Review: Online Armor Free

Download was fast & small, 10mb. Installation is user friendly, I used the recommended install, Running the Safety Wizard which gives the user, whether they realize it or not, a lesson on the program and all it monitors and gives the user a choice on what to monitor. The Wizard scans the computer for existing threats & then helps the user to configure the program for ease of use. The Wizard completed its scan and proceeded on to a programs list where the user allows or blocks programs installed internet access. Next is Autoruns the user again makes the same choices. Then comes IE addons, which includes java programs and other addons for IE. The choice is again up to the user to allow or block. Followed by the Hosts file, if the user has Spybot Immunize or SpywareBlaster Restricted sites on the machine OA shows these as allowed since these programs will handle these blocked sites. The computer rebooted & the program entered “Learning mode” for several minutes configuring OA for all of the existing software.

According to the program, In Learning Mode, Online Armor monitors all programs to see how they behave and automatically creates rules to allow these behaviors. This helps insure that you do not encounter any pop-ups until you install new software or encounter potential attacks.

This I was especially pleasing as this was an annoyance with other 3rd party firewalls used in the past, constant pop-ups asking if this or that program should be allowed.

I saw slight increases in boot & shut down times after installing OA but nothing one couldn’t deal with.

Only one problem occurred using resource intensive Adobe Photoshop Elements 1 week after installing OA. A program I use often, configured to update the first use each week. Upon opening the program OA immediately popped up, I clicked Allow and Trust the Program and Remember. The update began, the Photoshop froze and I had to finally close it using Task Manager. 2nd try had the same results, including the OA pop ups. I turned off OA, opened Photoshop & the updates proceeded normally. I then went offline and I used the program without further difficulty. But later I was pleasantly surprised to discover, while reading Help With Online Armor Installs on their Support Forum, that I need not have gone offline at all. If a problem like this one occurs, have no fear, Online Armor turns the Windows Firewall OFF and ON for you. A REAL + for this program.

This firewall is very user friendly, simple to install and non-intrusive. I would strongly recommend that users DO go through their website. http://www.tallemu.com/

Reading especially Highlights and Features.

Online Armor offers a very informative Support Forum. Answers for most questions a user would have can be found there.

http://support.tallemu.com/vbforum/forumdisplay.php?f=15