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Little Snitch versus Hands Off!

Signal-11

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
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2nd Star to the Right
I just noticed that I had a paid licence for Hands Off! so I've uninstalled Little Snitch to try HO.

For folks that have used Hands Off, any tips/tricks?

For users that have tried both, any opinions?
 
MonkeyBrainz

MonkeyBrainz

macrumors regular
Feb 18, 2012
194
0
Signal-11 said:
I just noticed that I had a paid licence for Hands Off! so I've uninstalled Little Snitch to try HO.

For folks that have used Hands Off, any tips/tricks?

For users that have tried both, any opinions?
Click to expand...

I much prefer LS over HO. They essentially do the same thing, but I prefer LS. Use whichever one you like better. Been using LS for years.
 
Signal-11

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
1,474
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2nd Star to the Right
MonkeyBrainz said:
I much prefer LS over HO. They essentially do the same thing, but I prefer LS. Use whichever one you like better. Been using LS for years.
Click to expand...

Likewise been using LS for years.

What I'm wondering is if longer term users of Hands Off have any reasons why they prefer HO - I think it's often very easy to miss convenient details/workflows when you're first just trying out software.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
43,405
I haven't used hands off, but I do find LS to be a great product. Perhaps I'll download and try HO to see if its better but for the most part I'm content with LittleSnitch
 
Signal-11

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
1,474
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2nd Star to the Right
Right off the bat, I prefer HO's menubar network monitor. OTOH, I prefer LS's mouseover network monitor.

I prefer HO's menubar all-disable/shortcut key.

Not sure if I prefer HO or LS's popup rules queries. Leaning HO.

I'm preferring HO's config/preferences access in general. Less clicky, more intuitive/naturally Mac-ish.

MonkeyBrainz, you never did state why you prefer LS.

Anyone know why I have to reboot for LS to be installed/uninstalled and why I don't for HO?
 
MonkeyBrainz

MonkeyBrainz

macrumors regular
Feb 18, 2012
194
0
Signal-11 said:
Right off the bat, I prefer HO's menubar network monitor. OTOH, I prefer LS's mouseover network monitor.

I prefer HO's menubar all-disable/shortcut key.

Not sure if I prefer HO or LS's popup rules queries. Leaning HO.

I'm preferring HO's config/preferences access in general. Less clicky, more intuitive/naturally Mac-ish.

MonkeyBrainz, you never did state why you prefer LS.

Anyone know why I have to reboot for LS to be installed/uninstalled and why I don't for HO?
Click to expand...

I prefer it simply because I'm familiar with it and have been using it for ages. I may toy around with HO a bit more, but I don't have a need to pay for another piece of software that essentially does the same thing, even it does have a prettier interface. Maybe I'm also fond of the name "Little Snitch" :p.
 
C

Can't Stop

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2011
342
0
Signal-11 said:
I just noticed that I had a paid licence for Hands Off! so I've uninstalled Little Snitch to try HO.

For folks that have used Hands Off, any tips/tricks?

For users that have tried both, any opinions?
Click to expand...

I have Hands Off!, but i prefer Little Snitch, Hands Off! just doesn't feel that solid and tha app is a bit bloated, it gets slow after long periods of uptime.
 
B

bushbeat

macrumors member
Oct 1, 2009
48
0
Long time LS user - did not know about HO at all. It seems that HO has got a few nice options: Block incoming conn. and File security.

EDIT: Does anyone know how much resources the 'Monitoring disk access' option in HO takes?
 
Last edited:
Signal-11

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
1,474
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2nd Star to the Right
bushbeat said:
Long time LS user - did not know about HO at all. It seems that HO has got a few nice options: Block incoming conn. and File security.

EDIT: Does anyone know how much resources the 'Monitoring disk access' option in HO takes?
Click to expand...

Seemingly, not much at all.

Right now, I'm pretty impressed with with HO's features that LS doesn't have - blocking file write/disk access is neat, as is the two step process for approving rules on first app run.
 
Pndrgnsvc

Pndrgnsvc

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2008
452
26
Georgetown, Texas
Tech Support

When the features & reviews of competing apps are nearly identical, the deal breaker for me is the quality of the tech support.

I have had great tech support from LS, but have no experience with HO.

Any comments on HO's tech support?
 
Signal-11

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
1,474
2
2nd Star to the Right
Pndrgnsvc said:
When the features & reviews of competing apps are nearly identical, the deal breaker for me is the quality of the tech support.

I have had great tech support from LS, but have no experience with HO.

Any comments on HO's tech support?
Click to expand...

For what did you need tech support from ObDev (LS)? Can't say I've ever dealt with them. I'm usually a Google and forums guy. Personally, I'll probably never contact Metakine for tech support.

BTW, the feature set is not nearly identical. As has been mentioned, Hands Off can block incoming connections as well as prevent file write access.

I haven't run into anything deeply annoying about HO yet. I've been using Little Snitch since Leopard and I'm not inclined to switch back to LS. HO seems to do a bit more, with a bit more polish.

So far.
 
KingJosh

KingJosh

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2012
431
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Australia
I hadn't used any before today. I installed both and both were doing their job but I found hands off to be more user friendly and also I don't have to buy it. I just leave it running for 4 hours then it turns off for 5 minutes then back on for another 4 hours by itself as the free version. If I wanted to buy Hands off has the better price too. It does more apparently (i am kinda novice at this so I'm just gonna trust in that) and IMO it looks a lot neater.
 
N

Negritude

macrumors 6502
Jul 14, 2011
297
199
I prefer Hands Off! It has a few extra features, like control over disk writing, that Little Snitch doesn't. Also, the interface is a little bit more comprehensible to me, despite the similarities.
 
cool11

cool11

macrumors 68000
Sep 3, 2006
1,779
220
It seems that most people will make the switch from little snitch to handsoff, now on mavericks.
 
cool11

cool11

macrumors 68000
Sep 3, 2006
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fhall1 said:
...and your rationale behind that statement? I have no plans to switch away from LS
Click to expand...

Ι am just reading user opinions here and there, in several sites. And many loyal fans are ready to quit.
This is why I stated this.
Maybe a poll here in the forum, would give us a clear image.
 
cool11

cool11

macrumors 68000
Sep 3, 2006
1,779
220
Handsoff seems to have issues with el capitan.
It may prevent installation of 10.11, or 10.11.1
 
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