Wormguard and Windows XP

Hi everyone,

Lately I have been doing some extra testing of Wormguard 3.1 on Windows XP and I am happy to say we now recommend anyone wanting to try Wormguard NOW can do so with a little effort - see below. With Wormguard 4 still in heavy development (we intend to make it an extremely powerful anti-worm tool unlike anyone imagines ) there is a need for the rising number of XP machines to be protected.

With Windows XP Service Pack 1 installed, I have found that compatibility is very good. Anyone intending to install is advised to check the known issues page here, please make sure you have Service Pack 1 installed as it is required.

http://wormguard.diamondcs.com.au/xphelp.htm

If you find that Wormguard shows any issues not described here, or have any comments, feel free to email support@diamondcs.com.au

 

Thanks for the good news Gavin! I know you are testing things thoroughly so if even you say so it must be really ok
So happy protecting the XPs!

 

When I tried WG with XP before the service pack 1, it broke NAV's live update feature. The only way I was able to get it working again was to use system restore, does anyone know if this has been fixed now?

 

Seeing Gavin's remark about required is to have SP1 installed, would suppose it is.
If still anything of the kind would happen, please post!

 

Anything that uses a special shortcut can have a problem. If you create a shortcut to LiveUpdate.exe you may find that this will fix the problem - it does for the Windows XP Help and Support center

I'll keep looking for alternate ways to get around this, but the way the shortcuts work seems to be a serious problem for the execution hook, which is a Microsoft implementation and can't be changed. I will keep trying though

 

Gavin:

I don't have Win XP SP-1 installed on my machine and do not intend to do so.

Do I understand that I cannot install Wormguard and operate it properly at all without SP-1 ?

Ed

 

Hi EdBB,

It is very likely that Wormguard will be ok without SP1, as many users did try it and found it was ok. I would not say you should try it, but you can - we can't be sure that it will work and it is not supported, but there won't be any sudden explosions if you do

 

Gavin:

I downloaded WG and had no difficulty installing it, thanks to the tips on your web site.

The program seems to run smoothly and doesn't appear to interfere with Panda Platinum v.6.25.02, Pest Patrol, and anything else on my machine.

As I mentioned in the TDS-3 forum, I guess that I will go for the "3 pack special" on Monday when you open for business. A little holiday present from me to me .....

Cheers,

Ed

 

I wanted to install anti-trojan software to increase the security on my machine. In researching my available options, I discovered two that seemed to be the best. TDS-3 & Trojan Hunter. I was very impressed with the suite that DiamondCS offers that includes WG, TDS-3, and Port Explorer(not to mention the action pack offer which seems to be quite a bargin). I will admit, Trojan Hunter seems easier to use, but I'm willing to put in the time of learning TDS.
The problem that I encountered was that WG seemed to conflict with my Norton System Works 2003 software. Not only would live update not work, but I couldn't use the Speed Disk defragmenter. Somewhere I read that WG 4 will be more compatible with Windows XP, will it also be more compatible with Norton System Works 2003? I really like your software, but I have to confess, I don't want to upset the peace within my system. I've been waiting to purchase your software due to these incompatabilities. I was hoping that these problems will be fixed with your new releases. When are those expected?
Thanks for your feedback,
Dustin

 

Hi Dustin,
its hard to say when Wormguard 4 will be released. In its current state at the moment it is detecting worms, has driver based execution protection and the interface is mostly done, but there are a lot of steps between where we are at now and the final release. At best I would say a few months.

I hope to do some sort of "status" update regarding Wormguard 4 with some screenshots and feature list when we are in the beta testing phase.

-Jason-

 

Hi Dustin,

On Windows 2000 at home I have no problems with those programs, can you give us more information ? Feel free to email me gavin@diamondcs.com.au - please do

If you try running LiveUpdate manually is there a problem ?
eg launch this file

C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\LUALL.EXE

If it is blocked, then can you add this to the allow list ? This should of course then fix the problem

 

After installing Worm Guard, I tried to run System Works speed disk (degragmenter) and I got an error message similar to this:
LUALL.EXE missing.

 

Hi Dustin, can you locate the missing file anywhere in a wrong place on your system or the S.W. install software?

 

I already fixed it by using GoBack. I reverted my hard drive back to before the install of Worm Guard. Problem solved. My initial question was regarding Worm Guard 4. I want to ensure that it will "play well with others." I'm essentially sold on the software suite package that DiamondCS offers with TDS, WG, & Port Explorer. However, I refuse to add software to my system that won't cooperate with my existing setup. I would understand if we were talking about some off-the-wall program, but I've heard that both TDS-3 and WormGuard have issues getting along with reputable softwares like Norton products and Windows. I've also experienced it first-hand. Some comments in this forum suggest that the problems are NOT with the DiamondCS products, but in my humble opinion it is the developer's job at DiamondCS to ensure this compatibility. You can't expect Microsoft to alter Windows every time a new software company releases a product.

 

Hi Dustin,

I dont know how you could get such a problem - Speed Disk is not LUALL.EXE, that is LiveUpdate. The ONLY shortcut that points at LiveUpdate is the one that says "LiveUpdate" so maybe you should try reinstalling the app to fix it ?

No such problems for me, everything runs well together on a few systems including my home PC.

 

I may have got the file names mixed up. However, both live update and speed disk would not work. I was able to get live update to work by opening up the AV and clicking on the icon inside the application, but speed disk would not work at all. I fixed the problem by using GoBack to revert back to prior to installing Worm Guard. I just wanted to let you know that I will purchase your software when it gets along with both Windows and Symantec products. Hopefully, that time will come with the release of version 4.

 

I too have experienced this wierdness

XP Pro w/SP1 and NAV2002 before any wormguard or PE was installed.

Installed Wormguard and PE 1.35. No problems.
Activated wormguard, no problems.
Installed PE 1.50. no problems.

went to check wormguard to make sure it was still active. It wasn't. So I click to activate, get the WGUARD.INF issue as posted on website. Follow those instructions, No Problems.

Notice that NAV hasn't updated sigs in a while, open NAV, click the GUI Live Update button; MSGBox "Norton Antivirus was unable to run Live Update, Live update may have been uninstalled".... Goto Start, Norton Antivirus, Live update "Symantec\LiveUpdate\LUAll.exe"...Runs fine.

Somewhere in the vast myraid of registry keys that NAV searches/activates when it is launched, that GUI Live update button key has been nuked somewhere.

 

Hmm ok interesting thanks..

It must be a "special" shortcut
Which does seem to be a problem for the older ShellExecute hook used by Wormguard. I guess that disabling protection could fix it.. good to see LUALL.EXE works for you too. I have managed to reproduce the problem, and I ran the setup in the LiveUpdate folder reinstalling it - which fixed the problem

And of course we don't anticipate any problems with the new kernel level execution hooks for Wormguard 4

 

Re: problems with Systemworks....
I recently spoke with a beta tester for Norton who told me that while Norton AV may be one of the best on the market, NSW will screw up your entire system, cannot be totally removed(with normal procedures), and will "take over" your system creating problems with running programs, installing, and removing pgms, and in general create havoc over all.
I HAD it on my puter for a while and found out the hard way that was true. Had to reformat HD and reinstall XP Pro from scratch.
So far Wormguard seems to work ok without any conflicts on my puter now.

 

Hi FlaDownloder,
sorry to read you had to experience that the hard way. But glad to read too WG does work nice for you now.