Yoggie Pico Personal Security Appliance

Yoggie Pico Personal Security Appliance

Published August 25, 2008 at 01:16:06 PM, by Blair Mathis

Overview

The internet is a pretty scary place, or it can be if you don't have the right protection. Viruses, spam, pop ups, phishers, scammers, intruders, spywarethe list goes on and on. So, one thing is for sure - don't surf without the right amount of protection. You want something that gives you peace of mind and works. It's these things that the Yoggie Pico Security Appliance claims to provide. In this review, we'll discuss how well this unit actually provided protection.

On paper, the Yoggie Pico looks like a pretty nice innovative device, with all the bells and whistles found in memory intensive applications. It's got a whole lot of 'Anti': it's an antivirus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-spyware external appliance. They use that term 'appliance' because it's not an application - this little device is a Linux based piece of hardware running proprietary programs and nothing is really 'loaded' from your computer - thus speeding up performance for your other tasks that normally would have to run software versions of each of these programs.

With a dedicated memory allocation of 128MB and an Intel based 520MHz CPU running the security applications, the Pico looks like a promising contender to provide a serious performance boost for your system. Since this is a Linux based device, the proprietary software loaded is probably optimized for these specs. Also laying claim to fame is that this is supported by Windows Vista. I don't have Windows Vista so I can't confirm.

Design

Well, here's the part of the story where it STARTS to get kind of scary - at the packaging. Yes, I'm going to critique the packaging just as much as the device itself. Being a professional graphic artist by nature, if the stats don't sell it, the right stuff on the outside better and you've got to make sure you triple check things before you hit print. The old saying goes: 'Measure twice, cut once' and this can be ported over to this situation. If this is a device costing nearly $200 - and it is supposed to be THE solution to protect my computer from all sorts of attacks why in the world wouldn't they use SPELLCHECK on the packaging? Maybe let someone who reads English proof it once or twice?! These are the errors I've found in English because I don't speak (nor read) French, Spanish, German or Italian. If any of you readers out there are fluent in these languages, let us know if there's spelling errors there too!

That's right; there's not only one, but two grammar and sentence structure errors on the packaging, and not just on the external packaging - but the slide out as well. That's two mistakes repeated twice! Sure, the packaging is a nifty little slide out with all the right glow effects but even before I opened the Pico to test how it performed, if you misspell something on the packaging, what sort of impression does that show me that you might have overlooked something even MORE important with the product itself?

I immediately didn't feel as safe as I thought I would with this device, but being an editor, I took the duty upon myself for the better to report what I found out. So I continued on Just what else they happened to mess up, I didn't want to miss out on. I'm sorry - I'm brutal, but it's the truth. Simply put; there's no excuse for this.

Portability

Slightly larger than a flash drive, and a little bit chunkier - this device is still impressively small. Bringing this on the next business trip or mobile excursion is like tossing in a pack of gum - which is a pretty small footprint. But it also means that it can get lost in the pack pretty easy. The Pico measures 2.5'x.75'x.5' (with cap on) which makes it very portable, and that's cool.

External

Besides having the removable cap, and having three LED lights (that blink with the status of the device) there's not much to report here. It has a nice shiny black top surface with the brand name YOGGIE screen printed. Our version (Pro) came with two caps and I can't confirm if the other models do too. I'm not sure of the benefit of having two caps besides they thought people would possibly lose one and they wanted to protect the unit at all costs. And for nearly $200 - I suppose they could give us that sort of peace of mind.

Performance

Setup

Well, here's the continuing saga from the Pico that made this review take a U-turn three times. I'm flat out warning you, I tried installing this device three times on my Windows XP SP2 system - and the first attempt was the best. The last two tries were futile at best. But, let's just open the misspelled packaging, open the handy instruction booklet and start the installation process. It suggests you disable all firewall / antivirus programs beforehand, so I did but I was very hesitant to do so from the aforementioned errors. Ok, I compromised and disabled my Avast, but kept the McAfee firewall running - as I have control to grant access at any point from there. I don't know when this thing might dial home, or what it will dial home with, and I'm just being a conscientous reviewer.

Well - here's what popped up when I started the installation. Great - this thing doesn't have certified drivers for Windows XP. I cannot confirm if the drivers are certified for Vista - however, again, not a good sign that this thing is going to completely protect me if it's not certified with the platform it's meant to be designed for.

So after you click 'Continue Anyway' - you can choose your install location. You can input your own, or click next. Deciding I didn't know where this thing was going to throw all its files, I made sure to shorten the Program Files location; this isn't necessary and shouldn't affect the installation at all. However, leaving it just the same on the other two attempts produced worse results, so your results may vary.

After that - it went ahead and installed the Yoggie drivers. Nothing special - I was starting to feel a little better now that it was installing as it should be...

Setup Continued

Ok! Great - so everything installed with a few hiccups along the way. I saw that my McAfee asked me to grant access to YoggieGatekeeper.exe - I accepted. I felt better now. Let's see what happened when you click finish, which, according to the simple manual, should open an Internet window to enter my login information to begin the registration process.

Pow ! Sucker punch! Ouch, that sucks, hmm. It seemed that no matter how many times I tried, it wouldn't let me grant access to the registration page or console management area using Internet Explorer 7. Ok how about we show what processes were running to see if anything else is fishy

Showing the process list, I find the YoggieGatekeeper.exe running - and consuming about 4mb of memory. Totally acceptable, and there is a tray icon present on my taskbar as shown below. This is used to (attempt to) access the console to manage the device.

It nicely states that my Yoggie is connected, and all network activity will be scanned. Greatbut how do I know that? The console wouldn't let me log in through Internet Explorer to check it out like the manual said I could. I then tried my Mozilla Firefox to see if I could manually enter that address to get things rolling.

Setup Continued, 2

What a pleasant surprisefinally! I got accesssort of. I had to enable Java (I have the noScript plug-in). After enabling Java globally for this install I got past the language selection screen as shown below.

Continuing onthere is more fine print to read from the EULA agreement. Let's read the fine print and see what it says

I normally just blow through these things, but being that Yoggie had that funky spelling/grammar on the packaging, I decided to actually take my time and read through it. After all, this thing is going to be monitoring ALL my network activity. If someone told you that a device would be monitoring ALL your activity and had some hiccups along the way, you'd be cautious too.

And what things to read! I noticed that under clause 4 of the EULA, there was mention of upgrades and pricing. At nearly $200 USD, you would think this thing would have a pretty good upgrade pathbut it doesn't! At the time of writing, the Yoggie Pico only offers a 1-year hardware/software upgrade! It states 'You understand that if Yoggie announced the end-of-life of the version level of the product you have acquired, then as of the end-of-date, you shall no longer be entitled to support unless you choose to upgrade.' Also, it states that if things change after one year (be it firmware or whatever) you will have to pay fees for this. Doing some investigation online suggests around $20 annuallybut that's a letdown when there are pretty competent programs out there for FREE that do what this thing purports to do. I guess I could live with this if necessary, what else is there?

Meh, just some clause along the lines of how the company is indemnified from future clauses/mishaps that happen to you from this product, and can pursue you for anything you do wrong to them, normal stuff. Ok but here's something interesting, you can't post a review nor benchmark this device without any prior written consent from Yoggie. It's a good thing we got ahold of this written consent otherwise we'd be violating the EULA and terms of use! Good to know.

I accepted the EULA, now let's proceed with the simple steps to complete the installation.

Setup Continued, 3

Success! I got the log in information to register my Yoggie. I was excited to see how this performed. I entered the standard log-in (that you can supposedly change later) to activate my registration.

Uh oh now that I got logged in things looked messed up. Really messed up - the side bar was freaking out and gave me a weird version number. Under the Support tab there seemed to be strange code for what I'm guessing is normal information. None of the sub-tabs worked anymore. Reports looked equally messed up, and Status gave me three green areas and a needle. I tried the last tab, hoping to get a response by clicking on the Settings area to see if there's something I can salvage from this but it asks me to save a .cgi file.

I couldn't believe it - it asked me to save a cgi script file to edit. On the box, it said 'plug in and forget' - they couldn't have made a simple interface to interact with the device? I know it's Linux-based but even so, anyone wanting to delve deeper into this area and hopefully not mess up things without knowing perl should stay FAR away. Which is EXACTLY what I did - I didn't really want to edit anything out of the ordinary, I just wanted this to work. I thought that maybe it just needed a reboot right? I closed my Mozilla Firefox and attempted a reboot. Nothing - my computer just froze. I found the task holding everything up was none other than, you guessed it, YoggieGatekeeper.exe. The computer was not letting me terminate YoggieGatekeeper.exe, and not even a Control-Alt-Delete could bring back my Task Manager. I looked down at the device and noticed that no lights were blinking - ensuring me that it wasn't updating itself. I decided to pull the plug and did a hard shutdown.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, this review has no fairy tale ending - and I'm not spending any more time trying to figure it out. I tried three separate installs, including once on another machine, and the result was always the same- I got nowhere. The device seems to be impermeable to my attempts to access the management console to actually confirm it's blocking any such attempt of virus, port scanning - anything. Just for safe measure - I even let the device have free reign on an install with NO anti-virus or Firewall enabled (even the Microsoft XP firewall was disabled) and I still didn't get anywhere. Plugging in the unit when your machine is already turned on is also a hassle. It never connected itself to its network port that I'm assuming was supposed to forward any network traffic after it had been scanned as shown in the image below. It was a constant cycle of 'Acquiring network address' - no matter how long I let it try to acquire.

This process repeats itself - and that was very disappointing. The installation completes but without any sort of response from the unit. It registers and says that it's protecting me and monitoring my network, but I can't even get into the management software. I have opened a tech support case but have not heard a response from my initial case filing for over 24 hours now. As I stated before, the Yoggie Pico has impressive features on paper, and I'm sure it might save your resources and protect your network as I have found some other sites have been successful with their units, but I had nothing but bad luck and headaches with it.

Based on my experience and what I went through trying to attain ANY sort of confirmation that this unit works as it is stated, I can't recommend the Yoggie Pico to anyone, especially since this is a Pro model and runs roughly $200 USD. The marketing slogan of 'Plug it in and forget' did NOT work for me.

For what it's worth, I will stick to a process I can monitor and that I KNOW works on my machine, rather than try and hassle with a device that sucks up one more USB port and doesn't even do what it claims to. Like I stated earlier, there are free antivirus programs and firewalls out there that aren't TOO much of a resource hog - and that still manage to update themselves for free after a year.

One last thing, Yoggie- fix your packaging! I knew something was up from the beginning!

NOTE: Read on to learn the aftermath!

Addendum

Well, Yoggie's technical support finally contacted me after nearly 48 hours of waiting. Their response was too little, too late, providing a simple measure of downloading updated drivers (which I already had done) and asking if the Yoggie icon in my taskbar was "green". They also asked me to reply with any error messages that I could supply. I replied back on July 19 and I still have no response as of July 22. Perhaps they are only a Monday through Friday technical support operation? It was a valiant effort for replying, but offering little help the first go around and then not replying for 48 hours doesn't help this situation at all.

On July 23 the second reply came from technical support. This time, we made a little headway, the tech told me to access the login using an IP address instead of the https://yoggie.yoggie.com:8443/ line you get when you click through the taskbar icon. Again, nowhere is this written in any manual or available online that I could find. The address they told me to connect to was 172.16.0.1:8443. I typed it in and it re-recognized the security certificate, asking me if I would like to accept it. I chose yes, and always accept this from now on. After this I finally got the log-in prompt! Hooray! We're getting somewhere! I entered my previously registered username and password when I FIRST tried to install the Yoggie - since the "generic" one that was in the manual didn't work (which leads me to believe that you don't register the Yoggie and keep this information on your computer, rather it travels within the device's RAM).

After I logged in I saw what appeared to be the functional version of the control management console. I was so overjoyed that I actually got somewhere that I forgot to take screen shots, my error. I'm sorry, I was just so happy that there was a RESPONSE from the unit! I ran through all the settings and things appeared much better. So I thought I would head on over to try and download a test virus (still leery about the functionality of the unit, I kept my Avast still logged on just in case). I clicked on for a new tab in Firefox and no response. Oh no - it's doing it again! I thought maybe my Firefox session was messed up so I tried Internet Explorer. Now it halted my system to nearly a standstill- Control Alt Delete did nothing.

I finally unplugged the Yoggie from my USB (which was very very hot by the way) and SPONTANEOUSLY every little click I had tried came flooding through. Firefox, IE7, Start menu, Task Manager, Firewall settings all came to life in nearly an instant.Odd, and I don't like it. Nope. Let's give it one last shot with a restart. Let's shut down, and turn the laptop completely off. Unplug the battery and wait for the memory to refresh. I plugged the Yoggie back in while it was off, turned on the laptop. My laptop boots up and logs into Windows fine. However, the icon is now RED where the Yoggie sits in my taskbar. It's not connected. It isn't even recognized by my USB port - it powers on, but does nothing. It's pretty much fried. I did a system diagnostic report for Yoggie tech support, once when the device first 'started' working again - and then another when the device died, and sent it along with my follow up email so hopefully, if this happens again, they have a solution. Needless to say - I wish I could have gotten it to work to report back to you, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Call me brutal, but when my computer is at risk and the product claims to provide corporate-grade security and doesn't deliver, I will not recommend it to anyone, except, perhaps my enemies.

Update - 8/20/07!

Well, it wasn't long before Yoggie contacted me regarding the performance of my test unit. Even though I was in contact with tech support and they were lacking on a response time, Yoggie came through on sending me a replacement unit to show how confident their support is for their brand. Bold steps, and appreciated - knowing that if you have problems, they will take care of you - well, at least this happened for us. If you were experiencing the horrors I was having with my unit - this would be the only remedy to make me want to try the Pico again, which I'm doing now to update you.

After the unit arrived to my location - I took it out and examined the box. Nope - the packaging errors are still on them, and I'm sure they will be until the next run of printing occurs. I guess, one can only say 'who cares, if it works I can live with a few misspellings'.

Opening the box showed the exact same elements as before - a Pico, user manual, two end caps and an install disc. However, since our last review post - Yoggie has had its hands full and has released an updated driver base for some of the problems I and a few other people had been experiencing. They were kind enough to send me an installation disc with these drivers (version 5.1.5) - but I went to the website to gain some insight on what this update addressed. Yoggie claims to have fixed ten major flaws, and of the listed problems, I know my previous unit had the following problems:

• It did not install any RNDIS drivers
• It would not show the Yoggie icon if my Explorer.exe crashed
• The browser window did not open properly after installation wizard
• The driver update mechanism failed to initialize

I am not sure if they are addressing the 'acquiring network address' problem, or the Internet explorer certificate issues. Regardless, it's good to know they are making headway.

Moving along to the install - the install was carried on with the updated CD provided to me, and was the same as the previous CD (or at least, looked the same) However, this time around after connecting the Pico I noticed that RNDIS drivers were installed - which was good.

However, after I was prompted to click finish, the unit STILL would not open the log-in page directly from the installation wizard. Disappointing to say the least - and it also was disappointing to note that the 'open management console' still did not work either. I had to manually copy the address and use Firefox to gain access to the initialization page once more and log in using the common username 'admin' and 'yoggie' password.

After I had initialized the unit - and it prompted me to register my unit and enter my CD key - the browser asked me to log in with my user name and password. After doing so, I was greeted by a 404 error again. Letting out a big sigh, I thought maybe I should use IE7 and enter that information manually.

I closed my Firefox session and opened Internet Explorer, using the previous sent log-in site via technical support: https:172.16.0.1:8443 - in which I did get somewhere, however, there is still a certificate error by using this log-in as it references the yoggie.yoggie.com address and not the secure IP.

I clicked continue to the website - which brought me to the log-in prompt through IE7. This is good news; I never got this far last time with the previous unit, so I'm making progress.

Update - 8/20/07, cont'd

After logging in I got the wonderful screen showing me all the settings, and pertinent stuff to the unit that someone should take the time to look at.

My status was quite alarming, and even though I use McAfee Security on my computer, I wasn't expecting so many firewall hits through my connection. I've got my system pretty well locked down- it's NAT firewalled, MAC address filtered, and running Noscript and Avast. My McAfee had the same number of blocked instances as the Pico, showing that both units recognized and blocked the port attacks (which looks like to be someone in Singapore) is awesome. It's working on being a firewall, which is good.

Notice the 193 hits against my firewall - that's uncool. It just shows you how 'unsafe' the Internet really is - and I would like to note that number increased by two for every two minutes that went by. Same IP, same instrusion method - all blocked!

Since I was comfortable with the way the Pico was performing, I intentionally downloaded a virus to see what would happen. Important note in case you try to replicate this test: I cannot be held responsible when these files or your AV scanner in combination with these files cause any damage to your computer. YOU DOWNLOAD THESE FILES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Download these files only if you are sufficiently secure in the usage of your AV scanner. I cannot and will not provide any help to remove these files from your computer. Please contact the manufacturer/vendor of your AV scanner to seek such help.

Ok, I took the plunge and downloaded the file eicor.com.txt and this is what the unit did.

Good. It blocked the file.

How much memory is it using? Let's look at the task manager to see

Running all this protection, and using only 12.1MB is pretty awesome. I calculated all the process usage my other programs were using (avast and McAfee) and the total was nearing 50MB! Having the Yoggie cut down my memory usage by nearly three quarters, well, that's nice to say the least.

NEW RECOMMENDATION

In short - the unit seems to be working, blocking a lot of firewall events, but is still having some hiccups while using the log-in command from the tray icon. The price tag is still high, but it looks like they are running a 'limited time offer' price on the units. The update time frame is still a little disappointing and having an external device to have to plug-in for protection can be daunting (especially if you forget the unit, or lose it) however, my recommendation has seen new light. In light of all the shortcomings the previous unit had (not installing correctly, malfunctioning and then dying) this unit seems to be pretty healthy and offering me some great protection. I give it a normal recommendation. It is only missing the HIGHLY RECOMMENDED mark for its hefty price tag and previously mentioned flaws.

NEW PROS

• It works!
• It uses a LOT less space/CPU/memory than traditional software

CONS

• Don't forget it if you don't have any backup software!
• Still runs a little warm
• It still is NOT completely hassle free for an install
• Unconfirmed Windows Vista support (for me anyways)
• Mismatched security errors are still occurring

I'm glad Yoggie showed some gusto and followed up - the Pico has proven itself to be working as claimed, which is important for us to know! Thanks to the user who submitted his review as well, it gave us light at the end of the tunnel to see that indeed our experience was not the exception and not the rule. I'm glad I gave it another chance.

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Technical Specifications

No specifications are available.