The unofficial Shadow Defender Support Thread.

You know, I've used SD for years. Last week I gave the newest version a shot. I've never had any problems with SD. I'll be willing to bet, I'm just one of thousands. So, for one or two who have had a problem and then "advise" new users to "not" trust this software - well - I think YOU are mistaken. I've been watching this thread since Tony went missing. You bet I was concerned. As I and many others have said, we are not having any problems with Shadow Defender.

Make sure your system is compatable with SD before you advise other people not to trust/try SD. I had tried several other products that would not work with my system before I got SD. Maybe SD won't work for you, try one of the others. There are others. Go try one.

 

I know many who have used SD version .331 with no issues as well. This thread has been nothing but a total train-wreck many posts back.

 

I tested SD on a low spec machine running windows XP, I was (still am) really amazed that it worked and didn't tax my (limited) available resources in an overly negative way.

The things I missed (from my beginner perspective):

• Resize the notification box that let's you know you're in shadow mode and set the font size and color. (optionally use an alternate wallpaper in SD mode)
• Be able to to generate a text file which contains the changed folders and/or files
• Be able to continue in the same shadowmode session after reboot
• This technology incorporated/extended in such a way that it becomes a rollback RX kind of program with the option of (going back and forth in snapshots). I personally would love to see the snapshots taking & shadow defender virtualization in one package
• Application based exclusions for example: I select the Microsoft Security Essential executable file and every 'write' from Microsoft Secrurity Essentials will be automatically committed (updates for example)

These are things are from my very humble perspective (beginner) and I do not know if these are even technically feasible and that is not even taking into account that the development Shadow Defender itself seems to be shrouded in a veil of shadows.

I really really wish I stumbled upon this tool years ago this would have saved many hours.

(Thanks @ KoPRoSKyLo from comodo forums for putting the attention on SD )

 

Just in case that your efforts to get a refund are not successful: I recommend you to try an older version of Shadow Defender. When still using Windows XP I had also problems with a certain version (1.1.0.325) although it works fine for most of the users. I went back to 1.1.0.320 and it does it work perfectly. Until now I stay at this version even with Windows 7.

Of course you paid for the most recent version, but to use an older one to my mind would be a reasonable compromise as the general principle of SD is the same and as far as I know there were never reported security issues with versions like 1.1.0.320 or 1.1.0.325 (or 1.1.0.331).

 

You're welcome! Regarding your suggestions I have already asked Tony if snapshot tech could be incorporated into SD but he has never answered if this is feasible or not. I would also love to see SD supplemented with snapshot options, this would have been great!

 

Could someone explain how to exclude registry keys in sd?
I read someone says its possible, but the forum hes referring to is down
ssj100.fullsubject.com/t274-file-exclusions-in-shadow-defender

 

You can't because SD works at the disk sector level, not the file system level. The reason files can be excluded is because each used disk sector is associated with only one file, so SD can keep track of which disk sectors to exclude from redirection on a shadowed volume, based on the file exclusion list. The same is not true of the registry where the entire hierarchical structure of a registry hive, containing a large number of keys, will be stored in a few disk sectors.

 

Thanks for the reply

 

You're welcome.

 

Thanks for the explanation.. But what method is he referring to then on the closed sd forum?
Im actually just looking for a way to mass install programs in bunch of computers that are protected by SD.. I can do the mass install part by script.. Problem is retaining the registry changes..

 

Here is the full thread you are referring to and here a follow-up post

 

Disk virtualization utilities such as SD and Deep Freeze can't support registry exclusions for the reasons I gave, but there might be a way. Faronics solved the problem in relation to Deep Freeze by means of a standalone utility called Data Igloo. It's intended for use with Deep Freeze, but it might also work with SD. I haven't tried it myself but it could be worth a try as it's a free download. Another option is to write your own utility to keep track of registry changes while in shadow mode then merge them back into the registry on the restart after exiting shadow mode.

 

Thank you. I'm going to try this out...

 

I was talking about this post

Stephen, there is a way to exclude registry keys as per this thread initiated on the sd forum by eskro; http://www.shadowdefender.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=154

needs a little work but is rewarding in the end.

Interesting, i never thought about using data igloo with sd..
But IIRC data igloo only retains some of the registry, not all.. But thanks for the suggestion anyway i will give it a try

 

You could look at

RegKey Backup

Image

in conjunction with

RegShot

Some screenshots

ps you could also look at

Erunt

Erunt (saves registry dated)

Regback

[url="http://www.acelogix.com/freeware.html]Regback[/url]

 

I don't want to use Data Igloo to do the whole reg. I just want to save MicroSoft's Security Essential's updated scans and descriptions. Does anyone know off hand where this is saved? I did a quick google search and got keys to delete to uninstall - not what I was looking for...

 

To identify those changes
you could try Regshot (mentioned in post #1690) before and after an update

 

One to backup and restore individual registry keys...
http://smartregistry.tk/

 

Thanks sdmod!

 

Looks interesting, thanks for posting.

 

I wrote to Tony again mentioning the possibility of incorporating snapshot functions into SD. This is something that I would love to have as well, the light virtualization sturdiness of SD combined with the convenience of Rollback RX-type instant recovery snapshots. His reply:

Thanks for your suggestions.
But SD can't have this feature because the Exclusion List.
There is a conflict between Exclusion List and snapshots.

Best regards,
Tony ​

I wrote back yesterday outlining a possible way that this could be remedied. I am not a programmer so I just gave him a possible workaround that seems logical to me, hoping that it can be coded into the program. I received a reply from Tony today saying that my workaround cannot be done, at least not with the way SD currently works.

Here is this latest reply I got from Tony:

Thanks for your detailed advice.
But Exclusion List conflicts with any snapshot.
Because of my English, i can't describe it accurately. i am sorry for this.
All the snapshots are based on the original data in the protected partition.
but all the changes to the files in Exclusion List will be written into the original data.
If Exclusion List is enabled, all the snapshots will be corrupt because the original data are changed.

Best regards,
Tony ​

So, we can forget about native SD snapshoting. I just hope that Rollback RX will continue to be compatible with SD in its new forthcoming version 10. If RX10 or Comodo Time Machine 3 are compatible with SD, then there will be no need for SD snapshots. I am so used to the ease of snapshots, I just couldn't have any of my PCs without this very convenient feature.

 

I don't remember exactly but what about Returnil (RSS)...as I remeber it have snapshots restore feature and even the manager to restore some single files...am I wrong?

 

@ CyberMan969

Thank you for the information and update!!

 

Am I leaving the barn door wide ajar if I setup on WIN7 SD in the following config:

Only CDrive (win7) 'shadowed'

Excluded:
C:\users\AaLF - (meaning My Docs AppData Downloads etc)
E: Data storage partition

 

I believe that any exclusions in your C (Windows) drive/partition leave a gaping hole in SD's protection!

On the other hand, I don't see much of a problem in not placing E: in Shadow Mode.

TS