I've been using Hands Off! for the last few years and initially it worked well. But now it causes constant crashes. Every few days my Macs spontaneously restart with a kernel panic due to Hands Off! The updates don't fix this. Contacting support gets you no response. I am sick of it and purchased Little Snitch instead. If you are considering Hands Off! I recommend you get Little Snitch instead. It works well.
I've been using Hands Off! for the last few years and initially it worked well. But now it causes constant crashes. Every few days my Macs spontaneously restart with a kernel panic due to Hands Off! The updates don't fix this. Contacting support gets you no response. I am sick of it and purchased Little Snitch instead. If you are considering Hands Off! I recommend you get Little Snitch instead. It works well.
Hands off has continued to deteriorate from year to year, kernel panic and forced restarts have become more frequent. Initially, I thought that the problem would be solved with the next update. The support is incompetent. The worst part is that Hands Off still does not work on Catalina, which is a shame for paid software! I ended up having enough, and I bought Little Snitch, which does not cause any kernel panic… I regret having bought Hands Off! and not to have bought Little Snitch in the first place.
4.4.0 version doesn't work with Catalina 10.15.2 but it is unacceptable that the after-sales service does not respond even after 3 emails. After many years I have to change software.
Frequent kernel panics on macOS Catalina and no support to be had from the manufaturer—emails remain unanswered, don't expect any help or refund. Cave emptor!
Causes kernell-panic once in a day or two, support doesn't respond (tried numerous times). It's a good piece of software and I'd love to continue using it, but these frequent kernel panics and unexisting support are a major deal-breaker. What a shame.
I had been a big fan of Hands Off! versions 2 and 3 but I purchased a new Mac with Mojave that required me to upgrade to Hands Off! 4 and it causes frequent kernel panics. This has happened with every version between 4.1.0 and 4.4.0. I've emailed One Periodic support multiple times and they don't even respond. For anyone that would accuse me of being a "noob" with a mess on my computer: 1) I did a clean install of macOS Mojave. 2) I have no third party kernel extensions other than Hands Off! 3) Every panic report shows com.metakine.handsoff.driver in the backtrace. It looks like I'll be trying Little Snitch but it seems it doesn't monitor filesystem access like Hands Off! does. Can anyone recommend an alternative to Hands Off! for monitoring file access?
Absolute garbage. Causes kernel panic about once a week. The 4.1.0 update didn't fix it. Just had another panic. I guess it's back to the more expensive Little Snitch, but LS has NEVER caused a panic or crash of any kind.
Hands Off! V 4.2Update does not change anything. It's been 11th(!) time that software causes reboot of my system, because of com.metakine.handsoff.driver (4.2), which apparently causes kernel panic once or twice a week. The support@oneperiodic.com still does not answer my calls(!). To note!
Suggestion or advice to give me? How can I fix this problem once and for all? Thank you.
Hello,
It's been 9th (!) Times that software causes reboot of my system, because of com.metakine.handsoff.driver (4.0), which apparently causes kernel panic. Guys, if I'm talking to you it's because support@oneperiodic.com just does not answer my calls. Do you have a suggestion or advice to give me? How can I fix this problem once and for all? At worst, reinstallation? If not, I'm already ready to uninstall it completely and move on to Little Snitch. I'm counting on you. Thank you.
Hands Off! 4 works flawlessly on my Mac Pro and does what it is supposed to do. I was using LS year ago, but I find Hands Off easier to control and use.
I have read few messages here stating the One Peridoc was not responsive to customers, but what happened yesterday with the release of macOS 10.14.1 seems to show otherwise. As some people may have read below, that OS upgrade broke Hands Off. I emailed One Periodic last evening about that issue, and before 9:00pm (CDT) I got an email back from them stating that v4.0.1 was out and that the problem was fixed. That's what I call excellent customer service.
The Mojave 10.14.1 upgrade has broken Hands Off! 4.0.0. It is not functional anymore, at least on my machine. Full uninstall and reinstall did not solve the problem. I'll email One Periodic ASAP.
Hi
I'm using this beautiful piece of software from first betas and since then I never look for another option...
It's working as expected and have a complete sets of rules to cover all different scenarios,
Also it's very light on system.
The team behind it send out updates regularly therefore the app work smoothly all the times.
Best wishes for them.
I think the best software of this category in the market. User interface is very comfortable, functioning is efficient and you have also right to control the file writing function with this app. The support team is hardworking that program is updated in periods, and you can easily install the updates without any problem. Mail support is also effective because of fast and kindness team
There is no better Firewall for Mac out there than HandsOff! Little Snitch is also good software, but it has the lack of file-writing-control. In addition the support of One Periodic (the developer) is very fast, friendly and helpful. It is also very easy to understand and to set up the app. I never had any problems with kernel panics or app crashes or anything else, as others reported. Thank you and god bless you :)
It's a little tedious when first installed, because every app you open causes the settings window to pop up. But once you have everything set up, it's ... ahem ... a very hands off app to use.
As to anyone who complained about support, when I emailed for help today, I received a reply in less than five minutes. Fastest email support I've ever seen!
Don't waste your time with unresponsive developers!
To me the single most useful feature of Hands-off! is it's ability to track changes on files, which makes it the perfect ransomware stopper. That, coupled with the nice network filtering capabilities would make this a great product if it wasn't because of the numerous kernel panics that it produces and the disappointing support from the developers.
This software package isn't worth your $$$ and time -- go ahead and give Vallum, Little Snitch or Radio Silence a try.
Generates Kernel Panics on a macOS Sierra OS on a regular basis when sleeping your MacBook Pro then moving it to another physical location with a different network and awakening it. Since removing it, the crashes have stopped altogether. The stack trace references both HandsOff and the Ethernet driver.
I want to install this on a computer for a user with limited tech experience. Would the messages and alerts be too confusing? This user barely knows how to use email.
Got stuck in what appears to be an infinite loop indicating that Mail (apple's) did not have any default settings. I would set the default settings and the window would pop up again.
Each time, it would put another identical default settings line in the Hands Off! rule set.
I finally force-restarted my Mac.
Handsoff has always had a more sophisticated mechanism for not only protecting my mac, but insuring that malware does not disable it behind the scenes. When other software of similar nature has been targeted with workarounds in malware to bypass the security it provides, HandsOff had not been effected.
I use HandsOff! as much for security as I do for debugging macOS (which is about 50% of what I do on the Mac as it is buggy). HandsOff! Allows me to catch file & network read/write operations of even not-suspect apps to analyze what the (#$%) they are doing ... and of course the ever present UNIX file permissions liability which is UNIX's operational Achilles heels.
Others have complained here that it causes system problems. I have only had that problem when I have inadvertently blocked something that the system need to operate. The old adage here holds true "with great power comes great responsibly" or as my favorite professor used to say "it gives you enough rope to hang yourself"
But with this version I do notice some strange things going on. Regardless of the state of "Disable Rules" or "Enable Rules" HandsOff seems to have the rules enabled. If the bug has to be one way or another, it is better to be stuck "on" though.
Another nagging issue is having HandsOff constantly ask me for the same permission and re-enter the same rule for several system processes. For example I have 16 of the same rule in for the apsd (apple push notification daemon) to access *.push.apple.com and another 16 of the same rule for apsd to access *.init.p01st.push.apple.com. What is worse is that the apsd process is one of many such that HandsOff can't seem to remember that it has a rule for...
Last thing that is annoying with this version is the need to click several times on a process in the network monitor display to select it. The selection will bounce back to the prior selected app most of the time if you don't double or triple click the one you are trying to select. The pattern is click - gah, it went back, bam-bam-bam dang thing stay selected... Constant annoyance but only a GUI abboration.
But where it shines... you can dig down to what is performing the monkeybusiness from rule confirmation dialog before it has a chance to make a mess of your day. You can drag and drop an app into the rules to establish a set of rules or even an exception to the rules for a given app. When I ditched LittleSnitch, it could not track file operations and that was huge... a huge benefit for Hands Off!
This version needs a little shoring up but there is nothing to make me want to go elsewhere. It could have some enhancements rather than just maintain system compatibility for years with the upgrade fee. Why not add in a real-time display like FSEventer used to show when files were being accessed. That was awesome and all the tech is in Hands Off! to do this.
Hands Off! 3.1.2 has been posted to the developer site. I installed it and so far so good, all applications are launching without any problems. It seems that the issues encountered with macOS 10.12.1 have been fixed:)
Like NotClaude below, HO is causing lots of problem with MacOS 10.12.1 here: applications not launching properly (icons bouncing in the dock), background application stuck in launch mode but not working. Solution: force quit the Apps. or use the Application Monitor to do so. Removing HO solved the problems. After reinstalling Little Snitch, my Mac is back in business. You can find more information here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7720518?start=0&tstart=0. At the bottom of page 3 several users state that removing HO also solved the problem
With macOS Sierra 10.12.1, broke a lot of third party apps when autolaunch is active when you startup the system for me. The solution is launch manually all the apps or remove HandsOff :(
I was running the latest version of HandsOff! (v3.1.1) and my iMac running macOS Sierra 10.12 kept throwing an error when checking for updates. In the Mac App Store I would get the message "Can't connect to the Apple Software Update server.". I checked my Hosts file, I made sure there was no rule in HandsOff! preventing it, I even tried disabling all rules in HandsOff! and rebooting, all to no avail.
I eventually uninstalled HandsOff! and as soon as I did, software updates started working fine. Not good for a $50 product :(
HandsOff was to me a great app, user-friendly… The developper isn't… Can't anymore use this app, wondering if the support does exist really… never answering ! too bad :(
I suggest that to use an app for monitoring and controlling the access of applications.
Blocking outbound traffic and file activity monitoring is usually of benefit in limiting what an attacker can do once they've compromised a system on your network.
So for example if they've managed to get malware onto a system (via an infected e-mail or browser page), the malware might try to "call home" to a command and control system on the Internet to get additional code downloaded or to accept tasks from a control system (e.g. sending spam)
Blocking outbound traffic and file activity monitoring can help stop this from happening, so it's not so much stopping you getting infected as making it less bad when it's happened.
Could be overkill for a home network tho' as there's a lot of programs which make connections outbound and you'd need to spend a bit of time setting up all the exceptions but with Hands Off app it's not need to much spend of time because when you install this app there is available 3 options to using this app (Easy , Intermediate , Advanced) this options can useful for all types of users (beginner and advanced users) .
Also after install this program you have much easier and more flexible configuration than other apps and also it has much controls like Prevents applications from phoning home, Blocks outgoing network connections, Blocks incoming network connections, Blocks domain name resolving, Easily blocks multiple sub-domains, Protects from Trojans, worms and network parasites, Supports IPv4, IPv6 and local networks and etc .
This app have good performance and it's supports retina display.
At the end it has built-in uninstaller and the users doesn't need to run scripts for removing this app and also it doesn't need restart for installing.
I suggest this app because it's simple to use and have a flexible configuration.
Like Little Snitch, but better. I'm a convert! Basically, anything Little Snitch does, this also does, but better.
For one, it doesn't force a reboot to install or upgrade. Little Snitch's constant reboots were becoming a major annoyance.
Secondly, it acts as a filesystem firewall of sorts, allowing you to prevent random apps from spewing all over your hard drive.
Vynikající software, filtruje data dovnitř i ven, malé nároky na systém, koupě běží pohodlně přes české rozhraní a z normálního tuzemského účtu jako na běžném českém obchodu, jen pozor, je to cena bez DPH co je uvedena!
I've been using Hands Off! for a few months now, and it is great. I was a Little Snitch user in the past and I believe Hands Off! is way better. The ability to block incoming as well as outgoing connections is hands down a great feature. The functionality and user interface are also far superior to Little Snitch.
Not a really good software, better choose Little Snitch.
Moreover, One Periodic has a bad update policy : as a HandsOff! 2 license owner, they asked me to pay again for the new version upgrade ($20) to have the Mac OSX El Capitan support.
Buy Little Snitch or get it without pay... But don't get into them licensing gears...
I evaluated the two main competetors Little Snitch and Hands Off for a while and had a hard time making up my mind. They're both very similar and they both work well. They gives you perfect control over what applications and processes allowed or disallowed to use you internet onnection. When first installed they will constantly interrupt you when working and launching applications as they filter your traffic and ask for your permission to accept or deny incoming and outgoing requests. In that sense they're both a bit annoying. Thankfully you do have the option to "save" your decission which creates a rule. After a couple of hours you won't even notice the app as it works in the background. And does it well. The're is an option if you would like to monitor the traffic and se what the applications actually does.
As I said earlier, Hands off and Little Snitch is similiar to each other. But after evaluating them and reading a lot of reviews it leaned on Hands off for me. Little Snitch gave me a couple of times repeatedly popups for the same question, even though I saved my decision, liked it got stuck in a loop. Probably a bug and surely squished now as there's almost a year since I used it. Hands off did how ever never gave me any hassle like that. Also when looking at Hands Off generous option to use one license on more than one computer it did it for me as I have two Macs and I would like to protect them both. So, from me my hands up for Hands Off! :)
You can write a very complex set of rules, and the app will do exactly as you say, no resource hogging, no hassle of any kind.
I tried installing little snitch but kept on having problems and issues to even make it run -- after installing Hands-off! the problems were gone and my security greatly increased.
Since you can monitor real-time 'exactly' what kind of network communication each app is having, is very easy for you to block connections to those sites, protocols, or ports you don´t approve. A must-have for someone who wants to keep his or her privacy under strict control.
The interface is very easy to understand, and the network monitoring function really rocks! I tried similar apps before, but definitely I will stay with Hands-off! ´till the end of times.
A couple of times I´ve needed support from them, and their replies have always been accurate and professional -- you don´t get that with other similar products.
Don´t think about it: get it. You will not regret the decision.
I always find it odd when all the good reviews come from new macupdate users. I have been a I have been a Little Snitch user since its incarnation I t.red Hands Off, purchased it and deleted it shortly afterwards because of all the problems. The developer of Little Snitch is one of the best indie developers in the Mac community. He only has a couple, three app's, has been developing for the Mac for years. The app's he has are always being updated and maintained. I'm sticking with Objective Development just because his app's rock, customer support is awesome and I would hate to lose such a fantastic developer.
I always find it odd when all the good reviews come from new macupdate users. I have been a I have been a Little Snitch user since its incarnation I t.red Hands Off, purchased it and deleted it shortly afterwards because of all the problems. The developer of Little Snitch is one of the best indie developers in the Mac community. He only has a couple, three app's, has been developing for the Mac for years. The app's he has are always being updated and maintained. I'm sticking with Objective Development just because his app's rock, customer support is awesome and I would hate to lose such a fantastic developer.
I have been using Hands Off! since version 1. Besides warning you of every outgoing connection, Hands Off! will also warn you of a rogue incoming connection attempt. This is a very handy if you are ever using a public WiFi connection. Monitoring any outgoing or incoming request when you install software, has actually saved me from accidently from installing malware on my Mac. If an installer tries to download a 3rd party application such as malware, you will be notified and can block it.
This is a must have utility these days.
Some year ago first I started using little snitch, but when I install this great app,immediately I had uninstalled little snitch, I've using hands off since version 1, it's a great app with lot of options that work like charm, looking forward to buy the 3.X version. It's using less resource in comparison to little snitch, it's also have file write protection, folks behind it support very good also they update regularly to fit the need and work good.
It appears OS X 10.10.3 has broken Hands Off! functionality.
The monitor is no longer visible, and my preferences seem not to respond to changes. I wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same issues.
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Read 189 Hands Off! User Reviews
Thank you and god bless you :)
To me the single most useful feature of Hands-off! is it's ability to track changes on files, which makes it the perfect ransomware stopper. That, coupled with the nice network filtering capabilities would make this a great product if it wasn't because of the numerous kernel panics that it produces and the disappointing support from the developers.
This software package isn't worth your $$$ and time -- go ahead and give Vallum, Little Snitch or Radio Silence a try.
You can write a very complex set of rules, and the app will do exactly as you say, no resource hogging, no hassle of any kind.
I tried installing little snitch but kept on having problems and issues to even make it run -- after installing Hands-off! the problems were gone and my security greatly increased.
Since you can monitor real-time 'exactly' what kind of network communication each app is having, is very easy for you to block connections to those sites, protocols, or ports you don´t approve. A must-have for someone who wants to keep his or her privacy under strict control.
The interface is very easy to understand, and the network monitoring function really rocks! I tried similar apps before, but definitely I will stay with Hands-off! ´till the end of times.
A couple of times I´ve needed support from them, and their replies have always been accurate and professional -- you don´t get that with other similar products.
Don´t think about it: get it. You will not regret the decision.
It's using less resource in comparison to little snitch, it's also have file write protection,
folks behind it support very good also they update regularly to fit the need and work good.