PeerGuardian 2 not starting properly

[manpe]

I have a problem with PeerGuardian 2... It very often doesn't open me its control panel and when it doesn't do that, it takes up to 58MB of memory, whilst when it works properly it takes anything between 0,5-3MB. The only (temporary) fix for it seems to be reinstalling, but after some time it starts acting up again.

It's pretty irritating, any idea why it's doing that and how to fix it? I'm not intending to keep it this way. Here comes the second questions... if I'm forced to get rid of it, then what program should I use as an alternative? I can't get Protowall's driver working, so is there anything else out there? (this question is IN CASE there is no fix to the PG2 problem, which I hope there is).

Thank you.

[karachidude]

i can tell u wat i wud do in such situation

Uninstall PG using Perfect uninstaller or Revo .

Reboot

Download the latest PG from there web

Install from the downloaded exe.

if problem persists there could be a compatibility issue of some sort.check details on PG website

[karachidude]

chek this out.

http://orestech.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/p...r-dat-utorrent/

[manpe]

chek this out.

http://orestech.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/p...r-dat-utorrent/

Simply blocking the bad IP-s in uTorrent isn't enough. I also use LimeWire and I would like bad IP protection on the web also. But I will try it out anyway.

I will also try out your suggestion about PG2.

[HX1]

Okay I have a few points to go over...

1. Do you show all traffic in the main window?

2. Do ever clean your database?

3. How many lists are you using?

4. Do you log all traffic?

5. Do you ever remove your history?

6. Do you ever defrag your drive?

The answer can be one or all of the above...I am willing to bet you have a ton of traffic...and a lot of connections going through your system. Fact is this will happen if you have the program setup wrong or do not maintain it.

Also if you kill PG2, make sure you run the Fix. ( comes with it )

You are exactly right in the above post. PG2 is not specifically used for Torrent, Magnet, or P2P networks and protection. It is a security filter. It protects your whole system, instead of relying on various others programs only concern with certain forms of traffic shaping. Even MOST firewalls cannot be as good at filtering these things out.

EDIT: I will wait for your replay, to explain why and how these things relate to your issue.

[manpe]

Okay I have a few points to go over...

1. Do you show all traffic in the main window?

2. Do ever clean your database?

3. How many lists are you using?

4. Do you log all traffic?

5. Do you ever remove your history?

6. Do you ever defrag your drive?

The answer can be one or all of the above...I am willing to bet you have a ton of traffic...and a lot of connections going through your system. Fact is this will happen if you have the program setup wrong or do not maintain it.

Also if you kill PG2, make sure you run the Fix. ( comes with it )

You are exactly right in the above post. PG2 is not specifically used for Torrent, Magnet, or P2P networks and protection. It is a security filter. It protects your whole system, instead of relying on various others programs only concern with certain forms of traffic shaping. Even MOST firewalls cannot be as good at filtering these things out.

1. I used to, but now I disabled it.

2. database of what? The log? Just did it.

3. 5

4. I think it did log, but I disabled the "log allowed traffic" now.

5. PG2's history? Haven't done that.

6. Yes.

There is one more problem... the "Block HTTP" function. It blocks legitimate sites, like Google and BBC (and some other). But allowing traffic in HTTP means that everything through port 443 comes through (I use uTorrent on port 443).

[HX1]

Okay..

1. The main window is usually okay to display blocked traffic only, but when you display all of it the program starts to lag, and as a result your whole system starts to lag. Just uses to many resources especially with a lot of in/out connections. Each one has a little 'Whois' thing going on as well..so it can be very expensive to your system resources and programmatic behavior.

2. Yes View History> In here you can view all of those allowed connection should you ever need to investigate a connection, to from port.. ( one of the ways I knew something odd was going on BEFORE Conficker made the news anywhere ).. Problem is that PG2 loads all of this data and it can be a huge amount over time, sometimes growing to over 235 MB in one afternoon.. SO I manually open the program each day and Update the lists, and Clear my database ( History > File > Clear Database )..of course being that there is nothing there I need.. and if there is I simply Export it.

3. I currently have 16 Lists total and I use and update 8 daily. My lists originate from their main sites only. I only use one of the lists that come with the program. There seems to be constant hosting issues so I ran the actual source of the lists, and got them there. When you update, after it has finished.. The program will reload the filters, this process can be process intensive and will take 100% CPU for a little bit. It is advisable to do this when you do not have a lot of network activity nor CPU intensive programs.

4. In Settings> I show about 14 lines on the main window, usually allows for me to see whats going on especially if I am using/blocking HTTP. I color code everything, and I have unselected the show allowed connections, This way I kind of see only the bad stuff. If I need to see anything else I go to History.

5. @History in this section I do log allowed connections, but I Remove the archive every two days automatically. I also only notify and blink the tray icon if I have blocked an HTTP connection. Second Page of this area...I have set the program to update the program and lists every day, just in case I ever lapse this time frame. I have also set the window to auto-close after one second so as not to interfere with the filter updating.

6. This is how I noticed the issue. I use Ultimate Defrag, and in monitoring my file system I was noticing that every time I defragged I had this HUGE file in my system and it was always fragmented. That file happen to be history.db. When you first install its so small.. Then it grow into a big problem for the program to process. I then started to notice what was doing what to the size of the filter files and how the file itself would grow and shrink. This determined how I take an approach towards its maintenance. It can be different for everyone depending on the usage, system, and need.

Your last edit...

These sites are in your lists for a reason.. I have used it long enough to know that BBC communications will pole back to your address long after you have unloaded a resource on the network. I know that many people use Google but google analytics.. and several other forms of malware also use this in their address. I personally recommend using something like Metacrawler.com. as a search engine. You get better results anyway, AND results from google. ( You don't know how much I hate the Google search engine ). Demographical marketing, and data-mining is a violation of your privacy when its done behind your back. Why I like PG2 for that reason. You will find that you can operate with the HTTP Block off, for the most part.

Last but not least Randomize your port in uTorrent. I mean if I could do that with a webserver .. running on out .. I would be a happy man.. ( it is possible..but anyway ) Any program you can using this method. Work around that problem.

The port in question is a problem sometimes, for instance ESS 4 will notify me that there is an lsass / Shell export going on, IF I am right this is an lass worm, and it blocks it. All of the systems we connect to are not all clean or secure. One of them is infected. Thats what I use for that. While PG2 is an excellent filter I would recommend wrapping your head around the ESET Nod32 AV or SS..idea. The setting offer protection from several forms of attacks on your system.

EDIT2: Info correction..

[manpe]

About your last segment - I started using PG2 mainly to filter the P2P and Torrent from unwanted traffic (ex. anti-P2P groups). I do use ESS to protect my system from attacks.

So you say I can operate with HTTP allowed? That's a good thing to know. PG2 is working well at the moment, I'll see what it does tomorrow before I can declare the issue fixed. And by the way, having HTTP blocked didn't only block BBC and Google, it also blocked some genuinely necessary sites (like the electric company site in order to pay the electric bill). I may be wrong, but I believe it is also blocking using webcam in MSN, because with PG2 enabled I can't connect through MSN... is it possible?

Thanks for you thorough answer.

[HX1]

Yes it is very possible, but several issues can surround using a webcam.. so its kind of hard to say. Yes PG2 will block seemingly legitimate sites with HTTP Block on. It has to do with the lists, but it is better to have them in because of the manner in which some of these are used. Really running with HTTP on is not a problem you just have to turn it on and off at certain times to make a connection to do what you are trying to do. Now that you are aware of that factor it is some to keep in mind when a page is not loading or something is not working. After your done turn it back on and watch them bounce off your connection for 30 min- 12 hours.. Thats what will raise 'brow' so to speak.

[manpe]

I have another question. I downloaded PG2 6c from Phoenix Labs site, because it is the recent one supporting XP. What is the difference between 6c and the RC1 (Test 2) which is offered on this site? RC1 is claimed to be for Vista/Win7 on their site. So exactly what is the difference between 6c, RC1 and RC1 Test2 (is it test 2 offered on their site?).

[HX1]

Well I am currently using the one with the -nt on the end of the setup file for Windows XP SP3, if you try to run this on Vista/7 nothing even shows up in the log window, so it is questionable rather the driver is even working. So the newer file I believe is the main one and there seems like there was some more info on the site in case some users had issues but I think it was relative to 64 bit systems.

The actual difference in the way they work as far as I know, there isn't much simply working with areas that changed from one OS to the next. I do recommend using the file recommended for your system...

[manpe]

I have another serious problem. When PG2 is enabled, I can't connect to internet. It doesn't affect torrents and I can ping web addresses, but it just won't show me any pages in the browser and won't log me into MSN. It doesn't show that anything was blocked. The internet went away after it started detecting BOGON connections yesterday evening, I removed the Bogon list and shut down the computer. Now I saw that the Bogon list was still there, but I had no Bogon attacks. I removed the list again, but it didn't help.

PS I had the same problem with Bogons the last time with the buggy PG2. Except after rebooting the internet would start working again.

This is a serious problem. I've searched for ranges which could do that, but couldn't find anything... I added just about every possible Microsoft Corp range into my allow list, because this is the only which popped into the log window (randomly, seems to have no effect).

Here are my lists

-EDIT-

I found out that the list "Bad trackers" was causing the confusion. All's alright now.

[HX1]

Yeah I tried the BOGON list once... and there were a few others that would do that.. LOL

The eight I have chosen, after it was all done basically do it for me, my connection and ISP.

Depends sometimes on these factors rather the list will work or not and how well maintained and actively used the list itself is.

[Patrick]

If you are having problems with PeerGuardian 2, try PeerBlock. Most of the holes on PG2 are being plugged on PeerBlock.

http://www.peerblock.com/

I'll share my blocklist too: 

Sharecode: zshare.net
**************/download/63824023e6edbaf4/

[manpe]

Before I try it, I want to know what pros and cons it has in comparison to PG2. PG2 is working fine currently, and I need some base where to lay my opinions on.

[HX1]

This is from the site that Peer Block is on..

...or shake a dead chicken while hopping on one foot and turning in a circle while chanting Kabbalistic verses?

You know oddly enough sometimes I feel this way..LOL.. hit me at the right time...

I downloaded the setup file and will give it a run. You know I always wondered why Peer Guardian just seem to cease development. They still haven't shown to even be fully compatible with Vista yet.. Still a wide array and assortment of problems, while it still will work.

Currently PG2 works fine for me but, I will give this a run and see. If its an improvement to an already good thing then..:thumbsup:

[manpe]

Ok, I'm gonna try PeerBlock out too.

[Patrick]

Well, PeerBlock is compatible with XP SP3 unlike PG2. It always gave me an error and the guys @ Phoenix Labs told me to just reinstall it but it always happens. PeerBlock doesn't do this to me.

[manpe]

PG2 6c (not RC) worked fine here, I have XP SP3. I installed PeerBlock and can't find any significant differences between them. PeerBlock seems like an 1 on 1 copy of PG2. Although they say it's updated constantly and that it's fixed some bugs which are in PG. So yeah, it sounds tempting. Definitely seems to be doing its job.