It is often assumed that the combination of Windows' User Account Control and an antivirus solution is enough to keep most threats at bay, but sometimes it is the user's own lack of knowledge that ends up causing problems. VoodooShield presents itself as an additional layer of protection, automatically blocking the execution of unauthorized or suspicious processes, a technique that many beginners will likely feel comfortable with.
I imagine many of our readers have had to rescue computers belonging to relatives that, "by magic", ended up full of malware and other unfortunate digital bugs. From the classic "it broke on its own" to the timeless "I didn't install anything", exposing a system to the "average butterfingers" can have devastating consequences. The question is rather complicated to answer: How can we properly protect a computer in these cases? Windows proposes a series of limits (also known as administrator locks) on process execution and access to system settings that should help maintain its integrity for longer, but there are also external solutions, and one of them is VoodooShield.
VoodooShield does not present itself as a replacement for traditional antivirus. In fact, that is not its goal. VoodooShield establishes an additional barrier when running certain processes, and adds safe elements to a whitelist to reduce the number of warnings. The program changes its operation according to user activity. For example, when working on the desktop, VoodooShield's role is passive, but when opening software that works on the network (such as a browser), VoodooShield enters its active mode. When VoodooShield encounters a threat (and it certainly will), it enables three options: block entirely, send to quarantine, or declare a false positive and allow the process to run. It is evident that VoodooShield gets its results from the VirusTotal system, and in our test with a Nirsoft program, it decided to prevent its execution with only two alerts out of a total of 56.
The free version (for non-commercial use) of VoodooShield automatically manages almost all of its configuration options, so there is not much we can modify once installed. The only way to unlock those advanced options is by purchasing the Pro version; however, basic protection will be available from the start. From what we have been able to verify, the latest version of VoodooShield has no conflicts with Windows updates or Microsoft's official antimalware. I must insist that VoodooShield is not an ideal tool for advanced users, but if the plan focuses on blocking unwanted installs, it is a good resource.
