BOClean still under development?

@ boredog

Yes you're right about the .Gov contracts & the kernel. And they did sell ALL rights for not just BOClean, but All their other products & www & All their intelectual property etc too. That's what Meligh/Comodo demanded ! Even then Meligh short changed them afterwards on some promises made before !

I think Kevin & Nancy initially expected BOClean to be sort of a part time operation, as back when they started Lots of nasty malware was uncommon. Because of that they offered a one off lowish $ payment for Life Time updates & Defs. Because they were/are decent people who didn't break promises etc, they continued to keep on offering that deal, come what may !

Unfortunately for them, things conspired against them in various ways. Their .Gov etc contracts dried up, malware went ballastic, & they didn't attract enough regular PC users often enough to purchase their products to pay the bills. Instead of putting their hands up & saying for eg, Hey folks we couldn't have possibly forseen the situation we are in now, so from now on we need to charge a yearly fee for new purchases etc , and if existing users agree, for them too, if not sooner rather than later we'll most likely go under.

Instead they just hoped the word would spread & hopefully things might pick up ! Sadly it didn't, & to their Total honor & credit, they carried on with vastly diminishing returns with severe financial & personal hardship for a Long time ! Obviously the situation couldn't continue indefinately, so i introduced them to a well respected vendor who i thought might be interested in doing a deal with them. For reasons i can't disclose, it didn't pan out. Shortly after that Comodo got involved. At first eveything went smoothly, but we know the final outcome ! But at least they were saved from going under etc.

Two very nice people, in a world full of sharks. I sincerely hope they are both enjoying a well deserved stress free happy life, at last !

 

Clone

very nice post. I am not sure but if I remember right he coded in assembly. I still have some very old emails we exchanged. everything you say is true about him and nancy. what I always thought was funny was how when you brought something to his attention he never ever wrote a short reply back. it was a full page.
with easy to understand wording. what do you think about my gov comment ? they must have to be using software that touches the kernel by now or they can't win as kevin said. I wonder if that is so and if so , why kevin did not go back into business writing software for them. his memory idea was always revolutionary.
I don't know about you but I really miss those days. I sue do remember those days when you and I kept warning about rootkits but all the experts said it was fear mongering. I would like to see now what kind of crow they chose to eat. I don't remember if you ever figured out what hit you way back then. if it was hardware related in your video card or what? in those old emails he explained in detail why AVs would fail
and the correct way to go about it. and so he never took any consulting jobs? or even speaking for moola?

 

@ boredog

Thanx. Yeah those long replies were always good to read, & often amusing too. They were indeed fun & happy times, & i miss them too. Fings just aint the same anymore, & many good members have left since then, so we miss their useful contributions as well. And i don't just mean about BOClean.

MS said they would make it impossible for vendors to touch the kernel with later versions of windows. This then made products like BOClean unable to dig as deep as they previously could. But, as usual with MS arrogance, they thought that due to them wanting to block kernel access, nobody would need to go there. Ha, famous last words ! We soon found out that Lots of new malware, including Rootkits etc, did invade the kernel, & still does. In both 32 bit & 64 bit computers ! Speaking of Rootkits, as you mention, we did have a hard time trying to convince people of the very real dangers that lay ahead. And RK's have become almost mainstream now ! Remember all those ARK's "AntiRootkits" that started appearing, mostly freeware too. One of the best was RootkitDefender. The funny thing was, as i was on 98SE i couldn't use them until i moved to XP !

Yes his in memory scanning was unique, & comodo includes it in it's products to this day. So at least some of him & his code lives on.

I don't recall getting hit with a nasty ? Maybe you're thinking of when i purposefully allowed my 98SE comp to get infected. To show the effectiveness of BOClean, i attempted to run Several nasties at once, i think it was a Trojan & a Rootkit, but BOClean blocked them All instantly. I then shut down BOClean & my other security & ran them. It was quite a mess, & took me a while afterwards to sort everything out, but i did. The thread with lots of screenies was not on here, but on DSLR.

The world has changed a Lot since then, in all sorts of ways, & not all for the better !

 

yes RootkitDefender And we know where he went to work ms. also ep_xoff went to work there too. not sure if gmer is still active. then there is the famous unhackme. now he is still active but his software is no where near the home user to this day. and so you say it was not only the gov not allowing the kernel but also ms? that was a good move in my opinion. lot of people trying to cover all the bases in windows but still can't . oh dear. remebmber all those hard drives shipped from I think it was tiawan that had malware installed from the factory? it only gets worse as you say. nothing has really changed on this forum as I can see. we have some pretty smart people but still seem ignorant to the times. it is ok though now that I am retired I have a bunch a time to trace things down.
it is funny how old dos commands still work even on win 10 .

 

Gawd -- Having been a devout BOClean user for years, everytime I see a new BOClean post at the top of the list It causes me to reflect and fondly look back and it makes me feel so old. But for some reason some of these posts also make me smile. Fond memories of the product, of a differert time, a different era.

 

Indeed Hawki fond memories. Great light weight product in a different time. Down to earth and friendly folk Nancy and Kevin.

 

Hi boredog,

I was beta tester, but in the Knos project forum, you can see my post querying the status of the project - http://knosproject.proboards.com/thread/203/wondering?page=1&scrollTo=959

 

hello Tarnak.

what did you think of the knos program? it looks like you can still get the last version. did you do that yet. I wonder if they would send me a copy even if I had not been a tester? I guess I had not known about the beta test.

thanks

 

Hi boredog,

I just went looking for it, the last iso file I downloaded, but I couldn't find it. I know I had burnt an earlier version to dvd, and it worked ok. It was 32 bit, and it would boot fine on my XP desktop, but I haven't used it in over 3 yrs, and I can't find the disk. I have it somewhere. I don't know if you can get a copy, but you can perhaps email Kevin and Nancy, and ask .

 

ok thanks, sounds like you had already got the latest version 3 years ago then.

 

Hey, all! Long time no type, and thanks for the kind words!

The KNOS Project has been on partial hiatus ever since I went to work for Apple 3 years ago, had to take on a job since you still have to pay the bills, and what you did yesterday doesn't count tomorrow. Apple is eating my time since, and work on KNOS continues at a very low rate when time permits. We DID release a 10.1 version last year and got copies off to some of our more dedicated users, and a 10.2 version has been done, but not without complications. What's been holding things up is Adobe Flash and other multimedia support since KNOS had to use the Linux version of Flash in emulation, and that hasn't been upgraded since 2013. Version 11 of Flash just doesn't work anymore.

Now that most of the browser vendors are going to kill off that miserable excuse for a Petrie dish once and for all, and HTML5 video (including DRM) might finally happen soon, work is about to begin on an 11 version of KNOS that will provide the multimedia that has been the whole reason behind KNOS' withdrawal except for the few paying customers who don't care whether or not they can watch Hulu, Crackle or Netflix on their computer. We might have another shot at it once the dust settles as to where multimedia is headed with the browsers come fall, and how to get multimedia happy again. The last version of KNOS we built though has some really sweet new features.

But just like it was with BOClean, maintaining KNOS is expensive. VERY expensive, and we worked for over six years trying to get financing in order to take off. That never happened, and sales were virtually non-existent. We're still plugging along in hopes that that might change, and we're ready should some serious money come our way to do it with. I still work on the code on my spare time off and still use KNOS, along with a few who have kept in touch and wanted to try out the latest. Works fine as always, unless you want Adobe Flash. Heh. So, been putting my time into working for Apple since we still have to pay the bills. Nancy had cancer three years ago, and that also put a crimp in things. She's doing well now aside from yet another "lack of money" as a result. I thank Apple every day for footing the bill to keep her alive, and get her past that, even if we're flat broke.

So ... I'm busy as all getout, but my email is still available. Feel free, I'll get back to you as time permits. Might take a few days though. October is coming, as we be busy at the fruit farm. (grin)

I've updated my email address at knosproject.com just now, so should work.

 

Hi dear Kevin,

Sending lots and lots of big huge and warm best wishes to you and Nancy !!!

Warmest regards from a former BOClean and IEClean user,
Jan

 

Hola Kevin & Nancy,

Grrrrreat hearing from you!!!

 

were any of you able to find the new e-mail addy? it is like where is waldo

I saw a sales and I saw a technology but that's it.

 

Try here...http://www.knosproject.com/contact.html

 

Although I'm no programmer I was among the first ones to understand the value and use BoClean,which,like many nostalgic users here,I deem a program created by two great persons, which i would have paid any sum of money in order to guarantee its continuation in command of Kevin.
I'm sad for the recent hardships suffered by them and I wish the couple all the best !

 

Kevin of BOCLEAN spotted! Long time no see. .. Hugs for Nancy too from another old BOClean user!

 

Hello Kev and say hello to Nancy, glad she is doing ok!!
Gordon

 

Just saw: A Kevin and Nancy update
Sadly not all good news
Hope you are both OK
Really good to see you posting.

Apple eh...
Hey: You do that thing with the peripherals ??

Ride on, ride on