Malwarebytes IP Protection & Webroots Desktop Firewall

[Amethyst]

Just thought I would mention this.

On my desktop, with Windows XP Media Center Editon SP2, running AVG Free 8.5.409, Malwarebytes paid version, and the Windows Firewall behind a router (home network), I wanted a bi-directional firewall. I thought I would give Webroot Desktop Firewall version 5.8.025 a try. I know it's weak, but I mainly wanted it for the bi-directional feature anyway and I figured if it would play nicely with the other software, no problem.

It seemed to go fine, but then I happened to notice that the Malwarebytes IP protection was turned off, and I hadn't done that. I was not able to re-enable it, not even when I shut down Webroot firewall. I just uninstalled Webroot and when I rebooted, the IP protection was back on.

I also noticed a different error message in event viewer when I would restart the computer with the Webroot firewall running. It was:

Source: Perfnet. Unable to open the Server Service. Server performance data will not be returned. Error code returned is in data DWORD 0. When I consulted the MS help center, there were instructions there to go to a command prompt to check if services were running, and when I did so, they were. I don't understand what any of this means or what, if anything, it has to do with Malwarebytes' IP protection not being accessible with the firewall running. I just thought I would mention it.

I do want the IP protection service and that's part of the reason why I purchased the software, so if it comes to a choice between this and a free firewall, the free firewall is gonna go bye-bye, of course.

Now...I have a laptop which is part of the home network and has a wireless connection to the router. It is also using the same security software as the desktop. I haven't been taking the laptop on any trips, but my spouse would like to start bringing the laptop along when we travel. Therefore, I need a better firewall on it than what I have. I think Windows is OK behind a router, but I don't think it's good enough for other connections. I am considering going with the paid version of AVG antivirus and firewall, or maybe the whole internet security suite, I'm not sure which just yet. Are there any known issues with AVG and any of Malwarebytes' features?

[AdvancedSetup]

I'm not aware of any, but that does not mean you won't have issues. Part of the reason its so difficult to tell is that there are so many different hardware and software configurations out there that it's impossible to know and test every possible configuration.

I would download and test the 30 day evaluation of the AVG suite first to verify all works as expected.

[whatmeworry?]

If AVG doesn't work out, you might want to give Outpost Agnitum Free Firewall a try. They also have a paid version, but it may be more likely to cause conflicts with your antivirus program.

[Amethyst]

Thanks for your responses. For the desktop, I was looking for a simple firewall that wouldn't be asking a lot of questions, since the desktop is used mostly by people who are sort of novices at this. I had looked into Outpost and I thought it looked a bit complicated. It could be an option for the laptop, however, since I am the one who uses that one most of the time. If I do go with a paid version of AVG, I'll work with the trial version first.

I've learned a bit more about Malwarebytes and the log the IP protection generates--I didn't know there was such a thing until today. Nor did I realize that other people had had issues with the IP protection not working. I posted elsewhere re error messages I had seen in my log, but I figured I should add that here to keep the information in one spot. My error messages were similar to those described here:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=21509

I was not very patient with the whole thing and resolved my issue by uninstalling the Webroot firewall. I guess I could have tried other things first, but I was also uncomfortable with a couple of other changes that were showing up in Event Viewer, like that PerfNet error message. Here is the log for the entire day, with my commentary inserted:

05:09:39 (null) MESSAGE Protection started successfully

05:10:28 HP_Administrator MESSAGE IP Protection started successfully

[Rebooted to complete installation of Webroot Desktop Firewall]

11:23:02 (null) MESSAGE Protection started successfully

11:23:32 HP_Administrator MESSAGE IP Protection started successfully

[Noticed the Event Viewer error re Perfnet, rebooted to see if it showed up again, which it did.]

11:46:03 (null) MESSAGE Protection started successfully

11:46:34 HP_Administrator ERROR IP protection failed: PfBindInterfaceToIPAddress failed with error code 87

[i noticed for the first time that there was no checkmark beside the IP Protection, so I attempted to enable it and was unable to do so. I tried several times.]

13:43:18 HP_Administrator ERROR IP protection failed: PfMakeLog failed with error code 85

13:43:22 HP_Administrator ERROR IP protection failed: PfMakeLog failed with error code 85

13:43:55 HP_Administrator ERROR IP protection failed: PfMakeLog failed with error code 85

13:44:48 HP_Administrator ERROR IP protection failed: PfMakeLog failed with error code 85

13:45:11 HP_Administrator ERROR IP protection failed: PfMakeLog failed with error code 85

13:48:14 (null) MESSAGE Protection started successfully

[uninstalled Webroot Desktop Firewall and rebooted to complete the uninstall process.]

13:48:58 HP_Administrator MESSAGE IP Protection started successfully

In reviewing the logs for each day that I've had the paid for version of MWB, I've noticed that IP protection was disabled at 19:00 hrs, when I had set the program to automatically update each day. There was one day when it didn't reactivate, however.

19:00:41 HP_Administrator MESSAGE IP Protection stopped

[Normally there would be a message here that the database had been updated. My son told me that he had a lot of browser windows open and the computer froze. He hard booted at 19:30 hrs, and then IP Protection started, as indicated below.]

19:31:54 (null) MESSAGE Protection started successfully

19:32:49 HP_Administrator MESSAGE IP Protection started successfully

I'll keep watching this situation. I have turned off the automatic update, since I find that I often end up updating manually a couple of times a day anyway.

I am wondering what it is about the interaction between a firewall and the IP protection that would cause the IP protection to be unable to start up. The IP protection was able to start on the first reboot after I installed the firewall. However, with that first reboot, it took a bit of time for an internet connection to become established. The second time was no problem establishing the internet connection, but the IP protection was not enabled, nor could I start it.

I hope this makes sense, and maybe the developers can find this information useful in some fashion.

[Amethyst]

The day I mentioned when IP protection stopped at 19:00 and didn't restart--I just wanted to clarify that Webroot was not installed that day, so Webroot had nothing to do with that situation at all.

[Amethyst]

If AVG doesn't work out, you might want to give Outpost Agnitum Free Firewall a try. They also have a paid version, but it may be more likely to cause conflicts with your antivirus program.

I know this is an old thread already, but I'm bringing it up again because I wanted to thank you for this recommendation. I am using the Outpost free firewall on my laptop and it is just terrific. I couldn't be more pleased with it. One minor bug when I use the Outpost program to try to view the properties of programs on the list, but that's not something I would normally need to do a lot of anyway, and if I needed to view the properties of a listed program, I can always use Explorer to navigate to it. Their user forum is really good, too, for answering any questions I've had (And I've had a few of them.. They're patient over there.)

Thanks again!