Online Armor 2.1.0.85 was quietly released on the Tall Emu website earlier today. The company posted information about the software firewall’s new features on its forums. I’ve tested several betas of this release, but many of the what’s-new items are server-dependent, and so I’m just exploring those nuances right now.
At 10:15AM Eastern Time on Monday, we are experiencing both Scot’s Newsletter Blog and Forums performance issues due to too many simultaneous connections on their databases. I have no way of knowing whether there continues to be a shared concurrent connection limit between the two databases (something that I thought I fixed) or whether this is simply a coincidence that the newsletter’s appearance last evening has created a big surge this AM on both sites, since it contains links to both.
I have temporarily turned off the forums while I check its database for corruption. Perhaps that will improve performance here at the blog. We’ll see.
– Scot
Although I don’t currently recommend Vista, I will continue to cover new versions of Microsoft’s operating system. I can’t very well recommend against a version of Windows without testing its latest service pack. You never know, perhaps some future version of Vista might win me over.
But not this one. While I need more time with the SP1 code, my first few days with the final version of Vista’s first service pack were, well, underwhelming. The one thing that I can definitively say at this point is that if you secretly installed Vista SP1 on a friend’s PC while he or she was out to lunch, 9 out of 10 friends wouldn’t have a clue when they came back.
The Scot’s Newsletter Software-Firewall Comparo (you know, the series-review that just won’t die) continues to evolve. That’s largely because the makers of Comodo Firewall and Online Armor — the two products under consideration — are actively updating their products. If these guys would just slow down a bit, I could make a final judgment. But that’s one of the reasons these are the two best products in the race, neither company is resting on its laurels.
I recently security tested Comodo 3.0.15.277 (”Advanced Install”) and a late beta of a new version of Online Armor that I believe will arrive shortly. Both products came through with flying colors — passing every test I threw at them. So I can confirm that newer versions of both products continue to test as well as the somewhat older versions tested by Matousec.com.