Other Software > Found Deals and Discounts

Online Armor on Giveawayoftheday (May 26, 2009)

<< < (2/4) > >>

tomos:
One nice thing about the offer is that there is no need to install it now, just need to 'purchase' it. Can then install it at a time of your own choosing.
-Dormouse (May 26, 2009, 05:36 PM)
--- End quote ---

If i'd a known that :(  ah well :)

J-Mac:
Well this prompted me to finally install a software firewall again. I had been running NOD32, a router w/SPI, and a host of other small but effective scanners, HIPS protection, etc. ever since I tested what was supposed to be the first full release of Sunbelt's redone Sygate firewall - and it messed up my system so bad I had to reinstall Windows.

OA appeared to install OK, but after the required reboot it immediately jumped into a BSOD. Now who said these don't happen anymore??  :-\

Fortunately I have Who Crashed, a utility for reading crash dumps that I found right here on DC. Sure enough, the culprit was oadriver.sys. I had to power off using the Power button and restart that way. All seems to be OK now but I am naturally very leary. Also I turned off all protections except OA's firewall itself and HIPS protection. NOD32 covers the rest for me and I don't want or need two programs looking after the same things.

Jim

cyberdiva:
Jim, according to some of the stuff I read yesterday before deciding to install Online Armor, the initial installation often produces what looks like a BSOD, except that after some minutes it revives.  Someone, perhaps Michael Horowitz in his CNET review, took OA to task for not warning people that this was normal and expected behavior during the initial installation.

I've now got OA installed and running, though I'm still a little uneasy with it.  It produces a mini-BSOD for about 45 seconds every time I reboot.  That, too, was something someone mentioned, but I'm finding it VERY annoying.  The last thing I wanted was to increase my already too-long bootup time.  :(   OA also seems to have caused some havoc with my system tray, with some icons appearing only on some reboots.  My linksys wireless network icon, for example, at times simply isn't there, even though I can access the Internet.  When that happens, if I right-click on the bottom taskbar and click on Customize, NO icons are listed!  This never happened before I installed OA.  I'll probably start experimenting with what I can turn off and what I want to leave on, since all I really want is a firewall.

J-Mac:
Jim, according to some of the stuff I read yesterday before deciding to install Online Armor, the initial installation often produces what looks like a BSOD, except that after some minutes it revives.  Someone, perhaps Michael Horowitz in his CNET review, took OA to task for not warning people that this was normal and expected behavior during the initial installation.

I've now got OA installed and running, though I'm still a little uneasy with it.  It produces a mini-BSOD for about 45 seconds every time I reboot.  That, too, was something someone mentioned, but I'm finding it VERY annoying.  The last thing I wanted was to increase my already too-long bootup time.  :(   OA also seems to have caused some havoc with my system tray, with some icons appearing only on some reboots.  My linksys wireless network icon, for example, at times simply isn't there, even though I can access the Internet.  When that happens, if I right-click on the bottom taskbar and click on Customize, NO icons are listed!  This never happened before I installed OA.  I'll probably start experimenting with what I can turn off and what I want to leave on, since all I really want is a firewall.
-cyberdiva (May 27, 2009, 03:12 PM)
--- End quote ---

Seriously? A BSOD as part of its standard behavior? Wow. I have already disabled most of the extra "frills" that are not firewall-related; why do developers think they have to add features not related to the intent of their software? Auto-scanning for programs that they have on a blacklist? Since when is that a firewall thing? Anti-Spyware, OK, but not in a firewall. I want a firewall to monitor network traffic and stop the bad guys. Not try to act like a mini-A/S & A/V program.

Thanks!

Jim

cyberdiva:
Just a quick follow-up to say that I've now uninstalled Online Armor.  I did so for two reasons.  One is that, in response to problems I wrote about in the OA forum, someone there who seemed to be knowledgeable told me that yes, I probably had made a mistake replacing Sygate with Online Armor, since OA and McAfee Enterprise are known not to play nicely together.  Had I been happier with OA, I might well have given up on McAfee, which has protected me well but has also caused me a number of problems.  However, I ran into enough problems with OA in the short time I used it that I decided to remove it.  I'll probably try to put Sygate back, at least for now.  It never had a problem co-existing with McAfee.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page