norky
Premium
join:2002-12-02
Lithia, FL
1 edit | Any updated thoughts on Vipre?
With the release of Counterspy 3, I took another look at Vipre. Has anyone given this a thorough testing? |
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI | I just played the video demo. I'm interested in it because I just learned about Michael St. Neitzel joining Sunbelt and heading the Vipre team. It should become a really fine program with Mike there. |
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norky
Premium
join:2002-12-02
Lithia, FL
1 edit | reply to norky
That's certainly good news. I know FRISK and F-Prot aren't huge in the home here, but It's a solid company/av.
I really want to like it as I've always had good dealings with sunbelt. |
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SIR TMG
join:2004-03-06
Madison, WI | reply to norky
I'm using the newest one out 3.1.2252 and it took 1 min. Super fast and I love this new one. Can't find one thing to complain about now this is very odd. |
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jaykaykay
4 Ever Young
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-13
Scottsdale, AZ | reply to Mele20
Are you going to install it? If so, it would be nice to have some feedback from you.  |
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Diazruanova
Premium
join:2004-08-13
Mexico
| reply to norky
I have been using CounterSpy for a very long time and it has been a fine program but a heavy one on computer resources and looong definition downloading times and besides it was not able to just use it as scan on demand,
Version 2.x was a definite improvement and it used on my Pentium 4 2.3Ghz with W2K PC about:
CPU Cycles: 0% (unlike the 2% about every 5 seconds of ver. 1.x)
RAM: around 40 Mb in a couple of background active processes
Not that bad, BUT when it came to downloading definitions time, it took forever each time(once a day)that it downloaded the daily definitions file and it was also kind of slow to scan on demand my drives
...now for the latest Ver.3.1.2252 the measurements are:
CPU Cycles: 0%
RAM: 24Mb on two processes
Def.download speed: no more than 15 seconds installation included
Increased dramatically scan time for my drives (this has not been measured but it feels much more speedier)
Of course you can disable active protection and only use it as on demand scan, but with this low resources usage, who would want to do that? The GUI has been improved and it looks very nice, I like this program but the very best part of it lies on the people that is behind the company like Alex Eckelberry and Eric Howes that take personal care of even the most modest user: very rare indeed.
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Diazruanova |
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Fredra
Undesirable Alien
join:2000-04-08
Nepean, ON
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to norky
I was one of the MANY "beta" testers. Now that it is released, I upgraded my CounterSpy and VIPRE is installed on one of my PCs.
If you use FF, be careful (uncheck bookmarks in History Cleaner). I have been told that this is going to be fixed shortly.
Just my .0000002 cents
Cheers
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The Endless |
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Diazruanova
Premium
join:2004-08-13
Mexico
| said by Fredra  :I was one of the MANY "beta" testers. Now that it is released, I upgraded my CounterSpy and VIPRE is installed on one of my PCs. If you use FF, be careful (uncheck bookmarks in History Cleaner). I have been told that this is going to be fixed shortly. Just my .0000002 cents Cheers It is weird, I do not have that particular option on CS 3.1.2252, only:
FireFox 2 Cookies
FireFox 2 Temporary internet files
FireFox 2 URL History
That is it, there is not a single mention about FFx bookmarks
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Diazruanova |
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Fredra
Undesirable Alien
join:2000-04-08
Nepean, ON | My reference was on VIPRE, and NOT on CounterSpy 3.x.
Sorry for any misunderstanding.
Cheers
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The Endless |
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norky
Premium
join:2002-12-02
Lithia, FL | reply to norky
I'm going to install the VIPRE demo tomorrow. I'll post some thoughts after I play around a bit. |
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
1 edit | reply to jaykaykay
said by jaykaykay :Are you going to install it? If so, it would be nice to have some feedback from you. I installed it on a virtual machine running XP Pro SP1. It was a disaster. It took forever to do a right click scan of a file and eventually locked the computer solidly. I couldn't do anything. I was trying to shut down Firefox which it had fixated on and I was using Task Manager and couldn't shut down Fx, couldn't kill the Vipre process from Task Manager (which ordinarily is good as it is protecting itself but in this situation was very bad). I could not call up Vipre out of the taskbar to kill it that way. I also could not right click on the Vipre tray icon to kill it. I couldn't shut down. The computer was locked and I was not wanting to pull the plug on the tower as that would shut down the host computer improperly as well the guest that was locked up by Vipre. I should have been able to minimize the virtual computer so I could see the host computer's taskbar, etc. but Vipre had everything locked on the virtual computer so I couldn't even minimize the screen. Anyhow, I finally was able to get Vipre to open its main window and I disabled the active scanner which was busy scanning..what I don't know. I had to try three times to disable the active scanner by unchecking the box which would recheck itself. Then I was able to shut down the virtual machine but it took TEN MINUTES for it to shut down! I guess I will have to restart it in Safe Mode to be able to remove Vipre.
Scanning was extremely slow. I just did a "quick scan" before all the problems started and it took 5 minutes to scan 2900 files, 21 processes, 19,360 registry items. Scanning was always very slow when I used Counterspy. I did a right click scan of eicar file that I had on the computer and it didn't react, but maybe that file has something wrong with it? It was when I started Fx2 that it locked the computer. Fx had about 20 tabs to load and they took FOREVER. I think Vipre was trying to scan them or something and Fx was being kept from opening the tabs and then Fx was locked by Vipre and then everything started to deteriorate.
Even if it had worked great I personally would not want it because it is basically unconfigurable and I require a highly configurable AV. The HIPS is extremely basic and only allows for allow always or deny always and has practically no configurability so it was unacceptable for me. I think Vipre is designed almost exclusively for newbies and average users. For them, the lack of configurability and the lack of useful interaction, etc. is probably a good thing.
Edit: I got it uninstalled ok but missed getting into safe mode when I booted. It was well behaved once the computer booted and I was able easily to right click on the tray icon and stop it from running. It evidently earlier was starting Fx that made Vipre go crazy. I didn't like that in the middle of uninstalling that IE was called and took me to Sunbelt website to tell them why I was uninstalling it. That calling should happen after the uninstall and should not call IE. It should call my default browser. IE users won't care about that but IE is becoming less and less used and Mozilla is going to drag IE (since Microsoft either can't or won't) into the future and make it standards compliant with a Canvas plugin and later Screaming Monkey plugin which will allow Mozilla's entire javascript engine to be plugged into IE. I think it is way beyond the time that software writers stop hard coding calling IE when it is not the users default browser. I give negative points to software developers that still seem to think that IE is the only browser. (It is a minor thing but still something I note).
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"The same ferocity that our founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic". Al Gore, The Assault on Reason |
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norky
Premium
join:2002-12-02
Lithia, FL | I'm bummed to hear that.. It is only just released so maybe with time it will improve. |
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
| In all fairness, note that I installed it on SERVICE PACK 1 of XP Pro. It didn't say anything about requiring SP2 or higher, but maybe that was because Sunbelt thought no one might still be using SP1 on a computer. When I have some time, I'll install it on a computer with XP Pro SP2. I had trouble with Avira 8 beta on SP1 but no trouble with Avira 8 after it was released. I tried it on this particular virtual computer because it currently had no AV so I didn't have to uninstall an AV so I could try Vipre. My other virtual machines are running Avira free so I'll have to uninstall Avira before I can try Vipre. I think a well designed program should run on Service Pack 1 but that's my opinion and it is entirely possible that Sunbelt didn't test it on SP 1. I think they should state though that it needs Service 2 or above for XP if that is its requirement.
I'm especially curious about how it works on Vista but unfortunately, my Vista install is on MS Virtual PC and that lacks both snapshot ability and cloning ability which makes one more reluctant to test software. VMWare is much better for testing software as you can make a snapshot before the test (which I forgot to do this time) and can also clone the machine so recovering from a mess is easy. I don't think it was because I was using Fx 2 on that computer that Vipre seemed to lock on it as the tabs loaded but there again, it wasn't Fx3 which I have on another virtual machine...but I have to remove Avira to try Vipre there.
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"The same ferocity that our founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic". Al Gore, The Assault on Reason |
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jaykaykay
4 Ever Young
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-13
Scottsdale, AZ | reply to norky
SP1 or no, it sounds like a total disaster and not something that I would even want to consider. I have
XP Pro SP2, but nonetheless, I appreciate your trying it out. Thank you so much for the detailed report you've shared. |
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Diazruanova
Premium
join:2004-08-13
Mexico
| said by jaykaykay :SP1 or no, it sounds like a total disaster and not something that I would even want to consider. I have XP Pro SP2, but nonetheless, I appreciate your trying it out. Thank you so much for the detailed report you've shared. You can not judge a product by just one user experience, IMO what happened to Mele is an isolated one that thousands of users are of course not having. I installed VIPRE for beta testing ad nauseum and NEVER had any such type of experience nor did have crashes of any kind and I even ran it along side(with it´s own real time protection enabled) bitdefender without getting even the slightest decrease in performance. Mele´s experience was a total disaster but VIPRE is not
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Diazruanova |
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norwegian
Premium
join:2005-02-15
Outback
 ·WestNet Broadband
| said by Diazruanova :You can not judge a product by just one user experience, IMO what happened to Mele is an isolated one that thousands of users are of course not having. Deja Vu?
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke |
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Diazruanova
Premium
join:2004-08-13
Mexico
| said by norwegian :said by Diazruanova :You can not judge a product by just one user experience, IMO what happened to Mele is an isolated one that thousands of users are of course not having. Deja Vu? Oh, I was already missing you, where were you my friend?
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Diazruanova |
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tempnexus
Premium
join:1999-08-11
Boston, MA | reply to norky
It might be biased towards an Virtual Environment...so the experience might be different with REAL hardware and not emulated. |
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norwegian
Premium
join:2005-02-15
Outback
·WestNet Broadband
2 edits | reply to Diazruanova
Still here, sorry for not sounding out.
After my last comment, I didn't get to read your reply before it was all deleted so I missed how your interpretation and what your comments were ment to be...
I wasn't aiming at being disrespectful, just you get sick of "how bad it is" no matter what software we talk of...
Back on topic, might give this a play shortly to see what it is all about.
edit: vocab addition
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke |
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Fredra
Undesirable Alien
join:2000-04-08
Nepean, ON
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to jaykaykay
Hi jaykaykay
Crying "wolf" ALL the time, does not mean that there is a wolf at the door.
Her experience is not shared by many who are using VIPRE. It is working well for many users. Improvements are and will be implemented over time.
Did she make any attempt to inform Sunbelt?
Cheers
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The Endless |
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