Shadow Defender Exclusion Setting

I'm trying out Shadow Defender on my notebook.

OS : Windows Vista Home Premium

Resident:
Shadow Defender (all time in shadow mode with some folders excluded)
Sandboxie (paid)
Avira Security Suite
Prevx (free)

Browser: Firefox (all time sandboxed)

So far, this combination looks good.

As I share my notebook with my wife, I want to set up my notebook to be easy & user friendly, but also tight on security. I want Avira to update automatically, and able to save bookmarks in Firefox. I also want to be able to save files into My Document folders.

Hence, what are the exclusion setting to be done?

So far, I have exluded the following files:
C:\Program Files\Avira\*
C:\ProgramData\Avira\*
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\*
C:\Users\*

Is there anything else to exclude?

I read somewhere in Avira forum that the folder C:\Windows\Systems32\Drivers might also need to be excluded, but I don't feel good about this.

Comments appreciated, thanks.

 

I suppose that in exclusion list (in AV case) should be also some registry keys.
I remember when I was using AV along with SD with all AV folders in exclusion lists - updater in Avira still showed old last update date (before shadowing).
I don't know which registry keys should be added.

 

I am new to Shadow Defender also, it's definitely tricky working out what to exclude. I have done like you and added the whole folder for security items. Prevx doesn't have a signature base to constantly update (I think, maybe someone can help here?) I think it protects via the cloud base so should just need updating as an application. But for Avira is trickier, Avira is signature reliant - might have to manually update out of SD protection.

Excludes for Bookmarks and Sandboxie.

• C:\docs and settings\username\click Folder Options - View - show hidden files \Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*whatever file name you have*\bookmarks.html - It's Safer to exclude just Bookmarks rather than the whole Mozilla folder

• C:\Windows\Sandboxie.ini - This will allow altering Sandboxie settings

I Added Prevx's folder. It's definitely worth asking Avira what their best solution is for exclusions.

 

So far after 24hrs, with exclusion of Avira folders, the update seems to be working fine. Lets see after a few days if any problems arise.


Another question - as Vista defrag automatically, how will this defrag affect my system since I'm running my notebook in Shadow mode all the time, only turning it off every night.

Will it cause any stability issue?

 

you just losing cpu cycles if you defrag in shadow mode

everytime your PC restarts the files will need defragment again

as for firefox profile, search for this file "places.sqlite" and put it on exclusions. in this way you will exclude with just one file history and bookmarks without taking any risk

 

IMO to exclude too many things it weakens the virtual volume. Let's not forget that if you want to retain some changes, one can also "commit" folders. I have excluded Avira's updates and Outlook, anything else can be committed if needed (I use Outlook only as a calendar, not as a mail client).