home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Winpooch - F.A.Q
- ****************
-
- Author Benoit Blanchon
- Date 15/08/2006
- Web site http://www.winpooch.com/
-
-
- 1. Why does the main menu looks badly ?
- 2. What is the "feign" reaction ?
- 3. What is the difference between types "Path" and "Wildcards" ?
- 4. How can I contribute to this project ?
- 5. Where can I find help on Winpooch ?
- 6. What if I use ProcessGuard ?
- 7. Is Windows 64 supported ?
- 8. What are the differences with another anti-spyware ?
- 9. Can Winpooch slow down my computer ?
- 10. Is Winpooch an ultimate security solution ?
- 11. How can I uninstall Winpooch ?
- 12. How can I compile Winpooch ?
-
-
- 1. Why does the main menu looks badly ?
- =======================================
-
- This may be because of your display configuration.
- Are you using a 16-bits display ?
- If so, you should switch to 32-bits.
- Winpooch looks really better with a 32-bits resolution.
-
-
- 2. What is the "feign" reaction ?
- =================================
-
- When Winpooch feigns an action, it simply tell the application that
- the requested action has succeeded, but in reality no action is
- performed.
-
- In programming terms, this means that Winpooch returns a value
- indicating no error but doesn't execute the real function.
- This is opposed to the "reject" feature : in this mode Winpooch
- returns a value indicating an error, which means that the calling
- programs knows that the function failed.
-
- In some cases, the "feign" reaction can be the same as "reject".
-
-
- 3. What is the difference between types "Path" and "Wildcards" ?
- ================================================================
-
- These two types are quite similar : you can use wildcards character
- (? and *) with both.
- The difference is that "Path" considers the parameter as a file path
- (ie it takes care of slashes) whereas "Wildcards" considers the
- parameter a a plain characters string.
-
- This difference has the following effect : "Path" don't check
- sub-directories whereas "Wildcards" check subdirectories.
- Is it clear ?
-
- No ? OK, let's take a simple example.
- You want to check the following pattern :
- "C:\Windows\*.dll"
- but you hesitate between "Path" and "Wildcards" types.
- With the "Path" type, you will only catch DLL files in the Windows
- directory, like C:\Windows\Hello.dll.
- With the "Wildcards" type, you will also catch DLL files in the
- sub-directories, like C:\Windows\System32\Hello.dll.
-
-
- 4. How can I contribute to this project ?
- =========================================
-
- We are looking for :
- - translators
- - testers
- - doc writers
- Please don't write to ask to contribute as a developer, we are not
- looking for developers.
-
- If you want to contribute as a translator or as a tester, please
- register to the corresponding mailing list and post a request for help.
-
- If you are an experienced user of Winpooch, you can help new users
- by answering questions on the mailing list "Winpooch-users".
-
- Use this page to register to one or more list :
- http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=122629
-
-
- 5. Where can I find help on Winpooch ?
- ======================================
-
- We know Winpooch lacks documentations.
- If you have a question about Winpooch and you can't find the answer in
- this FAQ, you can submit your question to the mailing list "Winpooch-users"
- at the address winpooch-users@lists.sourceforge.net
-
-
- 6. What if I use ProcessGuard ?
- ===============================
-
- ProcessGuard is a program that also use API hooking to spy programs.
- You need to configure ProcessGuard correctly to make Winpooch works
- properly. Set the following configuration for Winpooch.exe :
- - Uncheck "Protect this application from modification"
- - Check "Authorize this application to modify protected applications"
-
- Normally, Winpooch will detect ProcessGuard and display a warning
- the first time you run it.
-
-
- 7. Is Windows 64 supported ?
- ============================
-
- Only 32-bit versions of Windows are currently supported.
- Windows 64 will be supported in the future.
-
-
- 8. What are the differences with another anti-spyware ?
- =======================================================
-
- Many anti-spywares work like an anti-virus : they scan the memory and
- hard drives and look for know signatures. When they recognize a signature,
- they consider the file to be a virus. This means that all signatures
- have to be registered in a database. If a new virus is not yet registered
- in the database, it will not be detected.
-
- Winpooch uses a completely different approach : as a watchdog, it watches
- program and detect when a suspicious action is done. Winpooch uses filters
- so a to prevent dangerous actions : with default filters, most of the
- sensible points used by spywares are protected (mainly start-up techniques).
-
- That's why we recommend to use an anti-virus in addition to Winpooch.
- For a completely open-source security solution, you should consider to
- install ClamWin + Winpooch. You can configure Winpooch so it'll use
- ClamWin and scan every executable file before allowing it to run.
-
- We also advice you to install Winpooch on a healthy computer because
- Winpooch can easily prevent spywares and adwares from installing, but
- can't destroy them.
-
-
- 9. Can Winpooch slow down my computer ?
- =======================================
-
- It's the drawback of any security system : they all slow down the computer.
- Winpooch can significantly slow functions it hooks, but we chose to hook
- only functions which are not time-critical.
-
- The impact of Winpooch on the computer speed depends on the filters you
- configured : the more rule there are, the slower the computer is.
- That's because Winpooch needs to check each rule one-by-one, so when they
- are many rule, it can be longer than when just a few rule have to be checked.
-
- If you use an antivirus with Winpooch, it will significantly slow down your
- computer (as with every antivirus) because files will be scanned on-the-fly.
-
-
- 10. Is Winpooch an ultimate security solution ?
- ===============================================
-
- Of course not !
- Winpooch can significantly improve the security of your system but there is
- no ultimate security solution.
-
- Since version 0.6.0, Winpooch become a real on-access (real-time) antivirus.
- This means that each time a file is read, it is scan by the antivirus.
- For now, there is no "on-write" scan, but only "on-read".
-
- To increase security, you should update Winpooch frequently.
- You should also update your antivirus.
- If you use the antivirus integrated to Winpooch, its database are updated
- automatically every 3 hours (of course if your internet access is working).
-
-
- 11. How can I uninstall Winpooch ?
- ==================================
-
- To uninstall Winpooch, you need to shut it down first.
- To do this, right-click on the tray icon and then click "shutdown".
- Now you can uninstall it by launching the uninstaller.
-
-
- 12. How can I compile Winpooch ?
- ================================
-
- To compile winpooch, you will need :
- - MinGW environment : http://www.mingw.org/
- - FreeImage library : http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/
- - Libclamav library : http://www.clamav.net/
-