How Effective/Efficient Is Prevx's Update Server?

Hi, folks: I have been using Prevx for some time now. I am often bothered by Prevx's delayed updates. As you may know that update IS the most important component of any security program. And any vendor would like to deliver update to its client ASAP. But I find that Prevx's updates constantly are few days behind its web site and some popular d/l sites( such as majorgeeks). I am in East Canada/USA time zone. Do we get less priority in update ? If Prevx has a big stomach for millions clients's data inputs, where is the equally mighty power of its update server?

 

Good questions... I was giving Prevx 2 a try with one of the free keys for a few days, and although it seems like a good program in theory, I found that it also slowed down my browsing in IE7 considerably, to the point where I said goodbye to Prevx. I'm not really sure what it was doing, but it appeared to be looking up or checking out something about the sites so that I saw 1 or 2 second delays sometimes. IE7 is slow enough already, and Prevx seemed to make it intolerably slow. Sorry if this is a little off the topic, but the delays I saw might also be due to overloaded servers, not sure... Anyhow, it's bye bye Prevx for now...

 

Hi, folks: I am just able to update Prevx2 from build 53 to 56 manually, almost one week from my original post, at that time build 56 was available at its web site and majorgeeks. I takes so long to get thru to update, why? Anyone has an idea? It is my major concern; a security app can not guard its clients in a timely fashion, why we need it for? A alarmingly one week delay! I just wish I could brush this away.

 

56 was not available as an update but only as an installer, so nothing wrong there.

Gerard

 

Hi, thanks for feedback, BUT.. a new installer is NOT an update? This has lost me here. Build 56 is listed on Prevx's web site as an update, indicating some improvements on scanner; an improvement is not an update? Convince me please!

 

Hi Perman,

Have a look at post #44 here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176262

Gerard

 

Hi, gerard: Thanks for the link and help. I think I understand a bit although not completely. Have a nice one.

 

Hi Perman,

Let me try and explain.

Let's say that the engineering group have a candidate build that's ready for QA to have a look at. That candidate build comes in two seperate parts - the installer and the updater. Although the core code of the software that will end up on the end-users system is the same, the process that needs to be undertaken to get it there is different between the installer and the updater.

The installer has the easy job. It checks to see if the system is running a supported platform and if not, stops. If the platform is supported, it checks to see if any Prevx product is already installed; if there is, it stops. If the platform is supported and no Prevx product is present, it installs a clean copy of the software for that build.

The updater has a much more difficult job. Like the installer, it checks whether the platform is supported and if it isn't, it stops; this is in case the updater has been grabbed instead of the installer - it's a sanity check. The updater then checks to see what previous Prevx product is installed. If Prevx Home or Prevx Pro, it stops; as we don't support an automatic update from those products. If Prevx1 is installed, it checks the version that is installed and performs version specific shutdown commands and updates to bring that version of Prevx1 to the latest build of Prevx 2.0; any data files have to be converted to the latest formats during this process and the kernel drivers need to to be brought up to date too. The updater has to be able to do this for any previously released version of Prevx1 as the user may not have updated previously. If Prevx 2.0 is installed, it has to do the version specific update for the version of Prevx 2.0 currently installed. Again, the updater has to be able to do this for all previously released versions of Prevx 2.0 as the user may have installed version 1.0.0 build 1 and never updated.

As I'm sure you can imagine, it can be much much harder to get the updater completely right for all platforms and versions that it needs to be able to handle. This is why the updater often lags behind the release date of the installer. QA test the installer first and if it passed, they release it to the community for new installations. They then turn to the updater and test that.

Hope that clarify things a little. With Prevx, updates are usually bug fixes, performance tweaks, cosmetic changes and the like. Unlike traditional AV/AS products, update are rarely protection related.

Regards,

Darren

 

Hi, Darren:
Many thanks to you for taking time to explain this. Now I fully understand how the thing works. Many end users including myself are surely benefited from your lengthy and informative feedback. If, I am thinking, all other program dev can just duplicate what you have done here, we, as end users will be much more educated and will much appreciate your hard work. Again, thanks millions.

 

Mine just auto updated to build 56