VoodooShield/Cyberlock

How would you communicate to the users using the free version the advantage of upgrading to the premium version without the nag screen? Do you think having those options greyed out in the GUI with text reading only available in the premium version is enough? I will have to use the free version for a while to see what the difference between the free, and premium is. I have been using VS for a long time, but the free version did not come out until recently. Also, i'm sure changes of what is available in the free vs premium will continue to be made until Dan finds the right balance.

 

In marketing there is a golden rule: when the message is unclear to the receiver, the sender should rephrase, so Cutting_Edgetech please allow me another opportunity to explain why this small change makes a big difference:

Replace NAG-screen with weekly INFOrmation report:

1. Trigger of NAG-screen and INFO-report are the SAME (when a program was blocked), only displayed on the end of week (Friday in stead of Wednesday) to add credibility of weekly report function
2. Information on weekly report is the same (stopped X threats), PLUS a line that says that the report pop-up can be UN-SELECTED in the settings
3. Free version does not allow to change settings, when selecting settings an information screen tells the user that this can be unblocked when full version is bought. (added value needs to be evident, otherwise there is no compelling reason to buy).

With these minor changes, the existing 'call to action' is used (when opening the settings of the FREE version), only the NAG-screen is replaced by an INFOrmation report (when an intrusions was blocked = plausible reason to inform user).

The tone and why makes a difference in how the user experiences the message emotionally. The French have a nice expression for it "C'est le ton qui fait la musique" and this video explains why the cause change (informing in stead of nagging) makes a difference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Tw0PGcyN0

My advice to starting software venors is: break the rules, look at a simular ,younger, software industry. An industry which succeeded in connecting to the mass consumer market. An industry which has changed the rules: smartphones aps store. Adopt the fremium model with a yearly micro licensing fee (say $5 annual). Eagles fly alone, sparrows in flock. To be an eagle one has to have great vision.

I wish Dan all the best.

Regards Kees

 

Actually it depends where you put this icon, so my vote is:

for a desktop icon - B,

for an icon in the tray - C (A is better, but font of desktop and tray icons must be the same).

 

Personally, I think having the advanced premium options showing in the GUI but greyed out is a great idea because it shows what the users "could have" if they paid premium. Also maybe when you hover the mouse over any of those greyed out premium options, it should have tooltips (or however they are called) to state that those are only available in premium version. I don't have VS running right now so I can't confirm how it shows that at the moment.

I do agree, though, that Dan needs to find the right balance. And that is certainly no easy task because no matter what decisions are made, you can never please everyone. People get upset easily over little things, sadly. But I do believe very strongly still in Dan's vision of VS and sincerely wish that it continues to succeed and reach an even larger user base. Cheers!

 

Having read through Windows_Security's posts throughly, I agree with the majority of what Kees has suggested.

VS is, without a doubt, high quality premium software. Extremely well done and also very easy for beginners to get started with yet thorough enough for more technical users. Surely casuals users who aren't as security conscious would likely use the Free version while the more technically oriented users would be more likely to pay for the Premium version to unlock the more advanced options and features. Regardless of skill level, VS has the potential to save users (particularly casual users) significant amounts of money when it comes to paying to have their machines cleaned/fixed after malware and such since VS is great at what it does.

I think the only thing posing a threat to making these changes to VS right now is the fact that NVT ERP is planning to go completely free soon. Having said that, though, if Dan plays his cards right he can still make this work out in his favor. VS would still appeal much more to those everyday casual users which is by far the much larger user base and the one's who would benefit the most as well. Maybe more specific marketing can be done in that regard to reach out to those everyday casual users. I know stuff has been done in the past like commercials and so on.

Regardless of whether or not I use VS, I will still always be rooting for it and recommending it to others because I believe in VS and in Dan as well.

Still hoping to see that KMD implemented, Dan. By the way, I do know of one KMD that is efficient and even filters .dll/.sys as well which you could licence if you wanted to go that route. I've got the influence to put in good word for you to ensure that you get a significant cost reduction.

 

Did we get some free extra mileage on our subscriptions at some point or is there something wrong with the activation server? Because there is 503 days left on my sub and i believe i only purchased a 1 year license some time ago.

 

A or C for me!

 

I refer to a post back in October 2014, regarding the logging of multiple entries here

Was this ever fixed, or have I got it wrong?

Spoiler: screenshot

 

Sometimes there is a long delay when I choose VS settings by right clicking on the tray icon before the GUI appears. Is anyone else experiencing this? I right click on the tray icon, and choose VS settings, then about 5 seconds later the GUI appears. I'm using 2.23c

 

Hi all!
Sorry I'm late to the 2.23c party

Clean install, trained with 2 boots, only issue was VSService unable to connect to server on 1st boot. Other than that, it's working good so far.

As for the new devs, great news they're getting the grasp of the code. W00h00!

Regarding the earlier vote for the icon, I prefer B.

Hope 2015 is a great one for VS. Looks like new and exciting things are being put forth. Can't wait!

Best regards,
l3l312

 

I'm still experiencing the issue I reported above in post 5684. I just counted the second it took for the GUI to open, and it took about 7 seconds this time.

 

Hey everyone, I have a seriously bad cold but I can respond to the posts very soon. Here is the latest version... there are 2 changes. First, it is compiled in the latest version of Visual Studio. I also made a change to the "Protect User Space" option. So now when VS is in Smart Mode / OFF, the balloon will not be displayed if something is launched from the user space... the prompt will be displayed instead. To me it made a lot more sense to do it this way. You should just be able to upgrade without uninstalling the old version. Thank you!

http://www.voodooshield.com/freeoffer/Install VoodooShield.2.23d beta.exe

 

Dan, sorry to hear your not doing well! It's the cold season, and a lot of people are sick right now. I don't like getting around too many people right now. I have been able to avoid it so far. Knock on wood! It's safer to be a hermit. I hope you have a speedy recovery!

 

Hmmm...Dan let the virus through.
We should report a bug.

 

VoodooShield.2.23d beta.exe working great on Wni7 64bit and Win 8 32bit. I noticed that when I open taskmanager with this iteration of VS the memory is much lower than the previous ones! Nice work!

 

Ssame here, Dan, working very well under Win7 64bit & Win8.1 32bit.

 

False positive detection question:

Sometimes when installing software that comes bundled with Open Candy or similar - VS rightly detects the file as a threat. I wish to install the software anyway as I have a few other methods in place for blocking installation of Open Candy that will let the software install cleanly.

What I'm not comfortable with: There's a pop up from VS that says something like "do you want to report this file as a false positive detection?"

So I either need to report the file as a false positive detection (even though it isn't) or temporarily disable VS.

I hope that I'm correct in presuming that such false positive detection reports will be ignored by the VS team.

 

Hey everyone, I will be back very soon, sorry about that. I was just curious, what do you guys think of this prompt?

http://www.voodooshield.com/artwork/large-dialoug-template.png

BTW, there is a small bug in the 2.23d installer, I will fix it very soon. It only affects Windows 7 and below users who do not have .net 4.5 installed.

 

That is odd, it is working for me for some reason.

 

"could do be found" -> "could not be found" ?

 

Interesting Dan, my initial reaction is 'I like the concept' but I am not sure that the Sandbox icon is in keeping with the others on either side of it. Apart from that a more modern feel.

Regards, Baldrick

 

Baldrick's comment is spot on, I agree.

 

Sorry I still like the current one it's nice and clean and polished, and it just works.

Daniel

 

Change "could do be found" to the following when a threat is found -----> The file was scanned, and found in our threat database.

If it's just an unknown file change "could do be found" to----> The file was scanned, and could not be found. as siketa already suggested above.

 

actually it's gotta be "could NOT be found". because it says "unknown file".