PC Tools Acquires Novatix (Cyberhawk)

Story:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2138151,00.asp

 

I think a very good move by PC Tools.

 

Read all about it: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2138151,00.asp

 

I'm one of the few users that isn't having an issue w/ SWD ver5.0.
To be quite honest, I did have varying issues w/ various releases of CH. Still I'm excited to see this combo take off. As I feel w/ the inclusion of the Pro version of CH it will make SWD a real force to reckon with.

I -do hope that CH is put on the On Guard list w/ the ability to turn it off if it mis-behaves.

...screamer

 

Oh Oh, i hope this is a positive move and not one of those that kills of what used to be a very good behaviors blocker.

 

Cyberhawk, I hardly knew ya...

 

Although CyberHawk likely will never again see the light of day on any of my boxes of importance, i still retain early beta releases that are quite formidable to this very day.

They given up obviously on progressing them, perhaps another vendor can rejuvenate them to their former status again sometime in the future.

 

Another one bites the dust.
Mrk

 

OMFG. This piece of news ruined my day.

While an excellent product by itself, one of Cyberhawk's strengths that I admired was that the helpfulness of its support staff. PC Tools representatives are hardly as candid, and even "shady" to some degree. Add that to the general competence of PC Tools developers in making shoddy, unpolished products and I might have a hard time regaining the amount of trust I used to place in what used to be a very good program.

Let's hope my fears are unfounded.

 

I don't ever wish to discount efforts of security softs or even make light of their limitations, but Novatix obviously either didn't have the devoted interest of it's founders or else they found the quick way out to reap something of a small windfall of profits by selling it.

 

Just stopped by their site to purchase 2 lic.`s for mine and the Mrs.`s towers. This really causes me to take pause....... Anyone else know any good XP 64 compatible HIPS?

 

I always expected CH to be taken over by someone. Reasons:

They are developing it since more than a year and I guess they can,t earn from it so far( not too many buyers sure).
Behave blockers are not easy to develop and a standalone behav blocker application is not enough to make money. Only option to make money is to sell it to a big fish.
Though I never expected PC Tools to buy it. I felt bad as PC Tools is not on a good list in my mind, their Spyware Doctor is heavy on resources and their detections are doubtful in the yes of many users here. I would had been happy if they were bought by some other reputable company.

It seems the death of CH. A newborn died before it could even grow a bit.
Also for PC Tools I don,t see it a good deal. CH until now( even with latest version) is already causing system slow downs, false positives, CPU spikes with transient system freezes. I can,t imagine how a system will behave that will have SpywareDoctor and CH running together.

PC Tools can benefit only if they are able to improve CH significantly that I really doubt that they can. So it seems to me death of CH.

Behav blockers are almost non-existant in security world. Only other option is Primary Response Safe Connect. KAV PDMS have a very good behav blocker but PDMs are not standalone( I wish they release a standalone version).

I am not aware of any other such product. Why Comodo did not buy it?

Anyway not a good news for me. I really like CH inspite of issues. Behav blockers are a nice extra layer of security.

 

Can a mod combine two threads.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176070

Thanks

 

If anything at all stands out above any other is this constant merger to complete buyout of these type apps. Bo Clean, Cyberhawk, FD-ISR by Raxco to name just a few and others i no doubt missed although ProcessGuard stands out also as an app thats fell into oblivion.

Is anyone suspect, as i do, that this $M release of Vista is the quiet and un assuming culprit behind these demises?

Or could it be that foreign software piracy is yet another factor to include in this equation? Many other countries outside the us have no real laws governing ripping commercial products and then re-distributing them at thir own set rates.

Makes me wonder how many more will soon follow suit.

 

Always a possible factor to throw in to the equation. As well as the other possibilities you mentioned.

OT. I really think Vista was meant to be a boon to not only MS but the major PC manufacturers and hardware manufacturers as well. Other companies (software) seem to have maybe found a way to climb on the meal wagon.

 

I'm always the black sheep as concerns any $M new releases. Vista notwithstanding. I already have a XP Pro with about everything Vista already impliments save the core kernel or any other so-called security measures they employed into it. With HIPS and Virtualizaion apps XP negates all those efforts they included in Vista IMHO. The appearances part is already addressed for XP. There is absolutely no way i could ever justify super-charging my machine just to accommadate a single O/S like Vista. It's ludicrous and a total waste of hard earned money IMO. So what exactly can Vista offer that can't be realized in XP? You can always go Dual-Core and High-End Video drivers to run the tar out of games with XP. So why Vista?

Looks? I already have those and some others not even implimented in Vista period.

Look, i'm not knocking Vista for any kind of critical debate as which is best, i'm just saying Vista is far from being distanced from XP as $M might have users to believe. There are just a lot sharper pencils in the box then $M engineers care to admit.

 

Hi, folks: In this world, it always takes TWO to TANGO. This time is PCtools and Novatix. PC tools 's spyware doctor v.5 ran aground, sinking fast, and needs some lifeline to buy more time. Meantime, CH is going nowhere, depleting bloody cash each business day. His CEO has history of selling business short. This is no surprise to me. After this dancing, where are they both heading? IMO. probably not much, except, PCTool will utilize fully CH's community data base to strengthen SD's signature base. Those CH users are now the real contributors to SD, unwillingly. SD may adopt the same concept of Prevx to steal more market from it. Other than that, CH may be able to see lights at the end of tunnel in few years if PCTool continues to back it up.

 

Despite the false-positives and high CPU usage, its a nice program, but still needs a lot of work to recommend it or use it...

 

SD isn't bad as an on-demand scanner - it starts its services and interface, grabs the updates and does it's thing. When finished scanning and you shut it down, it stops its drivers and services - no need to reboot, unlike SpySweeper.
The current version (5.0.0.186) and the past few incrementals run without issue, unlike the first few 5.0 versions.
I think Perman is on the right track; PC Tools will probably just incorporate what's necessary to enhance SD - plus this news should help their needed damage control after the initial 5.0 release fiasco.

 

Hello everyone--

Just wanted to post a quick note to alleviate some of the potential worry being expressed here. While any acquisition news may sometimes bring fear of the unknown, please rest assured that we’re not going anywhere and Cyberhawk will continue to be developed and supported as always. Of course it will eventually be released under the PC Tools name, but the development team behind the product will remain the same. The entire original Novatix team is being kept on board at the new PC Tools office in Boulder, CO to concentrate on continued development and improvement of the product.

We have always listened to your feedback and we'll continue to do so (whether you see us actively posting in this forum or not). We're very excited about this change and we're looking forward to bringing you all an even better product as part of the PC Tools software family. Please feel free to contact us directly should you have any further concerns.

Kind regards,

Becky Dubrow

 

Novatix sounded better than PC Tools... I also hope you'll keep the interface design and not that cartoonish PC Tools one...

 

If the only thing changed will be the GUI\branding then I may still consider Cyberhawk for future use\purchase. Time will tell. History in these matters says differently, unfortunately.

 

PC Tools leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, always have. But if the Novatix crew continues to be the sole maunfacturers for CyberHawk, and PC Tools just a distributor, i for one might be able to stomach it. Although this is sure a turn of events one wouldn't have expected came from Novatix.

Oh well, theres always EQSecure i guess. Foreign developers are certainly no strangers to expert coding and programs designed for maximum security, just look at RKUnhooker! Which reminds me again sadly, they too sold over it's interest to another party. Well, the old saying is, you have to go where the almight dollar is or go hungry, right?

 

to who ?

 

Never heard of it. Can u explain it?