14 DAY TRIAL // I guess you all have a friend or two who thinks that all that shines is gold when it comes to computers. And trust me, such persons are a real danger for your computer system as presented with the occasion of downloading malware of any class they will not hesitate one second. I guess masking of the infections under the form of a tempting game or a flashy message saying that your computer is crawling with threats also plays an important role.
Computer infection risks are greater in machines handled by kids, that is a fact. They are attracted by all sorts of Internet flashy offers for downloading all sorts of games which often incorporate a malicious code. One solution would be good proactive protection that scans each downloaded file and a traffic monitor that shows all connections, in or out. But we all know that malware is evolving faster than protection programs and this solution may not always be the best.
Another way would be imposing some sort of restriction for installing programs on the system. And I have the right software for this. Stop Software Installation comes with an $18.95 price tag and 14 days of trial (more than you need for testing). It does exactly what the name says: prevents installation of new software on your computer without authorized consent.
The interface is as simple as can be and can be easily handled by a kid, but that is not the case. Starting it will take you in the middle of program options, allowing general configuration of the software. I recommend setting a password from the beginning for authorized access only. You can also set it to minimize to system tray.
Stop Software Installation can work in full restriction mode by not displaying the password window the moment a software installation is attempted or minimum restriction mode when installation of new programs is allowed only for authorized users providing the right countersign.
Although the software seems simple, it does a pretty good job as its effect is not limited to the current user or administrator of the computer but to all users. And the restrictions can be applied to all computer users or you can add exceptions. "Users" tab in the interface shows all accounts available on the system and permits deciding upon the restrictions.
File Masks is the most important part of the application as this is where you define the files to be prevented from executing. The possibilities here are practically limited only by the number of extensions on the market. You can prevent the execution of any installer you have on your computer, be it executable or Windows installer. More than this Stop Software Installation permits further configuration of restrictions by adding parts of the filenames to be restricted.
This way you have total control on what applications can be launched without authentication or files that can be opened without restriction. The application starts with Windows so there is really no need to worry about protection. Also, if you rush into Task Manager, just like I did when first seeing the application at work, to kill the process, you're in for a big surprise: the process cannot be terminated as this access is denied.
However, as good as it sounds we have encountered a few problems during our testing. At the beginning it all worked fine, but a couple of tests later the application did not hide anymore and no matter what we did it would minimize to system tray. That would have been OK if bringing the interface on the screen would still be protected by the assigned password. Unfortunately a simple double click on tray icon would bring the software in full view and one would be able to modify the settings for his/her convenience.
Re-installing the application resulted in no success as the problem persisted. The same happened when Stop Software Installation was installed on an XP system. The application would still not become invisible (although hotkeys worked just fine) and the protective password would enter into force when using the context menu of tray icon (for either "Show" or "Exit" options) and at launching the program.
The developer has been notified about this aspect and we are waiting for an answer on that. I really hope it to be an evaluation version restriction as the software comes in very handy for both protecting your files and your computer against malware.
There are no difficult settings to make and everything is easily comprehensible by any type of user. It offers maximum protection as the process cannot be terminated the easy way. Trying to crash the application put us on hold for quite a long time (in fact after about ten minutes we gave up as the crash screen would not disappear and restricted files would still not launch).
The Good
It takes less than a minute to install and you can easily make all the necessary settings. It can be configured to prevent certain files from launching. The restrictions can be applied to all the users of the system or only to some of them.
The use of file masks allows you selecting what files should be stopped from being executed according to both their name and file type.
You can define the computer users restrictions to be applied for. Log files will show user activity on the computer (files attempted to be opened).
The Bad
The little problem we encountered shatters the entire application completely. We tested the application on three different systems with the same result: no invisibility of tray icon and revealing application interface at double clicking it without being asked for a password. There are still minor issues to be fixed but protecting the execution of installers is complete.
The Truth
I am sure that this is just a minor issue that would be solved sooner than I think. Otherwise the application is very solid. Its process cannot be terminated and it will prevent files fitting file mask description from executing. I hope it will extend its capabilities to any type of file you have on the computer.
Upon uninstalling the application requires a restart for all the data to be eliminated (it creates a service on your system which disappears after restarting your machine).
NOTE: The developer answered quite quickly to our email and partially fixed the issues. Double clicking on tray icon will no longer bring the application on the screen without the input of the assigned password. There are still minor issues that have to be fixed (system tray icon hiding did not work all the time during our testing) but application launching is now secured by the assigned password.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
