Do I Need No Virus EXE Radar With OS Armor

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by TerryWood, Nov 22, 2019.

  1. TerryWood

    TerryWood Registered Member

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    Hi @ Wilders

    Have been running OS Armor for some time as a "hands free" security solution. I would like to know if there is any benefit in partnering it with EXE Radar Pro, or is it overkill?

    Thanks

    Terry
     
  2. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    @TerryWood - re your question you may want to read NVT EXE Radar Pro and NVT OSArmor: My Setup.

    Fwiw, I tried using them both for a while and did NOT find them to be "hands free" (actually resulting in lots of 'benign alert' pop-ups requiring my attention). So I then moved on to using VoodooShield which I believe to be more refined, more user-friendly and far less annoying - just my 2-cents worth. ;)
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2019
  3. gery

    gery Registered Member

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    I only use OSA
     
  4. TerryWood

    TerryWood Registered Member

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    Hi @Cruise

    Thanks for your commentary. Surprisingly I have been using OSA and Voodooshield together both have been benign in terms of popups. There is a particular reason that I am moving away from Voodooshield Free which is related to the irritating reminder pop ups on Fridays. Yeah, I know a man has got to earn a crust etc, etc.

    But, I am where I am. Bitdefender free delivers a fantastic product no ads no pop ups. So I thank you for your comments. First thing I am going to do is to let OSA & NVTRadar Pro work together and see how many pop ups I get. Then I will look at your configuration.

    One final point, your comments did not address the question "is there any benefit in partnering it with EXE Radar Pro, or is it overkill?"

    Finally, thank you for sharing your views with me. I appreciate it.

    Terry
     
  5. plat

    plat Registered Member

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    I tried OSA and ERP 4.0 test 32 beta together, more than once. I got a nominal uptick in alerts (not really a problem on here because I don't download a lot of software). More importantly to me, ERP was adding to startup and shutdown by a few seconds. The release version doesn't work properly on this machine. I think there's a lot of redundancy and overlap between the two. If you don't mind some extra alerts, that's one thing. I got annoyed with just a few, and disabling/whitelisting both for a number of installs so just as well. I use OSA by itself w/no problems on Windows 20H1.
     
  6. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    OSA is primarily a Behavior Blocker. It is also good at alerting to exploits that have gotten past the defenses of your internet-facing apps.

    EXE Radar Pro (ERP) is primarily an anti-executable. Thus, it will alert you to each & every new or changed executable, even those that OSA lets by as harmless.

    OSA will alert you only when an app is doing something that is (or might be) nasty business. ERP will alert you when some executable is new or changed.

    In short, OSA yells at all potentially nasty stuff, whereas ERP yells at all new exe stuff, nasty or not.

    Consider the following stuff, re "Overlap between OSA & ERP" ---

    3 FACTS:
    FACT 1:
    Security apps sometimes let a nasty get by them.
    FACT 2: for a nasty to do bad stuff, it must (almost always) do it by means of an executable.
    FACT 3: Users sometimes make BAD security choices.

    Situation 1--- (a) Fact 1 happens, so a nasty gets in but doesn't trigger any of OSA's "bad stuff" indicators. (b) Fact 2 happens so the nasty eventually starts its work via an exe. ERP says" "Hey, here's a new or changed executable!!!!" (c) Fact 3 fails (YAY!) so you say to yourself: "What the heck! I never called that executable." So you tell ERP, "Kill that damn thing right now!" :thumb:

    Situation 2--- (a) FACT 3 happens. :oops::eek::'( Ergo, you download a new app you like BUT you don't check it with VirusTotal. You have no idea that the app conceals a nasty so you put ERP in learning mode. (b) Fact 1 fails (YAY!) so the nasty triggers one of OSA's "bad stuff" indicators. (c) Fact 3 fails (YAY!) so you let OSA kill the action and you start researching the app at VirusTotal et alia. :thumb:

    Conclusions:
    a) Some nasties will get past OSA but not ERP.
    b) Some nasties will get past ERP but not OSA.
    c) Thus, although OSA & ERP will (rarely) overlap, OSA plus ERP will quite possibly alert the user to a few more nasties than either app would do by itself.

    Caveat: OSA will sometimes sound a lot of alerts, as will ERP. OSA is especially sensitive to security apps, & to apps that use cmd's or scripts or mess around with *groin areas* of Windows, legitimately or not. ERP will alert a lot if the user likes to try new apps. Both OSA & ERP can "break" updates, especially auto updates, and ERP will often break a routine install unless ERP is put into learning mode. OSA is a default/block app so it can sometimes screw up an install even if the user is quick to react to OSA's alerts.

    BOTTOM LINE: The effectiveness of both OSA & ERP is highly dependent on how the USER reacts to their alerts. From this standpoint, at least, Voodoo Shield might be the better choice for some users.
     
  7. Bertazzoni

    Bertazzoni Registered Member

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    Last edited: Nov 23, 2019
  8. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Terry, I didn't feel qualified to address that question from my own personal knowledge, so that's why I provided a link to a thread by @puff-m-d which discusses his use of the two NVT products (and why). Re those two products I shared what I experienced with you without 'coloring it' with conjecture. Finally I might add that @bellgamin's post (above) rings unbiased and true to me...
     
  9. SouthPark

    SouthPark Registered Member

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  10. TerryWood

    TerryWood Registered Member

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    Hi All

    Thanks to everyone for excellent contributions. It was really helpful. I now have a plan.

    Terry
     
  11. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I'm running them both. Basically, OSArmor will block stuff automatically, but for more control you need EXE Radar. For example, if you want to install software, OSArmor won't stop you from that. But I always want to be warned about this.
     
  12. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Same here. I love having them both.
     
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