Toolwiz Time Freeze

Discussion in 'sandboxing & virtualization' started by sg09, Dec 1, 2011.

  1. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    This is my first post in this section. So I am not sure if discussion has already made of this..!! But it seems to me a new free virtualization software. Anyone using it and can give some screenshots? There is lack of information on their website.
    Time_Freeze_Free_Feature.jpg

    Homapage
    http://www.toolwiz.com/products

    -http://www.toolwiz.com/index.php?
    sdmon=software_download/Setup_TimeFreeze.exe-
     
  2. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Well... tried out myself.
    It works fine here... :)

    File information
    File: Setup_TimeFreeze.exe [version: 1.1.0.0; size: 1.26 Mb]
    CRC-32: ae4fb4e5
    MD4: 7499f9e94097d69c17d42c04375585e7
    MD5: f9a544695b7502ac2352163a5ad31e95
    SHA-1: 9176ffe986258e68555a405c508125a4fbd6039e

    Installer is digitally signed by XII CNC Inc.

    The free version from ToolWiz can only be used by home users and non-profit organizations.

    Installation took place within 2 sec and I was asked to reboot.

    5.jpg

    After restart I found a desktop icon and a tray icon. Boot time didn't get affected. It consumed ~14Mb RAM and no CPU normally.

    A nice and neat interface with least settings.

    7.jpg

    It offers File and Folder protection from being accessed by malware. So I run Trustware test without enabling protection.
    http://www.trustware.com/Free-Security-Test/
    It stole info about "My Document"

    9.jpg

    I then added "My Documents" into the folder to be protected and turned on the protection.

    10.jpg

    Executed the test that time and the tool failed to stole info.

    8.jpg

    That's a good thing IMO.

    Bad part is that the software disables the file and folder protection upon reboot and also there is no password protection.
     
  3. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    I installed HMP and activated the trial and downloaded few malwares in my hard drive. I scanned with HMP and observed the number of malwares in the system.

    Well I then turned on Time Freeze.

    11.jpg

    I then executed few malwares. Many of those showed up in taskmanager and killed my explorer. I managed to scan windows during that time with HMP and found some malwares within sensitive area's of system32 etc. I rebooted the system and found everything fine with malwares in that area still present but renamed and archived. A HMP scan afterwords shows no infections present.

    I am not sure if it is able to fare well with all kinds of malware. But it indeed does well even as a new comer.

    Another cons against it is that it can be killed by task manager and wit process explorer.
     
  4. Meriadoc

    Meriadoc Registered Member

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    How does it work?
     
  5. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    I contacted their support and they quickly responded. About self protection issue they informed me that their protection engine works in the kernel driver level, even even after quitting the Toolwiz GUI program, the protection still work well. I checked that and its true.
     
  6. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Is the above same as Wondershare TimeFreeze v1.0.12 or Wondershare TimeFreeze v2.0.3?

    Or, is it entirely a different software?

    Best regards,

    KOR!
     
  7. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Totally different software.:)
     
  8. m00nbl00d

    m00nbl00d Registered Member

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    It seems interesting... I find it odd that Softpedia makes no mentions to Toolwiz, yet Toolwiz official website mentions Softpedia awarded them. o_O

    http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-search.php?search_term=toolwiz&x=0&y=0

    Maybe Softpedia deleted over time? Is it usual?

    Anyway, how do those folks make a living? Every single product is free... :eek: Not that I'm complaining... lol
     
  9. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Actually this being usual procedure followed by many new software developers to impress users about their reputation. But I can confirm that their softwares do not have any crapware. They have valid digital signature and the softwares are not buggy. I was informed that they don't have too much resources, a reason for which they haven't yet devoted a complete page for TTF. Also as you can see these softwares are free for only home users. So, commercial users need to pay for a license.
     
  10. mrpink

    mrpink Registered Member

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    From the SnapFiles "About Us" page
    If it makes any difference...
     
  11. Technical

    Technical Registered Member

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    Tested Toolwiz Time Freeze and it worked very well. System was restored as before (files, folders, installed programs, windows registry, software updates...).

    How much time will it remain freeware?
    Otherwise, if it becomes a shareware, we can be loosing time testing it.

    Two other limitations that you need to live with:
    1. The virtual size of changed files is 4Gb (maximum).
    2. It does not survive after a boot (i.e., there is not a MBR option for loading before Windows). Not that I love this too much, as I use MBR for another software and if Toolwiz need to use it, well, we can't use two applications being loaded by MBR.

    The privacy concerns arisen before needs further investigation (https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=312481).
     
  12. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    I am having regular email conversation with the software developer. :)
    I have made a wrong observation earlier that it stops file protection after reboot which is not the case.
    Anyway regarding Trustware test I found that if "my documents" folder contains some files in addition to folders the demo trojan is able to steal name of the files and not the folders when file protection is on.
    Also the protection status in the tray icon is not always correct.
    They have informed me that in the coming weekend they will release a software update addressing following issues.
    1) fixed the tray icon hint issue. it will show the right protection status.
    2) added password protection.
    3) added check update button to check the new version.
     
  13. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    @Technical: The developer has mailed me just now answering few of your confusions. I have invited him to post in this thread but they seems to have have some problem. Anyway

    It will keep free forever. but for home users only. Most of the team members here are volunteers, we just want to make better solution for users. If you like it, we will be happy.

    It is not a fixed value, the size will be changed according to the free space in your disk. also, the toolwiz timefreeze only records the changes in the MFT/FAT32 table. Our developers told me 4G is enough for a long day work :)

    Yes, we want to make it very easy to use. Just like all the freewares in our website. Only few option and one click solution.
     
  14. CyberMan969

    CyberMan969 Registered Member

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    I liked Time Freeze, but as an existing Shadow Defender user I don't think I'll use it ATM - unless they include more options and customization into the program. It's good to want to make a simple program that inexperienced users can easily get to grips with, but it also would be nice to have a plethora of options hidden away in a menu for the people who want more control. If they add more features/options, they could also introduce a friendly Wizard interface which can guide noobies into configuring the software properly. Lack of features because you assume your users will be incapable of understanding/configuring more advanced options is NOT a good mindset for a software developer...

    I've also tried their System Care software and I was surprised to find that it's a detailed utility, the kind of which other companies charge a fee for. I'll definitely add that one into my list of useful utilities.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2011
  15. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    They have released a new version..:)

    Change log

    Download

    -http://www.toolwiz.com/index.php?sdmon=software_download/Setup_TimeFreeze.exe-

     
  16. mrpink

    mrpink Registered Member

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    -http://www.youtube.com/user/sujayATtechno360?
    Your channel?:)
     
  17. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    :p Yes....!! That video on Time freeze has some problems. My screen recorder couldn't capture TF windows..!!o_O
     
  18. TerryWood

    TerryWood Registered Member

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    Hi SG09

    When I installed the updated version it failed to install correctly, that is it would not install the driver. Tried 3 times no joy.

    I am on Windows 7 64bit any ideas why?

    Thanks

    Terry
     
  19. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Hi,
    Same problem happened in my case on Vista 64 bit. I haven't tried it on 32 bit this time. I have informed the developer and he said he will discuss about this with their team...:)
     
  20. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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  21. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    Sorry...I don't trust TTF...on this time - as you said - it's more to try some applications, codecs, tweaking than as security app. It's very nice that TTF is free and works good, but is still to young and unknown.
     
  22. Technical

    Technical Registered Member

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    +1

    ichito, why don't you trust them?
     
  23. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    AFAIK... every good software had a beginning stage. In Wilderssecurity many good software started to develop, Online Armour, Defence Wall, PEGuard, EXE Radar Pro just to name a few :doubt:
     
  24. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Hi Just tried the latest build on my Vista 64 bit. It seemed OK now. What about yours?
     
  25. TerryWood

    TerryWood Registered Member

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    Hi SG09

    I tried the new version ....55 earlier this afternoon (UK time), and it works fine.

    Glad you got an inside track to the developer. It always makes a difference.

    As an aside, I think ToolWiz Timefreeze, is a good product. Now that Shadow Defender is no longer supported this is an unnexpected bonus. So let us hope the developer does just that.

    Thanks SG 09

    Terry
     
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