v4 - Quiet Mode!

[Zeta]

Hi Everyone!

Can someone tell me a bit more about Quiet Mode please?

What exactly is Quiet Mode?

Should I have my PC Tools Firewall set to Quiet Mode or Not?

I have just uninstalled v3 and installed v4

Note!
I installed v4 as a Normal User

I found the installation for v4 a little confusing

1*
Even though I had uninstalled v3 first...
On installation... v4 told me there was already a file in C/Programs for - PC Tools Firewall Plus.
It asked me - " Do you want to install the new one anyway? "
I panicked and clicked - OK
Does this mean there are now 2 PC Tools Firewall Plus folders in my C/Programs?
One for v3
&
One for v4
OR
would the folder for v4 have replaced the one for v3 ?

2*
The installation asked me did I want to install PC Tools Adapter Drivers ... Or something like that anyway
Again...
I Panicked and Clicked - OK!

3*
When the computer had Restarted after installation...
I had a Pop Up asking me.... " Do You wish to Turn On - Quiet Mode? " ... " Allow or Block "
This Time...
Trying Not to Panic ... I Clicked - Block

* However...
When I tried to sign into AOL I had to click - Allow approximately 8 times

So I then opened PC Tools Firewall Plus and set it to - Quiet Mode

Did I do the right thing?

I have a little boy ... So I really can't have a Firewall with a million Allow or Block Pop ups a day.

The amount of pop ups in v3 were just about right for me and my family

With Quite Mode switched - ON
Will v4 work the same as v3 did ... Or will there be a difference?

Basically - What I'm asking....
Is my computer safe with Quiet Mode - ON ?


Thanks In Advance!

[Zeta]

Hi

Me Again!

Because I had originally clicked - Block ... When v4 asked me did I want Quiet Mode
And then I changed my mind!
Opened PC Tools Firewall ... Settings ... Filtering ... And set it to Quet Mode myself!
I am now just a bit unsure as to what my settings should be

When I went into - Settings ... Filtering
And changed Enable Enhanced Security Verification from ... Normal Mode - To - Quiet Mode.
I Did Click - Apply
But was I also supposed to Click - Refresh ?

Enable Enhanced Security Verification is still turned - ON
But I have now got it on Quiet Mode .... Rather then Normal Mode

Note!
I still have my PC Tools Firewall set as - Normal User

Can Someone from PC Tools please tell me if the following settings are correct...

Enable Firewall - ON

Application Filtering - ON

Enable Enhanced Security Verification - ON
Normal Mode - OFF
Quite Mode - ON

Packet Filtering Enabled - ON

Enable Stealth Mode - OFF

Enable Stateful Packet Inspection - OFF


Also...
I have noticed that when I first turn on my computer... There is a massive spike of my Core 2 Quad CPU
100%

And...
Things like IE7 are taking slightly longer to open and close.

Could this be to do with one of my Firewall settings?
Maybe.... Enable Enhanced Security Verification ?


Can someone give me some much needed advice please!

[hawkwind]

Hi, the only thing i would change in your settings is to turn Enable Stealth Mode and Enable Stateful Packet Inspection on.

I myself have turned Enable Enhanced Security Verification off as my young son uses the computer and it was having too many pop ups for him.
I already have a hips program so i do not need that feature anyway.

[Zeta]

Hi Hawkind

Hi, the only thing i would change in your settings is to turn Enable Stealth Mode and Enable Stateful Packet Inspection on.

I myself have turned Enable Enhanced Security Verification off as my young son uses the computer and it was having too many pop ups for him.
I already have a hips program so i do not need that feature anyway.

Thank You For Your Reply!

I now realise that Normal Mode & Quiet Mode ... Are 2 different Modes for Enable Enhanced Security Verification

And that this Normal Mode & Quiet Mode have nothing to do with PC Tools Firewall Plus being set to ... Normal User or Expert User


Once I set Enable Enhanced Security Verification to Quiet Mode... The Pop Ups Stopped!

Unfortunately there is obviously something seriously wrong with Enable Enhanced Security Verification
As it causes constant Spikes of my Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz CPU
When my little lad tried to play his online game... I thought the computer was going to blow up.
My CPU was constantly at 100% in all four cores.

I have now turned Enable Enhanced Security Verification - OFF

I presume Enable Enhanced Security Verification in v4 ... Is the same thing as Enable Protection Against Code Injection in v3
As Enable Protection Against Code Injection in v3 was turned OFF by default anyway...
I am hoping that by turning OFF Enable Enhanced Security Verification ...
I will not be putting my computer at any greater risk than having v3 with Enable Protection Against Code Injection turned OFF by Default.

Like you advised...
I have turned ON -Enable Stealth Mode and Enable Stateful Packet Inspection
I don't understand why these two things are not turned on by default


Thanks!

[Zeta]

I have 3 Major Concerns About PC Tools Firewall Plus - v4


1*
Enable Enhanced Security Verification
I now realise that Normal Mode & Quiet Mode ... Are 2 different Modes for Enable Enhanced Security Verification
And that this Normal Mode & Quiet Mode have nothing to do with PC Tools Firewall Plus being set to ... Normal User or Expert User

When I first installed v4 I had a Pop Up asking me did I want - Quiet Mode
This was very confusing... As I didn't know what it was referring to

At First I said - No
But after having to click Allow 8 times just to get into AOL ...
I found Normal Mode & Quiet Mode in the Settings... And changed it to - Quiet Mode

Once I set Enable Enhanced Security Verification to Quiet Mode... The Pop Ups Stopped!

However...

Unfortunately there is obviously something seriously wrong with Enable Enhanced Security Verification
As it causes constant Spikes of my Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz CPU
When my little lad tried to play his online game... I thought the computer was going to blow up.
My CPU was constantly at 100% in all four cores.

I have now turned Enable Enhanced Security Verification - OFF

I presume Enable Enhanced Security Verification in v4 ... Is the same thing as Enable Protection Against Code Injection in v3
As Enable Protection Against Code Injection in v3 was turned OFF by default anyway...
I am hoping that by turning OFF Enable Enhanced Security Verification ...
I will not be putting my computer at any greater risk than having v3 with Enable Protection Against Code Injection turned OFF by Default.

After taking advice...
I have turned ON -Enable Stealth Mode and Enable Stateful Packet Inspection
I don't understand why these two things are not turned on by default

2*
Settings Different for each computer User!
As I mentioned above...
When I first installed v4 ...
1/ I had a Pop up asking me about Quiet Mode.
2/ And in the end I had to turn OFF Enable Enhanced Security Verification all together
But when I turned the computer - OFF - Switched it back ON - And logged into my Sons User Name....
I had the same pop up asking me about Quiet Mode.
And Again ... I had to turn OFF Enable Enhanced Security Verification

Was this by design?
So different computer users can have different settings for there Firewall?
Or is this a design Fault?



3*
Applications
When I had v3 .... Applications were only added to the list once I had used that Application for the first time.
e.g.
I would start up a program and be asked to - Allow or Block
With - v4...
PC Tools Firewall Plus - Has itself listed an awful lot of the applications on my computer.
The Problem Is...
It's given most of them Full Access
Things Like...
Java
Windows Calender
Control Panel
All have been given Full Access

Can someone tell me if v4 is supposed to do this?


And Can Someone Tell Me..... Is My Computer Safe?

HP
Vista Home Premium - 32 bit - SP1
Hard Drive - 500 GB
CPU - Intel - Core 2 Quad - 2.4GHz
RAM - 3 GB

AVG 8 - Antivirus & Antispyware ( Paid )


Thanks!

[Zeta]

If Nothing Else....

Can someone please tell me if it's normal for v4 to automatically list a whole load of Applications on my computer
And give nearly all of them - Full Access

e.g..
Java
Microsoft Office
Windows Explorer
Control Panel ... I didn't even know this one needed Internet access
Windows Calender
Rundll32 ... I find this one very concerning!

PC Tools Firewall Plus v3 Did Not Do This!

Thanks!

[hdavid]

I’ll try to answer several of your questions.
1. Regarding allowing your applications automatically – There are two main features in Application Monitoring in the firewall
a. Identify when application attempts to connect to the Internet
b. Identify when application perform actions that could be used to bypass FW and connect to Internet (the following link can explain this http://www.matousec.com/projects/fir...evel.php?num=1 )
When the FW identify that an application perform those types of operations it checks
a. Is this application signed with Microsoft certificate – If so the applications allowed and added to the application list with Full Access permission. The user can change this later in his application view and the user choice will be used (bare in mind that blocking security application can cause unpredictable behaviour such as computer hangs)
b. Is this application a security product (we identify this by identifying the certificate of those products such as Norton, WebRoot, ZoneAlram etc). If this si a security product we also allow it and add it to the application list with Full Access. A user can modify this later but bare in mind that blocking security application can cause unpredictable behaviour such as computer hangs
c. Is this application a know good application (such as Skype, Firefox etc). If the application is known good application we also allow it and add it to the application list with Full Access permission. This option can be turned off by disabling “Automatically allow known applications” from Settings->General
d. If none of the option above occur (application is not Microsoft not security applicator nor known good application we check the user application list and act upon it. If the application rules are not there we ask the user
Basically an application will be added to the list only if it attempts to perform an operation that FW monitors
2. The difference between Quiet mode and Normal mode. In Quiet mode in some cases if we do not know the applications we will temporary allow it. This could introduce some security risk but generally speaking its not too bad so if you are not happy with the number of pop ups you could consider changing to Quiet mode. You could also disable Enhanced Security Verification. If you have a good Anti-Spyware you probably not need it. Enhanced Security Verification basically checks if application is trying to bypass FW by using authorized applications. There are two main issues with that
a. The method used by malicious application are also used legitimately by good application (this could lead to some false positive and redundant pop-ups)
b. The malicious applications that uses those methods are normally being detected by a good Anti-Spyware (NOTE: The methods used by most Anti-Spyware to detect malicious applications is through signature and this sometimes delay detection for new malicious applications. Some applications like Threat-Fire are behaviour guards and can detect even new malicious applications).
3. Regarding the CPU spike – Please tell us with game was your lad playing so we can test this and find what the problem is, thanks

[Zeta]

Hi hdavid

Thank You So Much! .... For Answering My Questions

Re : Applications
You Have Put My Mind At Rest!
Obviously v4 works a bit different to v3
I've had a look at all my Applications listed...
Yes!
All applications that have been granted Full Access - Are all from either... Microsoft - Security Software - Other important software.

Re : Enable Enhanced Security Verification & CPU Spikes
As I've already said...
I did end up having to turn Enable Enhanced Security Verification - OFF
Because having it turned ON was... Killing My Computer!
The 100% CPU Spikes ... Weren't just when my little lad tried to play his online game.
I also had 100% CPU Spikes ....
1/ When the computer was just switched on.
2/ When Opening Programs
Also... Programs were slow to open and close!
Note!
It was as though my computer was finding it really hard to do jobs that it would normally have no problem with.
e.g.
On My Computer... IE7 opens and closes in a blink of an eye.
But with Enable Enhanced Security Verification turned ON - This took more like 2 to 3 seconds.
On My Computer... Office Word opens and closes in 1 second.
But with Enable Enhanced Security Verification turned ON - This took more like 3 to 4 seconds.
Also...
Programs like IE7 and Office Word would normally only create a slight flutter on my CPU Monitors.
But with Enable Enhanced Security Verification turned ON ... Massive CPU Spikes!
And my normally silent Hard Drive ... Suddenly sounded like a Hair Dryer

Note!
I know that some people have been complaining .... v4 has been Freezing their computers.
Could this be caused by the same problem?.... Enable Enhanced Security Verification
My Computer is quite powerful!
HP
Vista Home Premium - 32 bit - SP1
Hard Drive - 500 GB
CPU - Intel - Core 2 Quad - 2.4GHz
RAM - 3 GB

So maybe...
Where my computer just struggles with Enable Enhanced Security Verification turned ON
Maybe...
Lower spec computers can't cope at all.
The reason for the Crashes and the Freezes - Perhaps!




Re : My Sons Online Game
When he tried to play his game with Enable Enhanced Security Verification turned ON ... I really did think the computer was going to blow up
The CPU was constantly hitting 100%
And Again... My Hard Drive sounded like a Hair Dryer
The game uses - Java
So maybe there is a conflict between Enable Enhanced Security Verification & Java
This Is The Game : http://www.runescape.com/
To Play - Test the Enable Enhanced Security Verification & CPU Thing...
Just make yourself a Free Account.
You don't have to download anything!
The only thing it puts on your computer is a Temporary cache.


Re : New Update! - 4.0.0.40
When I turned on my computer this morning...
I had an update for PC Tools Firewall Plus
I now have version : 4.0.0.40
Do you know if this update was to fix any problems with v4 ?

Thanks!

Zete

[hdavid]

I don't think it would fix the CPU problem. We would need to look into that because in our lab we use a special s/w (WorldBench 6) to test performance and the results we got was very good (we have tested against other major firewalls in the market and we have better performance). We have though fixed few BUGs in our driver so please turn on the Enhanced Security Verification and see if this solves the CPU and time issues you reported. If it doesn’t we will try to look into this in more depth. Thanks again for the time and the effort in reporting those issues, we appreciate it a lot

[Zeta]

Hi hdavid

I don't think it would fix the CPU problem. We would need to look into that because in our lab we use a special s/w (WorldBench 6) to test performance and the results we got was very good (we have tested against other major firewalls in the market and we have better performance).

I'm not quite sure what to say

From reading other peoples posts...
It appears almost every person having problems with v4 ...
Finds that their problems are resolved when they turn Enhanced Security Verification - OFF

This can't possibly be a coincidence!

Where Enhanced Security Verification is concerned... Maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Until This Issue With v4 & Enhanced Security Verification Is Resolved...
Maybe it would be a good idea if Enhanced Security Verification was NOT turned ON by Default.
I'm sure this would at least solve the problem, of some people struggling to even install v4

We have though fixed few BUGs in our driver so please turn on the Enhanced Security Verification and see if this solves the CPU and time issues you reported.

I haven't turned Enable Enhanced Security Verification back on yet.
Because from reading other peoples posts...
I can see that the problem with Enable Enhanced Security Verification & Massive CPU usage - Has Still Not Been Resolved!

Thank You!