software app causing "trying to open a raw disk device" warning

[kvon]

I've got this slick new personal organizer program called EssentialPIM Pro... With the latest version of ZoneAlarm (Internet Security Suite 9.1.008) running, when EPIM starts up it generates this security warning. The detailed info says "EssentialPIM Pro is trying to access physical memory."

This seemed a little suspicious to me (no other software on my machine does this), so I emailed EPIM's tech support to see if they could explain it. Their cavalier response made me even more suspicious: "It's a false positive report feel free to ignore it." No other information given.

This is otherwise good software (that I paid for!) - and what I'd really like to know is how to determine for myself if it's doing something nefarious or not? I suppose it could be a genuine false positive, but it just sounds fishy.

Any tips or information would be appreciated... Thanks!

[fax]

Hi!
The warning is given if a program attempts to access a disk without going through the file system. This behavior is used by malicious software to get around file protection by changing raw data on your disk. It may be perfectly normal for a program to access raw data. It is really a matter of trusting the source.

Do you trust the software and the company makers of the software? If yes you should allow it.

Cheers,
Fax