Score a free copy of OA/AV+ by beta testing version 2!

Hi Everyone,

As regular visitors to our forum will know, we're feverishly working away on the next release of Online Armor which includes a firewall. Our core beta test team (hi guys!) have been giving this a solid thrashing over the last few months and greatly helped us to improve the product.

So, I'd like to invite 50 people to get a free copy of Online Armor or Online Armor AV+ (with firewall). All you have to do is help us out by testing the product, and if you find any problems with it help us to solve them. If you give me some feedback, I'll give you a key for the product of your choice at the end of this semi-public beta. Simple really

To participate - sign up at our forums, and send me a PM. The first 50 PM's I receive will get a key. At the end of the beta, the key will be replaced/upgraded to a commercial key.

Existing beta guys need not apply - You can already have a key if you want one

At the current stage there are no nasty issues with it - I just want to broaden the number of computers that Online Armor has been tried on, prior to public release.

The rest of this post including lots of screenshots of OA with the new firewall, features and GUI enhancements is available Here!

Now that the firewall is for all practical purposes completed, we're going to focus on Kernel mode Online Armor to ensure we protect against leaks, and also broaden the scope of registry keys and files that we protect.


Mike


PS. Sorry, can't resist a screenshot of the firewall status screen:

http://dl1.online-armor.com/images/oa2/firewall_status_screen.JPG

 

looks really nice Joe will appreciate your hard work. Future version 2.5 seems to appeal the advanced user.
Well done

 

I think with the ability to apply bluetack blacklists to specific rules, allow firewall connections by country or subnet we have a few things in there for advanced users as well

 

dang it I cant test it. my test machine is a windows ME machine with no internet.
and i dont want to try it on my main pc well not really.
i would of loved to get a free online armor license to go next to kis6.0
lodore

 

Hi Lodore,

I think you'll be fine. OA is quite a mature product and works well with most third-party software. In the event of any dramas, it can also be removed easily by booting into safe mode.

Cheers

Mike

 

Can we get the OA+FW without the AV?

 

of course
I was talking about kernel-level protection

 

Nice to see some vendor who isn't trying to create a PG clone. Some interesting features.

I hope the firewall really works , not like those joke attempts by various other HIPS to add in firewalls that are impossible to use.

 

Hi Devil's Advocate,

I have been using this firewall, on/off for the last few months. I personally think this as been thought out and implimented well. I would like to see some additions, but not every firewall is perfect for every user.

 

Calm down OA beta-testers.... I'm not attacking OA.

 

OA is great really, some interesting stuff in there. If my Dad needed a HIPS , iwould recommend it. Maybe I will get my Sis to try it and sees what she thinks.

But an advanced user like myself needs more powerful HIPS like prosecurity or SSM for protection. I mean no kernel mode? Come on, everyone here knows that's a big no no.

Besides I think OA needs to be tested by people closer to what it is aimed at.

Mike already has guys like you if he wants somewhat technical people to do bug hunting or test compatibility on a zillion setups, so I don't know why he's advertising in this forum for more of the same.

 

It is obvious that Devil's Advocate has a negative view about Online Armor as he has also PM'ed me regarding Online Armors effectiveness. We all have our view on things, so lets not be negative. Mike and the Tallemu team are doing a great job and for your information, kernel mode is going to be a great addition to the present Online Armor, either standard, AV+, or firewall.

dja2k

 

Hi DA,

The firewall does really work, honest But, it's not quite the same as other firewalls which perversely enough sometimes causes the expert uses to get confused while the novices just accept it.

Lets take the firewall in Standard mode. By default, it blocks everything in both directions. It then uses the OA whitelist to determine whether or not an app should be allowed to access the internet. In the event it is not, it asks but one question - "Do you want this app to have internet access" on the basis that my mum thinks a port is either something you drink after dinner, or a place where ships come to "park".

So, depending on your preference (and the scope of the whitelist) you can have the firewall operate almost completely transparently. Do you want Yahoo IM to be able to access the net? Yes? Well, that's great - it just will without you worrying about what ports and protocols to work with to get the video to work.

Now, the problem with auto trusting these apps - what about the system ports? These are contained in a restricted port list - that's a very basic exception list that says "Even though this is a trusted program, we don't want this port to be visible off-lan". That's hidden in Standard mode, but visible in advanced.

So we get the zero config firewall, without automatically opening up holes. The Restricted Port List is centrally configured (but locally overrideable).

So, if you know whats going on (but aren't overly familiar with the OAFW) you might thing something's wrong.

Next off the rank is to finish off the Kernel mode - I've had a prototype driver for a long time now (almost a year) but it's only recently that we've put any effort into finishing it off. However, for some commercial reasons we needed to delay it and get this build of OA with the firewall out. It'll be back on front-burner again before you know it. Unless the new members of the beta team find too many problems

The Kernel Mode driver for OA basically reimplements all of the existing OA features (except webshield, which will be getting an upgrade) and adds in new protections against physical memory access and the various termination methods (APT for short). I've described Kernel Mode OA as our "PG Killer" in the sense that it should do everything PG does, and a bit more.

I'll also be upgrading the registry protection (or, more accurately, increasing the number of keys that OA protects and allowing users to custom-define their own keys).

Further, the Standard Mode/Advance Mode play that we currently have will be built on further. For example, in standard mode the registry protection will be all centrally defined and controlled - you won't even see anything at all. In advanced mode, well, yes, you will see it and be able to control or override it.

(BTW in OA if you flick to advanced mode, make changes, and then pop back to standard mode those changes take effect - because you'll go install OA at your mums, tweak a few things, and then put it into Standard mode to avoid her breaking it)

Hope this encourages you to give it a try.


Mike

 

Thanks to the people who have responded so far... I still have about 20 licences unclaimed for anyone who might be interested.


Mike

 

Okay Okay,

All you long time OA beta testers Dja2k, Stem, Peter2150 etc, I surrender, serious I was not attacking the product.

When I said " impossible to use." , I wasn't complaining cos it gave you a simple allow or block..... That's usable.

Some other product which I shall not name, gives you constant popups because each time you allow and choose remember, it creates a super specific rule - remote ip, remote port , heck probably even the local ones for all I knew.

If I have a negative view of the product so do you , because you agreed with everything I said.

 

If I have negative views of a product, I rarely share it and look how negative I am about Online Armor, its in my setup ain't it. By the way, I first purchased a license for standard Online Armor, then Mike introduced me to the beta team, so don't expect everything someone says all the time via private message is always the absolute truth.

dja2k

 

Well you shared it with me. After all if you want to start talking about the contents of PM without asking my permissions, I can do it too.

Funny statement, coming from some guy who started off this thread, by referring to what someone else said in a PM.

 

Lets call it truce and go with what the thread is about, will you try Online Armor or have you already decided to test it out?

dja2k

 

I think that's a good call....discuss the software not the users of that software.