App Review 360 Document Protector - Quick Review

[Evjl's Rain]

 

[ravi prakash saini]

very good video,I am using 360 document protector,it needs improvement but it is free of cost so I have no right to complain ,however I can make suggestions but their support not replying back

 

[AtlBo]

Thanks for a very helpful video @Evjl's Rain

This app works this way:

-Backs up automatically pre-ransomware event (does not detect or block ransomware)
-Backs up newly created files only, not those that exist when it is installed. These have to be manually saved to be backed up.
-Backs up from all locations, including Programs areas and AppData folders. Yes, it does back up from remote drives but good luck finding your files in the clutter

This is really messy. The program is backing up every log that updates, temporary Chrome cache files, pictures from internet pages, etc. This is because there isn't any way to set protection zones. As a result, so many files that aren't important are being backed up, and this is using a large amount of space on the drive. Protection zones would solve the problem, but even if Qihoo just added a sort by location facility to the backup folder, at least I could find the files I want to restore.

One thought about this kind of program. If malware writers come up with ransomware that alters files but does not change the file name or extension, what would happen? Would the change be saved to the 360 Document Protector folder in place of the former file? Then the program would have done nothing to protect the files. Really going to have to get clever about document protection to solve this problem.

For now, this program did one thing for me. It showed me that ransomware is messier even than I realized and is one thing to get rid of once and for all.

 

[AtlBo]

very good video,I am using 360 document protector,it needs improvement but it is free of cost so I have no right to complain ,however I can make suggestions but their support not replying back

@ravi prakash saini, I am confident they are reading them and processing them. There have been times when I sent feedback and didn't get a response and then times when they have responded. Overall, the response rate has been good for me however 8/10 or so. I think it could be that they view some of the feedback as from someone not expecting a reply...just a notification. I don't think it's that the company is understaffed or careless. Hope this helps some.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Thanks for a very helpful video @Evjl's Rain

This app works this way:

-Backs up automatically pre-ransomware event (does not detect or block ransomware)
-Backs up newly created files only, not those that exist when it is installed. These have to be manually saved to be backed up.
-Backs up from all locations, including Programs areas and AppData folders. Yes, it does back up from remote drives but good luck finding your files in the clutter

This is really messy. The program is backing up every log that updates, temporary Chrome cache files, pictures from internet pages, etc. This is because there isn't any way to set protection zones. As a result, so many files that aren't important are being backed up, and this is using a large amount of space on the drive. Protection zones would solve the problem, but even if Qihoo just added a sort by location facility to the backup folder, at least I could find the files I want to restore.

One thought about this kind of program. If malware writers come up with ransomware that alters files but does not change the file name or extension, what would happen? Would the change be saved to the 360 Document Protector folder in place of the former file? Then the program would have done nothing to protect the files. Really going to have to get clever about document protection to solve this problem.

For now, this program did one thing for me. It showed me that ransomware is messier even than I realized and is one thing to get rid of once and for all.

I can confirm it CAN protect against this kind of attack. spora didn't change the file extension but 360 could still backup the files before the damage took place

 

[AtlBo]

I can confirm it CAN protect against this kind of attack. spora didn't change the file extension but 360 could still backup the files before the damage took place

How clever of Qihoo. Thanks for the heads up @Evjl's Rain. Always right on time with the goods and with the best reviews!

Hmmm. I just suggested to Qihoo that they add detection of apps that want to edit files and then start with a whitelist of known good apps. Then user could decide what to allow beyond that. Maybe that isn't needed, just the ability to choose protection zones.

 

[Atlas147]

Looks like a really paranoid backup setting to me, ultimately if you have a ton of files and you do a bunch of editing on them the backup is gonna be huge and not feasible. If you are targeting smaller portions of files or have specific important files that you want to back up then maybe this could be useful for you.

Otherwise I think using cloud back ups will be more feasible for files that you are constantly editing because there will always be a copy of the file in the cloud and some cloud setups allow for you to revert to the previous saved state.

 

[TheMalwareMaster]

The program look nice, it also backups ransom notes (how? Wasn't the backup made before the ranomware could actually encrypt the file and drop the ransom notes?). @Evjl's Rain there is a specific section for ransomware recovery and decrypting already encrypted files (not the one you used in this video). It would be interesting to see how it works

 

[AtlBo]

@TheMalwareMaster any time a new file is created the program backs up the file. But it's messy. It saves a changed file too but as an additional file. This is apparently how it protects. If ransomware runs, you have the ransomware copy and the original copy in the backed up files area. Another messy element of the program is that it saves new files from everywhere on the C disk including userspace areas and program areas. At least it does back up files on remote drives. Wish there was at least a sort element for the header of the backed up files list. In all the temp files and logs it's hard to find normal doc folder files.

One thing about this program that I just now realized. It has a setting for deciding how long to keep each backup file. The default is 30 days see pic so maybe this is how the program keeps down disk usage somehow? I guess this is now a question for me. Maybe it checks to see if there is a more recent version of a file before auto-deleting after 30 days I don't know.

 

[AtlBo]

Claims to detect malware, but I changed a file in a folder on desktop and saved and it saved a separate copy of the file. I don't know what this means about the mechanism in the program. Here is all the help that can be found:

Why do you need 360 Document Protector?

At any rate, restoring a large number of files to various areas would be very difficult. There isn't a log or anything to help and the files are simply restored to a single folder. There would be reference to the original path in the backup area, but it would be painstaking to search them all out. Again messy.

At the end of everything, I use it with AppCheck Free. It is something, even tho it's probably not needed. I have Comodo Firewall with HIPs on to monitor files areas, and unrecognized will run only restricted. In most cases I suspect it would do the job, but it would require extensive testing to see. Would be alot easier if Qihoo would explain exactly what the program does in a formal way with documented Help. No such thing in the program.

 

[BearHug]

Thanks a lot!