Geswall, Good and Bad

I really like this software. It doesnt happen often but every now and then one comes along that I really feel comfortable with. Now, that statement applies to me so I understand how others may feel. This isnt a comparision of products but more about what you feel might be lacking in it, what Gentle Security might need to do to continue to improve, what your likes and dislikes are. Just looking for information on how you feel about it. Thanks folks.

 

don't know much about it,but from what i'v read it seems to be the ultimate rootkit killer(kernelprotection among others).
Looks interesting.

 

Hi,

I used Geswall free for my web browser a few weeks, just to escape all this Web AV annoyances.

Two things why I turned my back on it:
- My browser was getting slower and slower over time and I read that others had the same problem, but I didn't find a solution.
- But much more important was the idea that came to my mind:
What the hell will happen with all this downloaded files (protected by Geswall) if I ever uninstall Geswall?
This was the main reason to switch to Sandboxie with its 'autodelete sandbox when browser is closed' feature.

My switch to SB had nothing to do with an safety aspect, Geswall did its job well.
It was mainly because Geswall didn't exactly fit my needs.

Cheers

 

I am using it (Pro version) for 33 months now and also feel very comfortable with it.
What I like is that it is easy to configure (much easier than the classical HIPS I used before), provides excellent protection, is quiet (no pop-ups), is light on resources (no slow downs) and tracks downloaded files from the internet (labelling them as untrusted). All of this makes it a perfect companion to me.

There is only one slightly annoying behaviour, which Brian told me would be solved. When an application, for instance notepad, is added to Applications with Security Level set to "Auto-isolation, no pop-ups" the following may occur. Running notepad unisolated and having typed in some text, you may want to use Save As to store your text in a Confidential folder. When moving to this folder, you may encounter a folder containing an untrusted .txt file in which case notepad will be isolated (just because the untrusted.txt file is there, not because notepad is actually trying to read this file). Now, you are no longer able to store the text in the intended Confidential folder, because Geswall will deny notepad access to this folder. (long story, hope you can follow it)

An addition I would like is a simple firewall, so I can drop my current one which makes configuration easier. It should allow me to block all applications all internet access (not LAN access) by default and report to me if any attempts are made by an application to access the internet. When such an attempt is made, I will decice if it should be granted internet access (in which case I will add the app in Applications and create appropriate rules for it) or not (in which case I should be able to make an always deny all internet access rule for this app, such that I don't get any pop-ups for this in the future anymore). Using it this way, I would be assured that no application is accessing the internet unisolated with a minimum number of additional pop-ups from Geswall.

Another addition could be an installation monitor. Something like the Track'n'Reverse feature of Tiny Firewall or Spyberus, which during an installation tracks all changes to your system and assembles these in a report and also allows you to undo all the changes if you don't like them (for instance an unexpected driver has been installed). This monitor should act real time and not be a before and after installation comparison of snapshots (the latter may not show the installation of a rootkit, which would already be hidden if you take the after installation snapshot).

But even without these additions, it remains the best companion in my arsenal of security applications.
I can recommend it to everybody.

 

It,s mostly good. Only bad that the development is now slow. Not enough market is the reason.

The newer version will have a new engine and I am waiting for that.

 

Question of subset:
What the hell will happen with all this downloaded files (protected by Geswall) if I ever uninstall Geswall?

Answer:
If you use the free version of Geswall, download and install the trial Pro-version.
The Pro version allows you to list all untrusted labelled files in a log.
Now you can right click on any file entry in the log and either label the file as trusted or delete it.
If you are done, just uninstall Geswall.

 

All suggestions are good but I think it might lead to some bloated application with slow downs, conflicts etc especially as it has less uers, less bugs reported and less issues will be fixed.

For all these reasons I like it to remain simple.

 

I have been using GesWall (free) for about 2 months and I find it very good. I had a small problem with trying to print from my IE web browser but a quick change to one of the rules fixed that. I don't notice any slow down in speed, very little if no configuration. I use it as a IE browser protector. I also have web email and it protects that also. The Pro version always you to protect any application on your system.

Along with Avira Free and Threatfire Free, you have one on the best securities money can't buy!

IceCube

 

All suggestions are good but I think it might lead to some bloated application with slow downs, conflicts etc especially as it has less uers, less bugs reported and less issues will be fixed.

For all these reasons I like to remain simple.

I couldn't agree more.

 

I feel the price in U.S. dollars is a little steep, but when I ran the free version it seemed good---it just didn't grab me... May run the next version and see what happens!

 

Well said.

 

The only thing bad about geswall is i couldn't use it properly lol .

 

I have used GeSWall Pro for two years (one PC with DefenseWall for wife, one PC with GeSWall for son).

1 What I liked about GW is its granularity and its ability to virtualise (redirect).

2 What I do not like is that you have to turn defense down in order to be able to obtain digital rights properly (DW deals with it out of the box without lowering defense).

3 I tried the latest release (liked the overview option), but I do not like the fact that untrusted files change to trusted status when you copy them to another disk/partition. I really can't understand this. Please correct me when this has been changed! DW's total untrusted file control (realised in 2.3) really makes a difference.

4 It was a little faster than DW also

5. DW is easier to use (even after the GW wizard was developed)

6. Development is much slower than DW

7. DW has catched up in granularity with resource protection (offering a default user friendly modus and optional expert additions).

8. GW had four levels of protection, DW only offers two (trusted/untrusted). DW now also offers protected/unprotected status independantly of trusted/untrusted (smart feature in DW of allocating download directories, untrusted/unprotected files in it become untrusted/protected after 15 days, trusted files are protected by default, untrusted are unportected by default, so the theoretical 4 options are reduced to three, all taken care for automaticcally). So this advantage over DW is gone also (even with DW implementing it easier/simpler).

I always rated these products on par, but reason 3, 6 and 2 are why we only use DW on our home setup.

I hope Brian and his company survives, I like the competition between GW and DW (as I was pleased with SafeSpace offering an alternative to SBIE), I think products improve better with competition than without. So GW users please keep using GW in stead of switching to DW (sorry Ilya).
I think highly of Ilya (of DW), but I can see that the features of GW influenced his release planning. It is now time for GW to play catch up, these points should be improved:

3, 6, 2, 8 (ad 8: provide a simple UI, provide a no-brainer out of the box setting with resouce like protection for power users in stead of the pseudo code like configuration now, has any power user succesfully added some registry improvements in GW? for instance).

 

This is probably the only bad thing about GesWall for me:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c382/dxgil/GesWall.png

... and since something is hampering it's install on my computer I couldn't divulge any benefits from installing it

 

Oh, no sorries- I'm the first who stands for a honest competition. I believe that only competition can make this world spin around a little faster USSR died because of lack of internal competition and strong external one.

Naturally- I see no reasons to do some features only because "hey, my competitive product have it". I have my own vision of my product development. Naturally, I always listen to my users, but I'm not a "users-always-rights" executer.

 

What is USSR?

Thanks

 

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which is all of the lands that were controlled from Moscow before the break up of the soviet union, ie all lands east of and including Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia etc, and North of Iran and China to the Pacific coast. (i Think??)

 

USSR was consists of: Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belorussia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan. No north Iran, no China. But this is definitely offtop here.

 

That is the right attitude.

 

My problem exactly! I have GeSWall Pro 2.7.1 running smooth as can be (during trial period) on one machine, but I can't get it to run on my other computer. It's perplexing. Everything hangs up and I can't even uninstall it (although Brian is suggesting manual removal, which I have yet to try). I have to use Acronis TI to recover a fresh image I created prior to trying the install. I intend to continue trying different things, but so far I have tried three times and GeSWall won't run on one computer.

 

OK. I will skip this one for now and keep DW running.

 

I tried the free version a while ago but got stuck on some part of it. I do not remember what it was that I didn't understand.
I went to their support and entered a description of my problem.
A week or two later I still had not even received an acknowledgement of my post and got no help at all from them.
Removed the program and entered another post in my original thread about not receiving any help.
That they acknowledged by removing the thread.
I don't think that any product is so good that the company you get it from can just ignore requests for help.
It's a shame too. I was enjoying it but didn't understand it.
Best regards.
Hugger

 

the good :
it's very simple to use
there's a free version that works great
requires very little in the way of updates
light on system resources
works fine in a LUA

the bad :
acts "funny" on some systems (even though i've never had an issue with it on any of my pcs)

see my sig, it's one of the 3 security programs i still use

 

GeSWall's main advantage is visibility. You can see the rules, and you have a log like a firewall.
If something is not working, look at the logs. Excluding bugs, you will solve your problem with the logs.
That makes GW have a "longer life" if you will.
The thing that contradicts this is the time limited license. Although it's probably for the free version only. He has make money somewhere.

 

He makes money om the Pro which is worth every penney and not an ongoing yearly fee.