Webroot's and PrevX's history apart and together are a very long story. Many, like me, know parts of it. People from the Wilders Security Forums know most of all (where power-user TripleHelix hails from.)
Has anyone assembled a history of everything that's known?
I know it's going to sound like brown-nosing - posting this on the Webroot forum, identified as a Webroot Community Guide - but I think it's a really interesting business story. Webroot saw what PrevX was doing, something completely different, and in the end dropped all its consumer products in the belief that PrevX was the right path. It's not often you'll find a company that will replace the core tech it has been building for a decade with that of a small team's from another country.
Webroot/Prevx history
+6---------------------------------------- Business Products Sr. Community Leader and Expert Advisor - WSA-Enterprise administrator over 2000 clients First company to 1000+ WSA endpoints | Power User / Business Ambassador / WSA-C and WSA-E Beta tester Find me on Twitter!
+56Well I can give you some Prevx History!
Prevx Pro 2005: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1879976,00.asp nice GUI at the time! LOL
Prevx1: http://www.2-spyware.com/review-prevx1.html
Prevx2: http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Utilities/SecurityApplications/prevx1-screenshot.html
Prevx 3.0 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346861,00.asp
Prevx 3.0.5 with SafeOnline: http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Prevx-SafeOnline-Screenshot-143278.html
TH
Prevx Pro 2005: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1879976,00.asp nice GUI at the time! LOL
Prevx1: http://www.2-spyware.com/review-prevx1.html
Prevx2: http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Utilities/SecurityApplications/prevx1-screenshot.html
Prevx 3.0 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346861,00.asp
Prevx 3.0.5 with SafeOnline: http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Prevx-SafeOnline-Screenshot-143278.html
TH
I think that would be really interesting! I second your suggestion.@ wrote:
Webroot's and PrevX's history apart and together are a very long story. Many, like me, know parts of it. People from the Wilders Security Forums know most of all (where power-user TripleHelix hails from.)
Has anyone assembled a history of everything that's known?
Thanks to everyone for the comments... looks like I have some pleasure reading to do!
+56The only thing I don't get that allot of users spell PrevX with a cap X it's never been in any of them just Prevx. :S
Daniel
EDIT: I found the original Prevx Home that I first used in 2004!
Daniel
EDIT: I found the original Prevx Home that I first used in 2004!
+3Quote by TripleHelix "The only thing I don't get that allot of users spell PrevX with a cap X it's never been in any of them just Prevx." Heh, Heh...I have been thinking the same for a long time, and believe it's because of how it is pronounced...PrevExx? I've always pronounced it PrevIcks, if that makes sense to you? The earliest online reference to Prevx I can find is on "Wayback Machine", from December 2003, following transition from Trustcorps. I may be over nostalgic, but I have the installation files for both Prevx 1 & 2, which I'm keeping for posterity!
Incredible!! What a trip down memory lane!!@ wrote:
EDIT: I found the original Prevx Home that I first used in 2004!
The first dealings I had with Prevx was in late 2006 with Prevx1. Never looked back since. Unfortunately, I don't have any screenshots (or any of those early installation files - Dermot) but I do still have the original mail with the receipt of purchase (I generally keep all my mails).
Interesting that even back then it was cloud-based: see the link TH gave us to the Prevx1 review. I remember well: they would talk about the power of the Prevx collective "community intelligence" (Those were the days before the word "cloud" became common parlance).
+56Yes 2006 that's when Joe started at Prevx and the forum was at CastleCops and when they closed down then Joe got the forum at Wilders. 😉 And it's nice that Prevx lives on in WSA and Webroot even made it better!
Daniel
Daniel
You are all making me feel like quite the newbie here.... 🙂@ wrote:
Yes 2006 that's when Joe started at Prevx and the forum was at CastleCops and when they closed down then Joe got the forum at Wilders. ;)
Daniel
+56David what really matters is from here on as it's only going to get Better. :D
Daniel
Daniel
+6As promised, it's an interesting history.
Triple do you have any of the manuals/help files for the old Prevx?
Triple do you have any of the manuals/help files for the old Prevx?
---------------------------------------- Business Products Sr. Community Leader and Expert Advisor - WSA-Enterprise administrator over 2000 clients First company to 1000+ WSA endpoints | Power User / Business Ambassador / WSA-C and WSA-E Beta tester Find me on Twitter!
+56Unfortunately not. 😞 I only have the last version of Prevx 3.0.5.220
Daniel
Daniel
Would Joe happen to still have them backed up?@ wrote:
Unfortunately not. 😞 I only have the last version of Prevx 3.0.5.220
Daniel
+56@DavidP wrote:It's possible but I don't see why?
Would Joe happen to still have them backed up?@ wrote:
Unfortunately not. 😞 I only have the last version of Prevx 3.0.5.220
Daniel
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Thank you, Dermot, for your post talking about Wayback (search engine for older versions of webpages and deleted webpages) which I only knew vaguely about, and your little mention of Trustcorps (predecessor to Prevx) of which I knew nothing.@ wrote:
The earliest online reference to Prevx I can find is on "Wayback Machine", from December 2003, following transition from Trustcorps. I may be over nostalgic, but I have the installation files for both Prevx 1 & 2, which I'm keeping for posterity!
So I did some digging, using Wayback, and discovered quite a few things I hadn’t known before:
- Prevx did indeed exist in another form (Trustcorps) for a whole two years before Prevx came into being. This seems to have consisted of an international team of security programmers who came together spontaneously to do research into a new kind of HIPS-based antimalware approach http://wayback.archive.org/web/20031223014223/http://www.prevx.com/news_brand.php – para. 1 http://www.2-spyware.com/review-prevx1.html – para. 1 http://wayback.archive.org/web/20040407132114/http://www.prevx.com/PREVX_Company_Overview.pdf – para. 5
- I assume that, even in those early research stages, they must have been offering some kind of beta version security software to individuals and to companies as, by 2005 when Prevx1 was released, they already boasted half a million users!! http://www.2-spyware.com/review-prevx1.html – para. 1 (Incidentally, can anyone provide an exact or exactish date for the release of Prevx1??)
- Reading the above review, it sounds remarkably similar in architecture to today’s Webroot SecureAnywhere. It feels almost as if you could be reading a review of WSA when you read it. It just goes to show how revolutionary Prevx was at the time … (and still is!!)
- Interestingly, at the very beginning (2003) Mel Morris was not the CEO of Prevx. Another chap, Nick Ray, was. Mel Morris was a non-executive director. Has anybody heard of Nick Ray? If so, can they provide more information on him? http://wayback.archive.org/web/20040403164615/http://www.prevx.com/the_team.php
- When Mel Morris bought exclusive ownership of Prevx, he did this through a company that he had set up called Retento Ltd. http://wayback.archive.org/web/20070707165008/http://www.prevx.com/aboutprevx.asp http://www.percipient-capital.co.uk/index.php?cat=6&rec=1
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20061215191309/http://info.prevx.com/onetutorial.asp?st=1
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20070723050235/http://info.prevx.com/tutorialp2.asp?profile=PINNACLE&LANG=english&pageno=1
EDIT: As for Prevx3: http://info.prevx.com/help.asp
And for anyone who is interested in obtaining copies of the Prevx1 and Prevx2 installation files for sentimental reasons, have a look at these two links:
http://www.tucows.com/preview/385216/Prevx1
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Utilities/SecurityApplications/prevx1-download.html
Care should perhaps be taken with these last two links as the Prevx1 installation file is being flagged by Nod32 as a threat, however that is possibly/probably because it is very old now and therefore simply unknown?
EDIT: Also, as of today you can amazingly still obtain copies of the Prevx3 Home, Business and Enterprise installation files: https://my.prevx.com/downloads.asp
Please, of course, feel free to correct me if I have made any errors in my above conclusions.
EDIT: URL link updated (incorrect address) and two new URL links added
+54Thank you for all the links there, although I have not looked at them all especially in the last post by Muddy7 it is very interesting.
I did not realise that you were around though Daniel when CastleCops was operating, that seems like a long time ago now, it was one of my "earlier" sites.
I did not realise that you were around though Daniel when CastleCops was operating, that seems like a long time ago now, it was one of my "earlier" sites.
+63I happened to look through my pictures and found a transition version from Prevx to Webroot during the early stages of development in 2011 and thought I would share! Even before they named it Webroot SecureAnywhere! It was a fun time with Joe and others from the Webroot development team!
Daniel - Microsoft MVP Consumer Security (2012-2016) Windows 10 Pro x64 for Workstations 22H2 on my Alienware 17R2 and Alienware 17R5 Laptops with Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete Beta Tester for PC & Android Moto G9 Plus OS 11. "Take Them to the Train Station" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ah, YES...those were the good ol' days...yes, sireeeeee! :D
Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete Beta Tester v9.0.24.49, imaged by Macrium Reflect v7.2
Dermot7 wrote:
Quote by TripleHelix "The only thing I don't get that allot of users spell PrevX with a cap X it's never been in any of them just Prevx." Heh, Heh...I have been thinking the same for a long time, and believe it's because of how it is pronounced...PrevExx? I've always pronounced it PrevIcks, if that makes sense to you? The earliest online reference to Prevx I can find is on "Wayback Machine", from December 2003, following transition from Trustcorps. I may be over nostalgic, but I have the installation files for both Prevx 1 & 2, which I'm keeping for posterity!
That’s because, as Nick explained to me, the idea was Prev(enting) X(the unknown). So yes it was said as prev-ex.
To add to the story, and this is not well known, the company was going to be called Immunify. A former colleague called Ian Hendry had registered this domain and we weren’t able to obtain it from him, so Paul, Nick and I came up with TrustCorps as a ‘plan B’ name to get us to market after we raised money from angel investors and the regional investment fund.
How do I know this? I was a co-founder and CTO, I designed the first version of the software.
Shout outs to our technical advisers at the time Fluffi Bunni, t0rner and TESO ;-)
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davidwilliamson wrote:
Dermot7 wrote:
Quote by TripleHelix "The only thing I don't get that allot of users spell PrevX with a cap X it's never been in any of them just Prevx." Heh, Heh...I have been thinking the same for a long time, and believe it's because of how it is pronounced...PrevExx? I've always pronounced it PrevIcks, if that makes sense to you? The earliest online reference to Prevx I can find is on "Wayback Machine", from December 2003, following transition from Trustcorps. I may be over nostalgic, but I have the installation files for both Prevx 1 & 2, which I'm keeping for posterity!
That’s because, as Nick explained to me, the idea was Prev(enting) X(the unknown). So yes it was said as prev-ex.
To add to the story, and this is not well known, the company was going to be called Immunify. A former colleague called Ian Hendry had registered this domain and we weren’t able to obtain it from him, so Paul, Nick and I came up with TrustCorps as a ‘plan B’ name to get us to market after we raised money from angel investors and the regional investment fund.
How do I know this? I was a co-founder and CTO, I designed the first version of the software.
Shout outs to our technical advisers at the time Fluffi Bunni, t0rner and TESO ;-)
Fascinating.
Keep telling us more (if you wish) 😉
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Well I'm happy to have to be able to read about the good old days.😀
David Neutz
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In my opinion this humble webpage, which I recently discovered, best explains the curious origins of Webroot’s anti-malware technology (though the numbers are a bit out of date!): https://joejaroch.com/
+63Awesome find
Thanks!
Daniel - Microsoft MVP Consumer Security (2012-2016) Windows 10 Pro x64 for Workstations 22H2 on my Alienware 17R2 and Alienware 17R5 Laptops with Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete Beta Tester for PC & Android Moto G9 Plus OS 11. "Take Them to the Train Station" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
+62That's so awesome to read about Joe and his accomplishments! Yes! Indeed a great find! I've bookmarked that information/articles.
Thank you
Windows Insider, iMac 2021 27 in i5 Retina 5, iMac OS Sequoia (15.3.2}, Security: iPads, W 10 & (VM:15), ALIENWARE 17R4, W10 Workstation, ALIENWARE 15 R6, W11, Webroot® SecureAnywhere™ Internet Security Complete (Android Samsung Galaxy Ultra Note 23, Webroot Beta Tester. Security
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