VoodooShield/Cyberlock

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/voodooshield.313706/page-241#post-2461680

3 posts above.

 

2.23l beta installed over the top and looking good so far.

Gordon

 

I already read those post. Changing the regional settings in control panels doesn't exactly say what the bug was.

 

I don't know where was the bug in app but for user with Polish and French version of Windows it appears as the impossibility to save settings. Maybe Dan will explain more...if he would want

 

Ditto here...on both Win 7 64bit & Win8.1 32bit

 

Excellent work Dan on fixing the issue with some non-English versions of VS. It's great to see that you are always persistent when it comes to getting to the root cause of things and working hard to fix whatever comes up. I've been following this for a while, and it's funny sometimes how in the end it happens to be a simple issue while all along you (plus myself and maybe others) were thinking it could have been a more difficult fix. Glad it ended up being easier and good job getting to the bottom of it.

 

Very cool, thank you! Sorry again that it took SOOOOOOO long to fix. I have been so busy with everything else, but finally decided I was going to figure it out, so that is what I did yesterday .

 

Well, it is a very, very long story, but I will try to be brief as possible . As I was saying, if I can reproduce the error on my system, it is EXTREMELY easy to fix pretty much any error within minutes. The problem was, I kept trying the Polish language pack to reproduce the error, and I could not reproduce the error. So then I was thinking that I should stop focusing on the Polish language pack, and I tried to think of other things that would be different between their version of windows and the one I was using. I used to have a Russian girl who lived with me (long story ), but anyway, when I set up her computer for her, I remembered installing the Russian language pack AND changing the Region settings in the control panel. So as soon as I changed the Region settings to Polish... BAM, I was able to reproduce the error. So I ran the code in the debugger, and the second I clicked on Settings in VS, there was a break in the code, and I knew INTERMEDIATELY what the issue was. It turned out to be a simple typo, and very, very easy to fix. When VS starts the Settings window, one of the things it does is checks which version of windows is installed, that way it can either display "Outlook Express" or "Windows Live Mail" in the web apps tab correctly, depending on which version of windows is running. So when I ran VS in the debugger and there was a break in the code (it created an exception), and it pointed right to this code (pseudocode):

If OSVersion is > 5.2 Then
Display Windows Live Mail
Else
Display Outlook Express
End If

So, basically, since there was an exception in the code while using the Polish region settings, it trapped the error, but the rest of the code for that subroutine did not run.

Well, it turned out to be a typo, and all I had to do was to change 5.2 to "5.2"... enclose the 5.2 in quotes. After that, I debugged the code with the Region settings set to Polish and it worked.

So basically, I learned something that I learned a long time ago, but somehow keep forgetting... Whenever there is a bug that is hard to figure out, the best thing to do is to focus on reproducing the bug first, instead of trying to fix it blindly. Because seriously, if I can reproduce the error on my system, it is almost always super easy to fix.

 

Cool, thank you guys, I appreciate it .

 

BTW CET, I told you that I had an idea that would work really well, that did not involve scanning the hard drive and infringing on other companies intellectual property? Here is the idea…

Instead of scanning the hard drive for program files currently installed, VS can scan the registry, which is much, much faster anyway (like less than a second). I have already played around with it a little, and it is definitely possible and we be super fast. Here is the registry path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

The only question is, should we really do that? I mean, the whole point of VS is to have the smallest whitelist possible, and therefore the smallest attack surface.

I am not sure if you guys have seen this newer malware. I have only seen it twice (on computers not running VS of course ). Anyway, it comes bundled in the installer with otherwise good software (which is nothing new), but what is relatively new (even though I also saw this several years ago), is that they will install 7-10 malware programs in the program files folder, and one will call out to their server and automatically download and install new software. I realize that preexisting malware is a concern no matter what we do, but I still believe that having the smallest possible whitelist and attack surface is vital to eventually creating the ever elusive computer lock that is truly bulletproof.

So, having said that, maybe I can create a button in settings that will automatically whitelist all of the currently installed programs in the program files folder, and who knows, I can look through the registry to see if there is anything really cool that we can do with the windows folder as well. I don't think I want to add a prompt on first run to ask the user if they want to scan Program Files. But, what we could do... when the user unchecks the "Automatically allow all software from the Program Files folder" option, we can ask the user if they want to add all of the currently installed software in the program files to the whitelist.

I do not ever remember seeing prior art on this idea, but if anyone has seen security software do this before, please let me know! Of course we are not going to file a patent on it… we are not patent trolls, and besides, we do not have $50,000 laying around to protect such a simple idea. And besides, as long as wilders keeps this thread, it is prior art, right? .

 

Hurray, it's a Victory Day for Polish Windows users!
An absolutely awesome news!

With the greatest pleasure I can fully confirm that saving settings works flawlessly now with Windows 8.1 PL 64 bit no my board
Great job, big congrats and many, many thanks for your patience and engagement Dan!
You are the Big Chief

Best wishes,

Mike

 

Very cool,thank you Mike!

 

I added the new feature to whitelist everything in the program files folder if the user clicks on that option in settings. I think it will work really well, although I personally would never use it. BTW, has anyone ever started every single program in the program files folder at one time? I accidentally did while coding up that new feature before it was ready, hehehe. It was not fun.

Also, I have been meaning to include this next prompt for a long time now... I really think it would be a good idea to include a prompt like the following, maybe 2-4 weeks after the user has been using VS. What do you guys think? And is 2-4 weeks about right?

"VoodooShield should be well trained enough now, so we would like to lock your computer further and stop automatically allowing files from the Program Files and Windows folders.

Would you like to do this? Yes is recommended."

Yes / No

 

Hi Dan

That is an excellent idea and a killer feature. I particularly like the way you would have it work; based on a user decision to switch it on, plus a further option to include the relevant information in the whitelist...that is in my book...genius...and I hope that you add the feature, and if I may I suggest that whilst adding to the whitelist you could also have the option to have the programs therein to be listed to be checked with VirusTotal? I suspect that you have thought of this already but thought it could not hurt to double check, maestro...

Regards, Baldrick

 

This version seems like no go for me (using Windows 7 64bit).

After installing it over version 2.23i & rebooting, it had converted to free version.

Tried re-registering VoodooShield successfully, but it will become a free version again when exit & relaunch(tried few times).

No way to make the registration stick.

The remark "Your subscription expired on 1/1/0001" ?

 

Update:

Downgrading from version 2.23l to version 2.23k & a reboot, solved the registration issue.

 

Ooops, sorry, I forgot to mention that we are doing work on the web server, so there might be some registration troubles for a little while .

 

We are uploading the new site, so it will be kinda silly for the next 12-24 hours or so.

 

Hi Dan,

@VoodooShield I'd like to let you know that VoodooShield 2.22 is running smoothly on Windows 10 (build 9926 / 64-bit).

Regards,
Kardo

 

I agree, installed 2.22 on my main and it is working smooth as butter. Extemely light. Gotta love VDS

 

working great

 

@VoodooShield - Version 2.22 is working great so far, thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication to this project.

I am one happy VoodooShield user, keep up the great work!

 

Why are some using v2.22 when the Beta is at v2.23l? Oh and it's working very well Dano!

Daniel

 

Cool, thank you Baldrick!

 

Hmmm, that is really odd, thank you for letting me know. We will be finished with the web server upgrade in a day or two, and I should have the final release of VS by then. So please try the new version when the new website is up and please let me know how it does. Thank you!