9. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    @JEAM yes this is intended, but you are getting close to revealing what we will do in 5.0. So well spotted.

    Re the App Gateway it monitors the protocol in use and ports. For example a lot of new ransomware does port hopping... which is using other ports on your machine to send say SSL traffic. This will detect the use of a non mandated pot for SSL and stop it basically.

    @Krusty I wish we could repeat this one, but I will let engineering know and keep playing with it to see if they can work it out. We did embed a few hidden features in 4.5 which can help you. I will PM you after engineering has reviewed it some more. I just don't want to publish some of these facilities just yet.
     
  10. JEAM

    JEAM Registered Member

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    Thanks @Darren Williams, I'll keep an eye out for upcoming developments regarding the Dashboard. And thanks for the explanation about the Application Gateway. I'll leave that option checked.
     
  11. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    @Darren Williams ,

    It just happened again. Checking Events I see this:

    BF Events.PNG

    The time lines up with my attempt to visit YouTube.

    Cheers.
     
  12. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    Thanks Krusty. They clearly don't like us blocking the data collection. We will have a play and work around it. It's always amazing to us how much data these sites are actually collecting that people don't even realize.
     
  13. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Sigh... This is happening more frequently now. It's becoming a pain in my backside.

    Not blaming BF, Darren. I know it is Google.
     
  14. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    Yes they have recently changed their advertising system, to try and get around all the blockers. We are working on a solution though. Looks like it will be a simple rules update too.
     
  15. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Great! Looking forward to it.
     
  16. PwT

    PwT Registered Member

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    Hello & thanks for your help before - I have an issue I can live with is my download speed is perfect & as it should be - However my upload speed is roughly half what it is with BF not installed - This was the case with my previous PC & this is a totally new new build, also my ISP is totally different now it's FTTP all new fibre at the moment the system is being load balanced so I'm on 220 up & 20, but get 9 up with BF installed - I had exactly the same issue with my previous ISP (& PC) which was FTTC - I've tried most things including removing my AV & almost everything else, does anyone else have this issue - As I said if need be I can live with it - Regards Paul
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2020
  17. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    @PwT we actually bench test this and normally get 90-95% of what it is without it running. I will confirm with the developers with the latest release.

    Results do show it degraded slightly more than we would like, so I will get the team to profile it and see if there are some ways to get it back around the 80% mark. We certainly do a lot on the latest versions, but lets see what the team can do.
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2020
  18. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Hi Darren,

    If it helps, I see these YouTube blockages more often if I click on a shortcut to a channel rather than going directly to YouTube.

    May not help, but just thought I'd mention it.

    Cheers!
     
  19. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    @Krusty Yes that makes sense because they are embedding referrals data in these links and recording as much as they can about you. I will point this out.

    Re the performance of upload I would like to point out that you need to be careful when you are using synthetic testing to evaluate raw speed because these are designed for brute force tests with packets so they don't really correlate with real world scenarios. We can certainly optimize things some more to get some more performance but it's a law of diminishing returns since its pretty highly optimized already.
     
  20. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Sorry, I meant bookmark, not shortcut. :oops:
     
  21. PwT

    PwT Registered Member

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  22. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    @PwT we have managed to get this back to wire speed at 95% plus with some tweaking of buffers on the network. Please PM me with your email address and I can send you a version to verify.
     
  23. PwT

    PwT Registered Member

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    @Darren - Problem sorted, I've been using the net for 27 years & your company has to be the best in the known universe, absolute (excluding the Romulan empire of course) You have a customer Ad Infinitum :):)
     
  24. Darren Williams

    Darren Williams Developer

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    @PwT Very nice of you to say. We just try to be the type of company we would want to deal with ourselves.
     
  25. Dark Star 72

    Dark Star 72 Registered Member

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    @Darren - Just received a 33.5mb update download but nothing different to show for it?
     
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