VoodooShield discussion

[danb]

Hello Dan....some time ago it was reported a few times that when switching User VS would not load unless VS was Disabled in the Admin account. It seemed only a few were experiencing this.I was one and reported it in the other forum. You said twice you would do the fix. I stopped using VS a few betas back with the hope that the issue would soon be fixed. Today I did a clean install of the latest beta and not only is the problem still there, it is worse. Now I am unable to use VS in any account other then Admin.

Hmmm, are you using standard / limited user? I do not remember talking about disabling VS in the admin account... you should not have to do this at all .

Can you please post the exact steps you go through to reproduce the error? I will fix this asap... sorry about that, thank you!

 

[danb]

Has anybody else noticed VS409+ briefly hanging log-offs and shut-downs?

Sometimes it's barely noticeable, others you can see the notice clearly on the screen for a second, but none long enough to read off which the culprit is. However, several times I have exited VS and stopped the service, and log-off hangs don't happen--or if they do they are so quick-fast I can't spot them. And naturally M$ does not provide log-off or shut-down audit capabilities (see Windows 7 Hangs Up When Logging Off ).

Yeah, VS is saving the settings to the database when when windows is shutting down and logging off. I can probably remove this from the shutdown code, and just have VS save the settings every 10 minutes or so. Or there might be another event that can fire this code... like when the right click context menu closes or something. Let me see what will work best. Thank you!

 

[danb]

Poor phrasing on my part. @lowdetection noticed what I saw in the Whitelist:
View attachment 172786

Some of those have not (yet) been installed, some may never be. As far as monitoring goes, most security apps will check out a new arrival--on writing--and then forget about it. None, AFAIK, will actively explore all the drives as part of its setup... Except VS. Having said that, VS is the only anti-exe I have experience with, so others may have the same approach.

But I do remember thinking that since Avast! liked hammering my hosts file for some obfuscated reason, I thought it would be worth adding the D:\Basement\_Dog-pile_\* where I keep my hosts backup to the exclusions list. Just in case.

@Rainwalker :
View attachment 172797

Enjoy!

I think I know what you mean now...

Basically, VS currently works on execution only... and not on folder monitoring. Folder monitoring code is already implemented, but I have not activated it yet. If we were to activate the folder monitoring code, there would certainly be an overall performance hit, especially when it comes to HDD utilization. Once we release VS 4.0, I might play around with it some more, but please keep in mind, we are unable to scan each file with the blacklist scanner... we can only scan files on execution with the blacklist scanner. We can however, scan all the files with VoodooAi, but I am just not sure it is worth it... it is probably better just to scan on execution. Thank you!

 

[shukla44]

Hello @danb , i have one suggestion, i don't know if this is already implemented in v4 or not 'cause i am using 3.59 stable. I would love if importing & exporting settings also included command-lines.

 

[askmark]

I think I know what you mean now...

Basically, VS currently works on execution only... and not on folder monitoring. Folder monitoring code is already implemented, but I have not activated it yet. If we were to activate the folder monitoring code, there would certainly be an overall performance hit, especially when it comes to HDD utilization. Once we release VS 4.0, I might play around with it some more, but please keep in mind, we are unable to scan each file with the blacklist scanner... we can only scan files on execution with the blacklist scanner. We can however, scan all the files with VoodooAi, but I am just not sure it is worth it... it is probably better just to scan on execution. Thank you!

Forgive me if I'm wrong but it may be that @gorblimey is concerned about the apps on his d: drive being automatically whitelisted by the snapshot without being scanned first?

 

[Rainwalker]

I think I know what you mean now...

Basically, VS currently works on execution only... and not on folder monitoring. Folder monitoring code is already implemented, but I have not activated it yet. If we were to activate the folder monitoring code, there would certainly be an overall performance hit, especially when it comes to HDD utilization. Once we release VS 4.0, I might play around with it some more, but please keep in mind, we are unable to scan each file with the blacklist scanner... we can only scan files on execution with the blacklist scanner. We can however, scan all the files with VoodooAi, but I am just not sure it is worth it... it is probably better just to scan on execution. Thank you!

All that I do is beginning with admin account, which VS is working fine in, I switch to guest account via Start Button. VS begins to load then shuts down. It used to be in earlier VS versions I could disable VS in admin account, switch and Vs would load on it's own. The latest beta will not allow loading in guest account after having loaded in admin account even after disabling in admin account. I looked at your screenshot and my 4.10 does not show the same. I am seeing "Use individual settings for each user".
Thanks

 

[shmu26]

All that I do is beginning with admin account, which VS is working fine in, I switch to guest account via Start Button. VS begins to load then shuts down. It used to be in earlier VS versions I could disable VS in admin account, switch and Vs would load on it's own. The latest beta will not allow loading in guest account after having loaded in admin account even after disabling in admin account. I looked at your screenshot and my 4.10 does not show the same. I am seeing "Use individual settings for each user".
Thanks

But if you first sign out of admin account, and then log into the secondary account, VS works right?

 

[Rainwalker]

But if you first sign out of admin account, and then log into the secondary account, VS works right?

It has been a while since I used an earlier beta that was working in the way I described. Two or three versions back. It seems to me I did not need to actually Log Out. I only switched user after disabling. Disabling being the operative word. And yes, now VS would load into Guest Account. With v. 4.10 I can only use VS in Admin account.

 

[lowdetection]

@danb I noted on my hard-disk the db files temporary take journal extension, on my SSD that not happen, is because of low speed of my HD?

Thank you.

 

[Rainwalker]

@Dan...I changed setting to what you posted in your screenshot. It made no difference.

 

[shmu26]

When you untick automatically allow program folders, there is a little delay in program launching, even if they were already whitelisted.
But if you run 410 at default settings, it is fast like a demon.

 

[Raka Daku]

Dan,
I am looking forward to vulnerable processes option.
Any chance to see vulnerable processes atleast in rules in the on-going betas & final?

 

[gorblimey]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but it may be that @gorblimey is concerned about the apps on his d: drive being automatically whitelisted by the snapshot without being scanned first?

You got it @askmark And yes I do think it's A Good Thing.

 

[dg17]

Upgraded to 4.10 over 4.08. No issues. No re reg. Token remained in program data and was dated 15/10/17 as previously.

 

[gorblimey]

Yeah, VS is saving the settings to the database when when windows is shutting down and logging off. I can probably remove this from the shutdown code, and just have VS save the settings every 10 minutes or so. Or there might be another event that can fire this code...

Dumb question time (it's what I do...): How many times in a session will the VS settings change and those changes need to be saved? We remember there is a "Save" button on every screen. And while I'm certainly not the sharpest brick in the wall, even I learnt that if you don't use it, your mods won't be there on the return trip! Hmmm. Are we talking about whitelisting etc? I'm not familiar with these mini-databases, the ones I work with are bigger, and have save-on-write: no record is releaseable unless written so all other users can see the catastrophe.

Thinking further, assume I've set an unattended job which will run in the BG while a minion checks its FaceBook/Torrent?Whatever... VS is now active on two fronts, and will need access to databases in both accounts, usually simultaneously... It seems to me you'll need to lock the relevant db file (record?), write it and unlock it in real time, hopefully before User A gets swapped out for User B... Alternatively, copy the Program Data databases to %AppData%, work both users in %AppData% and then copy changes back to Program Data when any user leaves... And maybe take the opportunity to replace the remaining %AppData% databases with the new Program Data databases. My Peroni is tasting b****y good right now, I think I'll have another :devil:.

 

[gorblimey]

Yeah, VS is saving the settings to the database when when windows is shutting down and logging off.

Ummm... mmmm. The VS Service should be running at Kernel, so the only thing it cares about is Shut-Down. And it should be able to write to Program Data regardless of which User is getting air-time at this moment. Is it totally stupid to load db updates onto the Service? At the very worst it needs only to write one or two records at Shut Down.

 

[milas]

Thank you @danb for the updated version. I was getting a lot of dism alerts so I hope this is fixed in the 4.10b version.

Edited: I believe the cleaning programs cause VS to re-register too.

Appreciate all the work that you do for us with VS.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Having a bad VS day today.
First when is VS in smart mode the shield stays blue when web apps are closed.
Now after resetting the white list the shield doesn't turn blue anymore.
Maybe a clean install of VS 4.10b will solve these problems?

 

[lowdetection]

Gandalf what say the developer log and the log about this? You tried to take a look at them to see why? Maybe you should send them to Dan.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Gandalf what say the developer log and the log about this? You tried to take a look at them to see why? Maybe you should send them to Dan.

lowdetection thanks for your answer.
I don't see any error or something in both logs.
And now it is working again, very strange....
EDIT: It must be something with VS, because when I launch portable Wise Disk Cleaner for the first time I get internet connection not detected error from VS while Wise Disk Cleaner just updated itself over that same internet connection.