Process Guard free and Prevx home free

Discussion in 'ProcessGuard' started by george75, Sep 15, 2005.

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  1. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    I just don't know where to post the following problem, so I'm posting it here on the assumption that a moderator will put it in the right slot. The problem is this. I loaded Process Guard free and am quite satisfied, although it seems to be somewhat limited in scope. (Am I right on this?) In any event, seeing a posting on the security configurations thread that recommended Prevx home free along with Process Guard ('they don't conflict'), I installed Prevx. I got some serious problems with system instability, I think from Prevx in the context of the other security software. The only proof I can offer however is that when I reinstalled the o/s (the system instability was serious, and wouldn't even allow a reinstall on top of the old o/s; I had to erase the disk) without Prevx the system instability stopped. I liked what Prevx free home seemed to be doing, and I rather regretted getting rid of it. So my question revolves around these issues: how comprehesive is Process Guard free's protection? Would Prevx home free add anything to it? How comprehensive is Prevx home free's protection? Would Process Guard free play any role if I had Prevx installed? If I can have only one of the two, which is to be preferred? Is it possible to get the two kids to play together? If Prevx home free causes system instability in the presence of Process Guard (I'm assuming that that is where the incompatibility is; I really don't know; I'm ready to be enlightened), is the system going to be any more stable with Prevx without Process Guard? Thanks very much.

    George75
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2005
  2. nicM

    nicM nico-nico

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    :eek: :eek:

    maybe PG did block a driver/service or something during Prevx install ?

    I don't know, didn't try to run both yet, but I have planned to try Prevx Pro, with PG full ( although your story sounds scary :blink: )

    maybe you should ask about it on the Prevx forum ( http://castlecops.com/c37-Prevx.html )

    --- after looking at some threads here, seems people are using PG full and Prevx Pro together without problem. If theses ones are working together, the free releases should work together moreover, as they have less security features, I guess o_O ---
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2005
  3. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    Thanks, nico-nico. I had opened a thread on a more trivial matter as the same time as this and that was getting more attention than this one, while this one appears to be more substantive.

    Let me respond to your points one by one:

    I will post a parallel copy of my initial post to the link you give. That should help.

    Next, I had Process Guard in learning mode when I installed Prevx, so there is no reason to suppose that it blocked a driver. However, I have seen that in learning mode Process Guard will occasionally block something, putting red instead of blue into its systray icon. Then you go to the main screen and see what it's objecting to. I strongly doubt that it would block a part of an install without notification, especially if it is in learning mode.

    Next, the system instability. The system is Windows XP/SP2 with most if not absolutely all of the security updates. The drivers that XP uses depend of course on the particular hardware that your computer has. I say this because I know that others have indicated that they can run Process Guard and Prevx together without problem. Indeed I would like to be able to, too. It's not as if I have a grudge against either product. However, for whatever reason, various products that others find to work well together cause system instability either small or large on my computer, even after a fresh reinstall--so it can't be preexisting malware. Some of the products that cause system instability: wormguard, SSM - System Safety Monitor (Russian anti-intrusion package mentioned in a posting to the security configuration thread), prevx.

    The actual problem was this: After I had installed Prevx on top of the pre-existing security software, including Process Guard, at a certain point I had difficulty both booting and shutting down (!). I tried a number of times to reboot, even in safe mode, and shut down. After 6 attempts the problem went away on its own. First time it had happened to me, and certainly an indication that something wasn't right. Very soon after that, it seemed to me that I had to do a system reinstall. I formatted two partitions, including the partition that has the applications programs, including Prevx and Process Guard, before shutting down to boot from the installation CD. I do this because you can't format multiple partitions during the XP install, only the systems partition. I had done this before, and it works. However, this time, although I could boot the system (after all the system partition was intact), I couldn't get the install CD to come up at power-on time under BIOS (not while running the existing operating system). Something was blocking it. This is very odd indeed. You would think that one of the stable things in life is that BIOS would bring up the installation CD and you could install the operating system. No. So what did I do? I booted the existing operating system, made some backups from other partitions, and then erased the disk. My guess--without my knowing--is that Prevx had done something to prevent an (unauthorized) system reinstall. Moreover, I imagine that given the nature of Process Guard and Prevx (how they work), you have to uninstall them before wiping partitions and reinstalling the operating system.

    I would hope to hear from a Process Guard man and even from a Prevx man. At their respective companies, they certainly must have experimented with the two products running in parallel.

    Thanks.

    George75
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2005
  4. hollywoodpc

    hollywoodpc Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    George .
    PG will work fine with Prevx Home . It is probably some other application that is causing a problem . UNLESS , you installed Prevx with all protection on in PG . When you reinstalled , Prevx should have neen installed , and then , PG . But , it really should not matter .
    As for how well PG free really works , it is very good at WHAT it does . I use the paid version though as it offers more flexibility and protection . NEVER had a problem with both running . I do , however , use the paid version of Prevx though . That should not matter either but , systems are really strange when it comes to using different apps together .
     
  5. Vikorr

    Vikorr Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    None of the four global protection options are enabled in PG free, so PG would not have 'blocked driver/service' of Prevx home.

    I've run Prevx Pro & PG full together with no problems.
     
  6. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    I really disappointed that no one from Diamond CS replied to this problem, or for that matter any one from Prevx. The situation is that with only Process Guard, my system is quite stable. About 6 days ago, I uninstalled Process Guard (safe mode) and intalled Prevx home free by itself. The system is quite stable under Prevx only. In a few days I will get around to reinstalling Process Guard on top of Prevx. I will post what happens.

    George75
     
  7. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    I reinstalled Process Guard on top of Prevx. Both are in the Systems partition, rather that in another partition. So far, the system seems stable. I had only one episode on a restart of the system not proceeding past the Manufacturer/Bios splash screen to load the operating system.

    George75
     
  8. MichelB

    MichelB Guest

    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    Did you hunt for a BIOS update for that ? maybe not one but you never know :) I use a program from ASUS which updates the BIOS from Windows so no problems with floppy bootup and mucking around ;-)
     
  9. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    Thanks for the remark, MichaelB. I am constrained by my use of Linux to keep a rather low number on my BIOS release because of compatibility problems. This sort of problem has never happened without the security software. However, it could very well have something to do with the bootloader and so on.

    George75
     
  10. JanMartin

    JanMartin Guest

    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    My experience is that if using PC Guard Pro and PrevX Pro they work quite fine except of high resource consumption. I didn't manage to find why, but they both consumed lot's of resources while browsing internet. After I closed browser, all was fine again. I guess this is an issue with Zone Alarm alltogether. So I uninstalled them. If you are looking for a Buffer Overflow solution, you might look at DefensePlus, which claims to do just that. DefensePlus called previously Anti-Cracker Shield:
    http://www.ccnmag.com/news.php?id=3357
    http://www.softsphere.com/

    I am not sure how good it i, although I tested it and use it, I am not an expert in this area, perhaps others here could have a look...

    Also - PC Guard seems to work very well with AntiHook. They are similar, but antihook also blocks the DLL files, not only EXE files. PC Guard currently can only watch after EXE files and anything around them. However, as we know, DLL files as equally (if not more) dangerous than EXE files, because they frequently deliver payload in form of rootkits and kernel level trojans that load with drivers. They are harder to detect and they can load with any application they are designed to.

    In this aspect it would desirable if the guys from Diamondcs could upgrade their product.
     
  11. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    ProcessGuard can block DLLs from running as apps by only allowing rundll32.exe to 'run once'. It's not a very elegant solution, but it does work. It will also block anything from injecting DLLs into protected apps. There's no reason that ProcessGuard or Prevx should be using CPU while browsing, however, so that's very odd.
     
  12. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    Hello all--

    I finally have got around to giving a reply about putting Prevx Home free and Process Guard free together. I took a poster's advice and installed in the order Prevx first and then Process Guard. With the exception of the fact that Prevx always wants to phone home, Prevx knows why, the two systems are now working together. There is no more system instability. Notok suggests in a parallel post on the Castle Cops Web Site that there might be a problem with residual drivers. That was never a problem because I did a complete system reinstall before installing Prevx and Process Guard. But I looked where he said and found nothing that would indicate that there were old drivers lying around. If the difficulties I had were not due to something other than Process Guard and Prevx, then the only conclusion I can draw is that it makes a difference in which order you install the products.

    With best wishes--

    george75
     
  13. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    Hi Folks!

    I just received a reply from Prevx on the parallel thread to this one on the Castle Cops forum:

    http://castlecops.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=posting&mode=reply&t=133395

    I'm not a shill for anyone, but the post is so interesting that I'm going to quote all of it right now:

    We would suggest you switch to the free version of Prevx1 our latest CIPS solution. You will find the very latest version v1.1.032 and above contains the same (and many more) features that were offered in Prevx Home. If you run in Prevx1 Pro or Prevx1 Expert mode you have similar control to Home/Pro users had, but many more new features not available in these two products.

    We are going to have to at some point (soon) phase out Prevx Home in replacement for Prevx1 (now out of Beta). You will find this current version far more stable in terms of install/update then the previous beta releases.

    On your earlier point however running similar HIPS solutions as in ProcessGuard and Prevx1 together isn't recommended as they contain very similar capabilities and so will hook low level system calls and have the potential to clash. We would suggest you choose between the two solutions.

    Also check out the Prevx1 Insight from the home page http://www.prevx.com it provides you a view of the data available in the Community database.​

    First of all, the post seems to recognize that Prevx1 at least can conflict with ProcessGuard. It's not clear about Prevx Home.

    Next Prevx Home is eventually going to be put out to pasture.

    Next, I seem to recall some discussion about the capabilities of Prevx1's new product: very expanded, and also with a systematic 'phone home' capability.

    My questions about this would be: what do people think about Prevx1? What do they think about the free version?

    Thanks very much.

    George75
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2005
  14. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

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    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    While a little leeway was given in regards to this thread remaining in the Process Guard Forum initially....I would ask you to Please pose that type question in a more appropriate Forum....in particular our privacy & other anti-malware software forum

    Thanks,
    Bubba
     
  15. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    In regard to the last post of Bubba, who seems to be very on-line and very fast, I certainly had no intention to do anything inappropriate according to the standards of Wilders' forum, for which I have the utmost respect. Having posted the question, and having received your reply that the question is not in the right place, what do you want me to do now? That is, how do you want me to proceed? As you can see I am an infrequent poster.

    Thanks.

    George75
     
  16. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

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    As I mentioned in my above post...."I would ask you to Please pose that type question in a more appropriate Forum....in particular our privacy & other anti-malware software forum"

    Another words....do as you have done in the 5 threads you have started as an infrequent poster....start a new thread in our privacy & other anti-malware software forum and pose your Prevx1 question in that forum :doubt:
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2005
  17. vivvisalk

    vivvisalk Guest

    Re: PC Guard free and Prevx home free

    please install your pc guard system in my pc.
    alok
     
  18. george75

    george75 Registered Member

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    vivvisalk--

    I'm a little dumb. What do you mean?

    Regards--

    george75
     
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