Eeye Releases BLINK 3.5 Beta – Initial Overview
Friday marks the day of the release of the “new and Improved” BLINK 3.5 Beta.
This is going to be a multiple part review, explanation and pretty deep dive into BLINK and my experiences with it based on a more standard approach from most reviews I have read – That of a normal to moderate user vs. the power user IT professional.
I have found many reviews to tout how great the security is using big words and cool tech security terms but in the end we need to look at what Eeye and BLINK are trying to do……. What is that you ask? Well it is to take a product that has been successful in the Enterprise marketplace and release it to the most impossible market on the planet…. you and me, the average home and small business user.
Let me start with the upgrade to the BLINK 3.5 BETA from previous versions just to get it out of the way and let people understand a few things about what “BETA” actually means, my success with previous Eeye Beta versions of BLINK and how truly painless this particular upgrade was to perform and then I will delve into the deeper issues I have found both good and bad and also my entire past history of how BLINK and I have got along since the first major release of the original Beta not so long ago. If you have not figured it out by now, this is going to be a long multi-part in depth review of this product…. I will break it into sections for it to make more sense and allow those who only need to read certain parts to get the most from it…..
BLINK 3.5 BETA – The Install
I have installed and run just about every version of BLINK and BLINK pro since I first heard about the program when Marc from Eeye discussed it on Security Now with Steve Gibson and Leo Leporte. I was a new fan to the Security now podcast mainly because it came at a time where I needed to become a security expert in a week and did not have a week to do it…. Thus I crammed 80 podcasts into 4 days, my head exploded and now here I am reviewing security software. That said I believe I can offer a totally different incite into most aspects of BLINK and the issues that will be faced by the more non internet security expert users.
The upgrade from previous versions to 3.5 Beta is very painless at least in my case. I have to forewarn all that if you are running ANY security software on your machine and you are installing BLINK for the first time with no previous experience or have not taken the time to review the forum on the Eeye site then you just need to plain and simple remove all security related programs before the install.
You say “excuse me What? remove all my security programs to install a security program?” The answer is yes and here is where I will give some disclaimers…
#1 – If you are going to remove security programs, please take some precautions to secure yourself before removing them. Thus as you should already be behind a firewall equipped internet router you are half way there. You might even want to go the extra step and just unplug the internet from your machine. If it is not plugged in it cannot hurt you, well unless you are already infected and then you are just hosed anyway.
#2 – Remove those security programs. Take them all out – All the programs you feel kept you safe and cozy all these years need to go, Norton (do not even get me started), Mcafee, Firewall apps, Spybot, Adaware, all of them need to go. Do you need to really take them all out, well in my opinion the answer is yes, but here is why. BLINK works completely differently than any other applications on the market to secure your system, it works based on a multiple tier system that has layers of protection. This protection see threats that can possibly break the first tier or possibly the second but will be caught by a third or a fourth and so on. This multi tier approach does multiple things most of the benefits being decreased processor usage and resource overhead. (major reductions and I will talk about those later). That said most other applications try to use some of these tiers for their own use and as you might imagine too many chief’s trying to do the same thing equals a nightmare of nothing getting done and lots of toes stepped on…. BLINK needs to be the chief from this point forward.
#3 – Security programs gone? Let’s move on….
Fire up the Beta.exe file and you will see this…..
As you can see I am previously running 3.1.1.1631 (Them IT Security guys love their version numbers) and this is simply a warning to make sure I am wanting to upgrade to to Version 3.5. You pick – I selected Yes…
Now this is one of the most important screens if you have been previously using Blink… Configuration information is something with BLINK you will come to both LOVE and HATE all in the same day… If you have been using it you already know this and you will not remove it under penalty of death and unrelenting pop ups… if this is your first install you would not see this or the next screen.
Same as the above screen this is for previous users and if you are already licensed you will want to retain your previous license by clicking NO
Sure I will share – Yes or No is your choice I simply told them I was installing the BETA – Data is incredibly important for software development, I have no issues adding my diatribe to try to help the cause. Maybe I will get a “I survived the BLINK BETA” T-Shirt. If you disconnected from the internet you will not be able to fill out the survey and I find it a bit hard to swallow that after basically asking me remove security software from my computer it will then open a browser window to ask me questions… maybe not the best plan depending on how strictly the person installing the application follows rules… Just my opinion…
Got to love America and the “if you install this your computer might explode and we are not responsible message” but if I was Eeye I would do it also because people have tried to dry their dogs in the microwave because the user manual does not say you cannot…. welcome to our society, its just scary and Eeye has not bricked my system as of yet so I almost will throw out the trust word….
Second screen = more of the same – I would actually head the warnings when installing any kind of Security related software especially one like BLINK that is so deeply going to protect your system from intrusion. Security = Pain, You might as well just start getting used to it as it does get better you just have to understand it…
Yes – you heard it here first – Abide by the warning – Remove them before installing. I will go over what I have added back after install with no negative results in the last portions of this review.
License Agreement and Privacy Policy
Destination Folder…..
Time to Install…..
Install takes about 1-2 Minutes tops possibly less unless you need to uninstall applications.
Success and now the fun begins….
You will notice that BLINK will initialize and start the protection engines as part of this initial startup BETA 3.5 now pops open the Auto Update box…
Perform the Auto Update and you should see results like this:
Now you are running the latest and greatest updated version of the BETA 3.5 application.
Part two of this review will dive into BLINK – Some of the issues you will find and I have found that still bother me to this day and the overall impressions I have about the application and how it can both help and or hinder in the Home and Home Office / Small Business marketplace. Hopefully this will help users like myself to better understand where the future of internet security is heading and what we will all need to do to prepare for the future when involved as many of us have to be as the one guy or girl in the office that happens to know more than anyone else about how to keep the small network running or simply the fact you are the boss and your livelihood is connected to the cesspool we call the internet.
Items to be covered in the next section:
What does BETA really mean?
Previous BETA software from Eeye
Old Vs. New – The Changes…
The GOOD the BAD and the UGLY… Well not so UGLY…
Apps that still work even with BLINK installed..
BLINK in Depth
Multi-Tier Security
Service and Support
Free vs. Paid
Virus and Malware Scanning
Event Logs
And many other topics….
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Filed Under: Eeye - BLINK Evaluation • Internet Security & Tech • Tech
Great first part, keep up the good work! I completely agree with your statement: “BLINK works completely differently than any other applications on the market to secure your system, it works based on a multiple tier system that has layers of protection.”
I would also recommend that you point out the fact that Blink uses “Protocol Analysis”, unfortunately not a lot of other security suites do so (some do, most do not). Most others are still trying to beat each other on the “I detect this and I detect that.” It all ends up being who has the highest signature detection rate. Blink has attempted to break this ongoing trend “headache” and expand towards more of the threats that the everyday business and consumer is facing.
A lot of people fail to realize that Blink was created to stop its users from ever being infected in the first place. Stop the infection at its source instead of waiting until it is already on your system (at that point it is too late anyways). Blink also takes into account “vulnerabilities” in a user’s system and software applications. All of these, if exploited properly, bypass almost all of the other layers of security other applications out there attempt to provide.
Blink to me is a fresh start and new idea for the new Era of threats we are all facing.