Have an opinion on DefenseWall HIPPS??

[Curt]

I'm having a hard time figuring out what to think about SoftSphere's DefenseWall HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System), which will be 'Todays Offer' on Monday at Bits du Jour.

DefenseWall HIPS divides all applications into 'Trusted' and 'Untrusted' groups. Untrusted applications are launched with limited rights to modification of critical system parameters, and only in the virtual zone that is specially allocated for them, thus separating them from trusted applications. In the case of penetration by malicious software via one of the untrusted applications (web browsers etc), it cannot harm your system and may be closed with just one click!

Build-in untrusted applications list:
Internet Explorer, Outlook, Outlook Express, Opera, Mozilla, FireFox, SeaMonkey, AOL Explorer, Netscape, Maxthon, Avant, Slim browser, K-Meleon, NetCaptor, ICQ, ICQ Light, Yahoo IM, AOL IM, AIM PRO, Trillian, Google Talk, Miranda IM, QIP, mIRC, eMule, Azureus, BitComet, BitTorrent, Peer2Mail, BitTornado, LimeWire, StrongDC, uTorrent, The Bat!, Eudora, PocoMail, IncrediMail.

Have you tried or heard about this program, and have a say?
Normal price is $29 - will you recommend it at $10 > $20 ??

[mouser]

sounds interesting..

[AdIyhc]

Not sure if you know this, there's a yearly subscription fee. You have to search their forums for it.
There are free alternatives to Defensewall like GesWall, Sandboxie and Bufferzone.

[mouser]

yearly subscription fee 

thanks for the heads up - the only program i'd consider with a yearly subscription fee is an antivirus utility.

[dk70]

Dont know product but if I was interested I would search "defensewall" at Wilders Security http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php They compare like crazy and hits will present alternatives, better or not. Perhaps you really want free Sandboxie but didnt realize it 

Anyway, judging from 10 min racing around hits it seems to be among "approved" programs. Perhaps easier to use and lighter on resources than the rest.

Also check out their forum http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/index.php?showforum=193 improved GUI is under way. Alive and kicking. Keeping a changelog of major problems acknowledged and fixed is also a plus.

"Ilya Rabinovich" is author of program so check all his posts at Wilders http://www.wilderssecurity.com/search.php?do=finduser&u=38272 not sure link works but click his username in posts from defensewall search. Sure he is promoting but as with the changelog thread it is also showing an interest. If program was crap and author only spamming away he would not survive there for long, 244 posts is enough to show colors. He seems to be ok http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=895830&postcount=18 though a signature showing he represent Defensewall would be nice, strange Wilders dont require that.

How easy it is to live is probably going to decide use or not so make use of Wilders accumulated security "gossip". Of course get trial today, you have 1-2 days to test locally if offer is time limited to 24 hours. Here is link to the 10$ "prolongation" fee for "lifetime" license https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp?contractId=1653997

[mouser]

dk70, great point about checking wilders - that is definitely the place to go to get opinions on security software.

[AdIyhc]

I think there is a nag screen if your subscription ended. Not sure if they will change that annoying factor.
You can visit AV-Comparatives for a report on these software.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

It's under Comparatives - Comparative of various protection tools. Nice Review.

PS: Can't link to their subpages due to their policy.

[mwb1100]

Not sure if you know this, there's a yearly subscription fee.

It looks like this is a bit different from AV subscriptions in that the program is still useful after 1 year - you just don't get upgrades:

http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t43026.html

So, you don't get a lifetime upgrade license, but you are not required to pay a subscription to continue using what you bought.

edit:  on further reading, it seems that while the functionality of DefenseWall continues after the 1 year period (and you are apparently able to manually update - just not automatically), the program will display a nag screen at each start-up after that period unless you pay $10 to 'prolongate'.

That seems rather heavy-handed (and unacceptable to me).