Webroot SecureAnywhere Discussion & Update Thread

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by Triple Helix, Jun 6, 2014.

  1. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    Thanks for that very complete reply, PTD!!!

    So no journaling as you had previously told me. But does it have any form or semblance of Control Active Processes which at least could monitor and restrict privileges to unknown files even if it can't "roll back" any harm wreaked by said file in the event of it subsequently being discovered to be malware, but rather can only clean up as best as possible? Indeed, does it have any other way of remembering which files are unknown apart from the log?
     
  2. SSherjj

    SSherjj Registered Member

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    Muddy. Hi, Webroot does have Monitoring as shown in the Docs here.

    https://docs.webroot.com/us/en/home...s.htm?TocPath=Using%20Advanced%20Tools|_____1
     
  3. SSherjj

    SSherjj Registered Member

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    @ProTruckDriver,

    Webroots Backup & Sync is on the blitz again until I reboot. Webroot on my Mac is scanning right now and will be finished in a couple of hours. Then I'll reboot to get B&S functioning again. Weird the way it just quits...
     
  4. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    Thanks @SSherjj for the post. I think I'll give WSA Beta a try again and install it. With the update I installed to Mojave 10.14.6 the other day who knows it might work right. :argh: :argh:
     
  5. SSherjj

    SSherjj Registered Member

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    You're welcome! Hope you do install Webroot on that fabulous iMac you have! I need your help and expertise with the new Mac OSs. And your great questions that you bring up on the Webroot forum. Let me know how it goes!
     
  6. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    It pays to advertise!!! If few folks know about a product, few people will buy it. You can build the best "whatever" in the world, but it dies on the vine if few folks buy it.

    For AVs, scoring high on tests is a major advertising gimmick. High test scores offer an AV the ability to say "We are the best..." and then offer easily understood PROOF in the form of high test scores. (Never mind what we think about testing methodology. The game is advertising -- and the game is ON -- and WRSA is still sitting on the sidelines, watching.)

    It would be easy for WRSA to get into the game. All they need do is to license a good, on-demand, signature-based engine such as BitDefender (as has been done by Emsisoft & several others) & -- Get Into The Dadgummed Game!!!
     
  7. clocks

    clocks Registered Member

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    Wouldn't that balloon the size of WSA though? It's only claim to fame atm is how small and light it is.
     
  8. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    Installed beta. Scan time still long and Backup and Sync not working. :(
    Screen Shot 2019-08-03 at 7.52.25 PM.png
     
  9. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    I went ahead and installed the paid version with wsamac.dmg to see if I could get Backup & Sync to work. You can see the results: Failed. I also noticed after trying the install of WSA beta and later the WSA Paid versions, after the install my Scroll Wheel failed to scroll websites using my Logitech MX Master 2S mouse. Nothing was showing on WSA's GUI for Monitor / Blocked. I had to turn the mouse off and on a few time for it to work. Backup and Sync on Mac should be fixed by now since it's been this way for months and months.
    Screen Shot 2019-08-04 at 12.14.29 PM.png
     
  10. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    Thanks, PTD (EDIT: Ooops sorry! Thanks, Sherry ;))

    So, if Webroot for Mac does have Monitoring, then presumably it is remembering somewhere or other which files are "unknown"? Btw PTD, when you refer to the Webroot log ("When you reboot a Mac it clears the log and you start with a fresh log just like a clean install"), are you referring to the .db files??
     
  11. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    On the enterprise side, the endpoint security business — and associated MSP channel — is growing "well into the double digits, north of 20 percent"
    Source: Carbonite CFO Anthony Folger — https://www.channele2e.com/business/talent/carbonite-ceo-search/

    That hardly sounds as if Webroot is "dying on the vine" o_O
     
  12. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    I haven't seen any .db files in the log. They might be in the file that is marked in the pic below. Btw ALL the files you see in the pic are files left behind after a uninstall. In order to get them files cleared from your Mac computer you need to go to Webroot Support and the will do a remote on your computer with Sudo Commands. Webroot will not give out their Sudo Commands by Support Ticket, I tried.

    @SSherjj I know you're running WSA on the Mac. I have WSA uninstalled so I can't get into any files left behind. I don't have time to install since it takes well over an hour to install from start to finish. When you find time can you check if there are any .db files and on a reboot are the files still there? Good question @Muddy3 ;)

    Screen Shot 2019-08-04 at 3.04.30 PM.png
     
  13. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    Thanks, PTD!

    I'd been getting a bit confused, presumably due to the difference in technical language between PCs and Macs ("the Webroot log").

    So if I've correctly grasped the situation, the long and the short of it is this:
    1. Webroot for Mac, unlike other Webroot versions, is not cloud-based but rather uses traditional sigs.
    2. Regarding categorisation of files into (basically) three categories—good, bad and unknown—monitoring and restricting of privileges to unknown files, journaling and rollback (in the event that an unknown file is subsequently determined to be bad), the one difference regarding the above between Webroot for Mac and other versions of Webroot is that Webroot for Mac does not have journaling and rollback.

    Would that be correct?
     
  14. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    I believe that would be correct.
     
  15. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    Thanks, PTD ;)
     
  16. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    Sounds to me like Carbonite used Webroot for a "Life Boat"
    I was a Die Hard for Webroot. In a way I still am because I find it hard to depart from the software from using it for many years. Used the product since 2004 (Spy Sweeper), then SecureAnywhere from the day of launch. IMHO Webroot took a dive when Mr. Potts took over as CEO for Webroot. Too many changes of CEO's and people leaving Webroot. The eye opener for me and many others was when the sister of Steven Thomas Founder of Webroot quit Webroot after 20 years a few weeks ago. I hope I'm wrong on all of this and Webroot makes a turn to a successful company but my gut feeling is telling me something else.
     
  17. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    PTD, you often refer to Mike Potts as being the turning point for Webroot, but I fail to see what he did wrong.
     
  18. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    Mike Potts became CEO September 2017. A little over a year later March 2019 the company was sold for peanuts ($618.5 million). I believe Mr. Potts seen the Golden Opportunity and bailed out with his "Golden Parachute". I've read somewhere and I would have to search where I read it that Carbonite had Webroot in the "Cross Hairs" right after Mr. Potts made CEO.
     
  19. guest

    guest Guest

    One man can't decide to sell such company unilaterally without support of the board, they just realized Webroot can't keep up with modern threats and the over-competitive market where there is dozen of free AV while WRSA is overpriced.
    They just sell the baby now so they can get the most cash of it.

    Many MSP and companies ditched Webroot after the 2 bad updates fiasco.
     
  20. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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    The latest financial figures released by Carbonite belie your assertions, guest.

    As does the real-life experience of its customers:
    https://www.pcmag.com/news/365697/readers-choice-awards-2019-antivirus-security-suite-softw*
    https://community.spiceworks.com/products/4895-webroot-business-endpoint-protection/reviews?page=1

    PTD, the decision to let Carbonite acquire Webroot was a unanimous decision by the board, and that included ex-CEO Dick Williams still serving on the board at the time. I don't have the URL link, but I'm sure somebody who has the time could find it (it was a Webroot page).

    For what it is worth, my theory is that Webroot's bottom line was badly affected by the business-side incident a year or so ago, where a bug caused Webroot to start detecting Windows files as malware and deleting them. Revenue went down badly as a result of a significant number of MSPs deserting the company, and this created a cashflow problem that seriously risked the future survival of Webroot. Without outside help, they could have folded. That at least is my theory. However, the underlying health of the company and its ability to overcome even as serious an incident as this is shown by the latest Q2 financial results released 10 days ago by Carbonite. Carbonite was able to see this, and also saw the potential of the integration of the two companies. That is why they offered to buy out Webroot.

    *Please scroll down to the Anti-Virus survey results, as the Security Suite survey results were negatively affected by Webroot's not so brilliant bells and whistles (which are added to make up the Security Suite offering) as compared to its outstanding core Antivirus product.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    EDIT: here is the Webroot page I was referring to:
    https://carbonitewebroot.transactionannouncement.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Carbonite-to-Acquire-Webroot-Press-Release.pdf
    "The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and by the requisite percentage of stockholders of Webroot."
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 5, 2019
  21. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    @Muddy3 -- PCMag's reader's poll is statistically meaningless as pertains to the relative potential for financial viability of the various AVs. The readership of a specialty magazine (that's what PC Mag is) is NOT representative of the worldwide AV users. Neither is Wilders Forum.

    The Spiceworks yada-yada is equally insignificant as as statistical indicator of financial viability, besides which it is patently biased (the page repeatedly discloses that Webroot is a Spiceworks partner).

    The big broo-ha-ha for WRSA on Spiceworks page is how light it is. On my computer, Notepad is even lighter than WRSA ever was, and Notepad's performance in an AV test wouldn't be all that much lower than WRSA's.

    The road back for WRSA (if it even wants to be an AV for home users any more) is to: (a) quit dragging their feet & update their software, (b) get back into the race to innovate, & (c) if they're as great as they say they are, PROVE IT by something besides chest-beating, fan-boys, and words, words, words.
     
  22. Muddy3

    Muddy3 Registered Member

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  23. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    While there are die-hard Webroot users who are very happy with it and will continue to use it, I don't think it offers much for anyone else. It's very light, which is good. But there are other light antiviruses which actually have decent detection rates.

    I hope that Webroot continues to be developed, but I feel that it needs a lot of work to be able to compete with the top antiviruses. Hopefully this happens, rather than it being discontinued, which would be a shame.
     
  24. osmandemi

    osmandemi Registered Member

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    I use my old PC. Webroot is best light antivirus .which antivirus is light ?
     
  25. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    There are several options. Since discussions about what AV is best are frowned upon, I've sent you a PM.
     
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