A noobie's comment on RegDefend

I tried out Regdefend , and while it had me almost reaching for my credit card, one major thing holds me back.

It's interface is currently very unpolished, setting and maintance of rules is a nightmare.

I'm wondering for example why some of the t interface ideas from ProccessGuard isn't in Regdefend.

For example, when I rightclick on the regdefend icon in the system tray, all I get is just a fairly useless option to check for updates. It's bigger brother processguard offers a much more useful set of options to selectively disable protection.

Instead to disable RD you have to open it, doubleclick on the group? This is one of the few apps I have used when disabling is done by double clicking!

Another thing is PG makes it a 'one click affair' to enable apps to gain permissions. You get a nice balloontip, you click on it, go to the alerts tab , and with one click you can give that app permission.

In RD by comparison, you have to figure out which rule group it is, then drill down to the application to allow. In other words, the 'log' tab in RD should be closer in function (not necessarily appearance) to the 'alerts' tab in PG

Ideally, this should be combined with point 6, such that instead of merely putting the app into the whole group pertaining to that rule, as an option you can instead create a whole new seperate group for that rule only and put the app in there

I've also found maintaining the rule set of RD to be extremely complicated,

Firstly, say you want to add this registry key, you drill down all the way, select the key and you are done. OOps, you realised you made a mistake you wanted a specific subkey instead of the whole key, Too bad, you can't edit the rule, you need to start all over again and drill down again

Secondly, say you want to systematiclly add rules relating to class\exefile (batfile,comfile etc)\open\command , sure you could use a wildcard, but maybe you don't want to monitor all. Because RD doesn't remember the last place in the registry you set the rule (unlike regedit), every time you start a rule you have to start right at root. That's very tedious. This should be an option.

Thirdly, there doesn't seem to be a way to order the groups? Precedence of group is important I read.

Fourthly, There isn't a way to easily move rules between groups. So if I change my mind, I have to recreate the whole rule again, which is tedious.

Fifth , it would be nice if there is a way to quickly search all your rules for a specfic string. This makes checking if a registry key,value that you are thinking of adding is already covered. Better yet, RD might be able to tell you that this new rule you are adding is already covered by an existing (most probably broader) rule, in so and so group.

I notice RD seems to be able to warn you when the exact same key? is monitored in the same group.

Sixth I've read all about the merits of creating seperate groups for apps to bypass, to avoid giving apps too much freedom to change the registry. But without being able to clone/duplicate rules, this is a pain to do.

Lastly, an easy way to combine/import/exports rule sets . I want to combine my own special rule group with those of say Tay's.

I understand that some of what I ask might be impossible or hard thanks to the graphical toolkit chosen, but I think many shouldnt be a problem.

RD is a nice product, it's highly focused on a small area unlike PG's much broader scope, where it seems everyday, you have to figure out how to beat yet another new technical challenge.

As such, I hope Jason can spend more time on improving the interface of RD,
making it easier for people like me who enjoy tweaking rules. The other stuff asked for like protection of the ght file (even imperfectly) etc are fine, but I think making it easy to set rules is even more important

Or am I the only one who enjoys doing so?










This makes correcting mistakes extremely tedious.

 

I agree with some of those points which i find to be a pain sometimes

As for putting the groups in a certain order, you could try putting a letter a the start of each group ie-
A - hide windows id
B - auto starts
etc.
But you have made some interesting points there,although you do get used to it
Tonyjl

 

The next version of RegDefend has a very enhanced interface that nearly everyone should like a lot more than the current one. Rule editing specifically has been greatly enhanced.

 

That's great to hear Jason

 

When is it being released approximatly? Also I looked at the screen shots of the current version and the user confirmation dialog screen looks pretty ambiguous giving little info on what you are allowing or blocking.

 

The new major version is entering beta testing this week.

 

So when it is out?

Or can I help in beta testing? If so how? I'm a registered owner of Regdefend and I bought it chiefly because of what Jason said in this thread.

I'm obviously eager to see what the new version looks like.

 

As we all are. I can't wait to see it to.

 

Maybe we all can get a sample pre-release peek here soon as the beta progresses enough?

 

Maybe Jason can post some screenshots of the new version ;-) That could be cool, for now...

Atomas31

 

I have discussed with some of the testers and they think a public beta would be good. So keep an eye out over the coming days.

 

And what about some screenshots... Please...

Atomas31

 

I'll post some screenshots on Saturday or Sunday.

 

Cool.... Thanks' Jason


Atomas31

 

Excellent! Thank you!