Troubleshoot Anyone Seen a Great Standalone System Watcher Program?

[AtlBo]

Qihoo 360 has a good system watcher module, but I'm not sure how good it is after programs are installed. OS Armor is great for this obviously. Probably it will turn into what I am looking for. However, I still would like something that delivers great alerts that explain the potential risks of program activity on system settings.

I guess the closest thing I would say is WinPatrol. But development is skittish for the program. Also, I think I would be frustrated by the limitations of its monitoring, so I was hoping maybe I could find something under the radar that addresses this specific area. It would be really helpful to, for example, know if something was trying to use remote protocol or ftp.

I can kind of envision an app like this but idk. Looking at the Network mapping in Windows how cool would it be to be able to see system level/settings protection mapped like a network. That would be amazing...

 

[Sunshine-boy]

Eset HIPS xd(and firewall)

 

[AtlBo]

Good one @Sunshine-boy. I forgot to mention Comodo HIPs but Comodo isn't going to be on this PC. It's on other ones here, but I want to test on this PC).

C-HIPs is OK, but the alerts aren't specific enough for me. HIPs does what I would like, but the alerts just basically mention the HIPs classification rule of the protected setting that alerted program wants to change...not the specific element of the rule. Comodo sets the elements up in classifications. Also, it doesn't indicate the potential risk well...

I haven't tried ESET (no key), but from what I have seen its alerts are much better than Comodo's. That goes for Kas, BD, Emsi, and others too (even Qihoo). I think maybe Emsi simiplified the GUI more than they should though. Maybe that makes some of the alerts kind of confusing. Did a little for me the few times I worked with Emsi...

 

[conceptualclarity]

I guess the closest thing I would say is WinPatrol. But development is skittish for the program. Also, I think I would be frustrated by the limitations of its monitoring, so I was hoping maybe I could find something under the radar that addresses this specific area.

WinPatrol may not be all you want, but I would suggest getting it till you find something else that duplicates its function. You remember how it helped me against attack last year.

Good one @Sunshine-boy. I haven't tried ESET (no key), but from what I have seen its alerts are much better than Comodo's. That goes for Kas, BD, Emsi, and others too (even Qihoo).

When you say "That goes for Kas, BD, Emsi, and others too (even Qihoo)" do you mean ESET's alerts are better than theirs or their alerts are better than Comodo's?

 

[AtlBo]

When you say "That goes for Kas, BD, Emsi, and others too (even Qihoo)" do you mean ESET's alerts are better than theirs or their alerts are better than Comodo's?

Hey @conceptualclarity, I mean they are all better than Comodo with the alerts. Comodo's HIPs need much more context for the danger to be understood...

On WinPatrol...don't want to go there again. I tried years ago (free), and it frustrated me too much. I like what it can do, but I'd have to have a lifetime key and then I would feel like I bought the wrong thing...