You can only use 4 antimalware apps, and they must be FREE

[ejr]

Let's assume you are the poor college student or simply someone that refuses to buy security software. Let's also assume that you are limited to using 4 security applications, what would they be?

Presently, I am thinking that I would use the following (assuming they all play nice together):

1. Avira Antivir for AV
2. Comodo Firewall
3. Spyware Terminator for HIPS/antispyware
4. Sandboxie

Overall, I would feel pretty comfortable with this suite. The firewall stealths all ports and passes all leak tests. The antivirus is not world class, but is good. The antispyware application has HIPS as well as other active guards that focus on prevention (though the scanner lacks in detection). And the sandbox should prevent a lot of stuff from getting on your machine anyway.
As you can tell, I like to focus security on prevention.

[theshadow247]

for free applications i think you sumed it up perfectly....

[Vikorr]

CyberHawk might fit in there - but yeah, nice list

[theshadow247]

after looking at the list again i think i would change spyware terminator to system safety monitor.for the hips...

[InfinityAz]

Lightweight & unobtrusive:

Avira
Kerio 2 with BZs rules (or for those who run PerfectDisk substitute Filseclab 3.x)
Cyberhawk
Sandboxie

[Franklin]

1 - Sandboxie

2 - Comodo FW

3 - AOL active shield AV (bit iffy here as I use Kav which isn't free)

4 - SuperAntiSpyware

[Tarq57]

Not too different, here,
Avast 4.7.892
SpywareTerminator 1.6.0.824
Comodo FW 2.3.6.81
SpywareBlaster.
(+ a couple other freebies.)

[Yannis]

My choices:
Avast 4.7
Sygate firewall
ArovaxShield 2.0.62
ST 1.6

All free and work well together.
Of course I have some more (free) security programs like:
A-squared
Spybot S & D
Ewido 4.0
SpywareBlaster
ClamWin AV
Arovax SmartHide 1.0.226 ( free internet anonymizer)
Plus using more secure browsers like Opera and Firefox
:)

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

Anti-malware is a broad term. For instance, can you classify a firewall as anti-malware? But assuming anything goes:

Firewall - Sygate
Browser - Firefox

Nothing else is needed, but to make it more interesting:

DropMyRights
SnoopFree

Or alternatively, Linux.

Or alternatively, SmoothWall, Windows, VMware Server, Windows as guest, Firefox.

Or alternatively, SmoothWall, Linux, VMware Server, Windows as guest, Firefox.

Mrk

[TOMxEU]

I use freeware - Realtime: Comodo Firewall | OnDemand: GMER, HijackThis, MWAV Free.
I recommend - Realtime: Avira, Comodo Firewall | OnDemand: Ewido, SuperAntispyware.

[lodore]

active virus shield
comodo firewall
a squared free
cyber hawk

[trjam]

Antivir
Cyberhawk
Sygate or Kerio
Superantispyware

[tradetime]

I thought Sandboxie was pay for?
http://www.download.com/Sandboxie/3000-2144_4-10371435.html?tag=lst-0-1
Free to try and $20 to buy

[ejr]

-{ Quote: "I thought Sandboxie was pay for?
http://www.download.com/Sandboxie/3000-2144_4-10371435.html?tag=lst-0-1
Free to try and $20 to buy" }-

Payment is optional. For a one time fee of $25 you get a few extra features (a nd rid of the nag alerts). However, you can use sandboxie free of charge for as long as you like. See link.

http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?RegisterSandboxie

[tradetime]

-{ Quote: "Payment is optional. For a one time fee of $25 you get a few extra features (a nd rid of the nag alerts). However, you can use sandboxie free of charge for as long as you like. See link.

http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?RegisterSandboxie" }-
Thanx for that, that'll teach me to go to the vendors site in future and do a little research instead of taking Download.com's word. :o

[ejr]

I want to add a new twist for those that have replied as well as those that have not yet done so. My goal in this free secuirty suite is:

1. Light on resources. One of my machines is starting to slow own because of age.

2. Solid protection.

3. Easy to use. I am not computer savvy enough to use Process Guard or System Safety Monitor. I can handle a few pop ups (like On-line Armor gives) but don't want constant pop ups. I'd rather "set it and forget it".

Also, I would like some critical feedback about potential holes or GAPS. Or if you think that my suite would be overkill for a safe surfer, please let me know. Finally, I wanted to ask about some other free possibilities.

1. Avira Antivir: I chose this because it is supposedly light on resources witgh good detection and excellent heuristics. What advantages would AVG, Avast, or AOLS free version of KAV have? Also, ids AOLS version of KAv only for AOL members?

2. Comodo Personal firewall or ZA Free? I do not think I am advanced enough to use any others. A firewall that needs to be configured with lots of rules or that gives many pop ups is beyond me. I need simplicity.

3. Sandboxie. Is this easy to use? Light on resources?

4. Spyware terminator or Cyberhawk? Please discuss the advantages of each.

Lastly, with any combination of 1-4 would that be enough? Any GAPS? Is it overkill? Could your average user use this combo?

Keep in mind, of the above products, I have only tried Comodo and ZA Free. I am going by what I have read on-line in picking the other apps. So I am looking for feedback both postiive and negative. I am trying to determine if an all free suite really could provide me with good protection, that is light on resources and easy to use. Experts...please post away!

[tradetime]

Sygate
Avast! Home
SSM
SAS
If you were to include browsers as one of the four then I would probably have to drop something from above as I use Opera 9 for most of my browsing

[Jarmo P]

-{ Quote: "3. Sandboxie. Is this easy to use? Light on resources?" }-

Yes, it is very easy to use.
My current RAM usage for it's 4 processes SandboxieServer.exe, SandBoxieRpcSs.exe, SandBoxieDcomLaunch.exe and Control.exe is: 812+3140+2328+2140 KB = 8420 KB.
Considering that it should isolate all malware, that is not bad at all.
No noticeable CPU usage on my 512 MB, 2400 MHz system.

Cyberhawk is also an unobtrusive product requiring not much knowlegde, however it uses some CPU from time to time and offers nowhere the same protection as Sandboxie, but I run and recommend them both. Cyberhawk only if personal privacy is not a too paranoid important concern :P

[ejr]

-{ Quote: "Yes, it is very easy to use.
My current RAM usage for it's 4 processes SandboxieServer.exe, SandBoxieRpcSs.exe, SandBoxieDcomLaunch.exe and Control.exe is: 812+3140+2328+2140 KB = 8420 KB.
Considering that it should isolate all malware, that is not bad at all.
No noticeable CPU usage on my 512 MB, 2400 MHz system.

Cyberhawk is also an unobtrusive product requiring not much knowlegde, however it uses some CPU from time to time and offers nowhere the same protection as Sandboxie, but I run and recommend them both. Cyberhawk only if personal privacy is not a too paranoid important concern :P" }-

So do you consider Sanboxie + Cyberhawk enough coverage for spyware, trojans etc? When coupled with a Firewall and AV do you think this is plenty of protection?

[Jarmo P]

Yes, if you always run things in sandbox, that is enough for a normal user.
Then no antispyware programs are needed.

I have SSM free also installed, but it is only ran when wanting to examine my system. Suspect a little that either Sandboxie or Cyberhawk or them together might conflict a little with SSM.

I have no resident antispyware, but currently have AdAware and SuperAntiSpyware as on demand scanners. Scan maybe once /month if not even that. Plus SpywareBlaster.

[lucas1985]

Antivir
Jetico v1 or Kerio 2.1.5
GeSWall
Spy Bot S&D(for protection and scanning) or SAS/a-squared/AVG AS(only for scanning)

[dja2k]

Antivir
Comodo
Geswall
Cyberhawk

dja2k

[Chuck57]

I'm about the same as most here.

free aol (kaspersky) for at least a year

sandboxie...which I love

cyberhawk... just started using. Hardly know it's there, which I like.

windows firewall.....with hardware firewall via router and another in modem.

I run sandboxie with Firefox and virtually nothing gets through. I use ccleaner to empty the junk every night. Since downloading and using sandboxie, ccleaner has a very easy job these days.

[Alphalutra1]

Antivir Free
CHX-I
SSM Free
Common sense 10.0 beta (yes I am on the beta team ;D )

Alphalutra1

[mercurie]

1. AVS (aol) for AV.
2. Comodo Firewall
3. Spybot S&D
4. Spyware Blaster

Could not list BOClean :'( I have always said this best AV trojan protection is kaspersky if you can not have a dedicated one like BOClean.

[Chuck57]

Not surprisingly, a couple of days have passed and I've made some changes

AOL avs

sandboxie (never go online without it enabled)

ProSecurity

ZA 6.1.xxx free for outbound protection. Inbound is NAT router.

Don't know how long Prosecurity will last, as I'm still searching for the right one. I tried Defensewall yesterday. Liked it a lot but it kept erasing my untrusted list.

[cprtech]

Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic (The first free antivirus I would try)

Kerio 2.1.5

SSM Free

SuperAntispyware

[shek]

antivir classic
ssm free
jetico v1 (disable the process attack table)
mj registry watcher

[zopzop]

points to sig : geswall, antivir, comodo, and superantispyware.

[farmerlee]

I would pick...

AVG Free
Winpatrol
Spyware Terminator
A Squared free

[buzzqw]

AVS (aol) for AV
Jetico 1
SpywareTerminator
A2 Squared

BHH

[Antarctica]

Antivir
Kerio 2.1.5
SSM
SuperAntispyware

[Firefighter]

AntiVir PE Classic 7

COMODO Free Firewall 2.3.6.81

AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 Free

Spyware Terminator 1.6.0.824


Best regards,
Firefighter!

[the Tester]

I would use:

AntiVir PE Classic.
Comodo firewall.
A-Squared free.
SAS free.

[Arup]

I would add free Pro Security to the list, also Spyware Terminator is an excellent free alternative.

[WSFuser]

AOL AVS
CHX-I Packet Filter
GeSWall
a-squared free

[herbalist]

-{ Quote: "
Common sense 10.0 beta (yes I am on the beta team ;D )" }-
A new beta version? Last I knew, it was abandon-ware, not being maintained by anyone, used by very few! ;D Please post the download link for it.

4 free security apps? I can understand the rationale for "free" but the limit of 4 makes no sense. I use these, the first 3 anyway:
Firewall-Kerio 2.1.5
SSM free version
Proxomitron
If configured properly, these 3 will make a PC nearly bullet-proof.

If I used a resident AV:
AntiVir

Rick

[shek]

I prefer the online scanner to a2 free or similar on-demand scanner, since only 4 tools could be chosen.

[KDNeese]

-{ Quote: "I want to add a new twist for those that have replied as well as those that have not yet done so. My goal in this free secuirty suite is:

1. Light on resources. One of my machines is starting to slow own because of age.

2. Solid protection.

3. Easy to use. I am not computer savvy enough to use Process Guard or System Safety Monitor. I can handle a few pop ups (like On-line Armor gives) but don't want constant pop ups. I'd rather "set it and forget it".

Also, I would like some critical feedback about potential holes or GAPS. Or if you think that my suite would be overkill for a safe surfer, please let me know. Finally, I wanted to ask about some other free possibilities.

1. Avira Antivir: I chose this because it is supposedly light on resources witgh good detection and excellent heuristics. What advantages would AVG, Avast, or AOLS free version of KAV have? Also, ids AOLS version of KAv only for AOL members?

2. Comodo Personal firewall or ZA Free? I do not think I am advanced enough to use any others. A firewall that needs to be configured with lots of rules or that gives many pop ups is beyond me. I need simplicity.

3. Sandboxie. Is this easy to use? Light on resources?

4. Spyware terminator or Cyberhawk? Please discuss the advantages of each.

Lastly, with any combination of 1-4 would that be enough? Any GAPS? Is it overkill? Could your average user use this combo?

Keep in mind, of the above products, I have only tried Comodo and ZA Free. I am going by what I have read on-line in picking the other apps. So I am looking for feedback both postiive and negative. I am trying to determine if an all free suite really could provide me with good protection, that is light on resources and easy to use. Experts...please post away!" }-

I'll try to answer your questions the best I know how. I have tested a lot of the most software as far as system drag, resources, memory & CPU usage, and have found there to be quite a difference between apps or combinations of apps. I'll try to respond to each point:

1. Light on resources - For me this is a big issue, even though I have a newer system. I don't want my system bogged down with needless apps or apps that overlap in their duties. I've tried to design a system that has maximum efficiency with lowest resource use. My set-up is as follows:

Antivirus: I use a paid antivirus, but have used Avast, Ativir & AOL AVS. Avast slowed my system down considerably; boot time was forever as Avast checked everything else that was starting up. Is a fair antivirus, but will stick with my paid NOD32. AOL AVS was nothing but trouble on my machine, and caused more than it's share of BSOD's. It's gone forever off my system. It is free for whoever wants it - you don't have to be connected to AOL in any way, but I would not recommend it. It can be a resource hog and cause a lot of problems. I also tried Antivir. It definitely had the lowest footprint by far, but generated a large amount of false positives, which is why I dumped it and went with a paid antivirus. I have never used AVG, but have read in other threads and forums that it can cause problems. There are many who have never had any problems with it, too. So, if I was going to go for a free AV, I would probably go with AVG, as it generates less FP's than Antivir. But, if you're looking for a small footprint resource-wise, Antivir would fit the bill. However, as far as AV's go, (and I know there are many who would disagree), I would go with a paid antivirus. Is less a pain in the neck, as you don't have to spend all your time trying to decide whether a file is a virus or a valid system file you don't want to delete. In the couple of years I've used NOD32, I've only gotten one false positive, and there were actually good reasons for it hitting on that one FP. Of the paid AV's, NOD32 has the lowest footprint. You don't even know it's there until it alerts. Kaspersky has great detection rates, but it caused many a problem on my system when I trialed it. Plus, I like the fact that the new NOD32 has built-in rootkit detection and can protect against rootkits being downloaded, although I don't know effective that aspect is, as it's fairly new. I'm not trying to promote the product - it's just that I've used it for some time and know how it compares to the other's I've used.

2. Firewall: Comodo firewall. I felt it was actually easier to configure than Zone Alarm free. If you're not into tweaking, you can install it and the default rules will protect you. Also, as far as resources, the newest version of Comodo takes a fraction of the memory to run as Zone Alarm. On my machine, most of the time Zone Alarm was running in the 60MB usage range. Sunbelt Kerio 4 was a little better, but would often run in the 40MB range. I installed the newest version of Kerio and it was running at 100+. As I sit here and type this, task manager shows the Comodo programs using a total of 8MB. Comodo runs anywhere from 3-8MB on my machine, depending on what I'm doing. For such a powerful program, it runs very light. The old Kerio 2.1.5 runs less, but you say you're looking for something easy to configure. For the average user without any network knowledge, Kerio 2.1.5 can be very difficult to configure. Comodo gets my vote here.

3. Sandboxie - I used it for awhile, and finally uninstalled it. It is actually a very good program and the free version is sufficient, but it caused me more than one headache. It really isn't necessary unless you're a really risky surfer, do online gaming and download a bunch of crapware. For the average user, it is wasted resources. For me personally and my own preference of things, Sandboxie was a pain in the neck. Of course, that's just my own preference. It is an effective program and a good one to use if you really need it. It ran fairly light but caused considerable slowdown while surfing the net. But a high risk surfer should definitely use it. Also, someone made a statement that if you used Sandboxie that you didn't need any anti-spyware. If you'll read up on the current security bulletins, you'll see that's not the case at all. There are more and more trojans and viruses coming out all the time that are designed to get into and infect the user's computer through sanboxing technologies. At this point, the only app that is still able to reject the malware is VMWare, simply because it is a different technology altogether than normal sandboxing.

4. Spyware Terminator or Cyberhawk - I have tried both, and currently use Spyware Terminator. I'm not sure if Cyberhawk every did anything other than slow down my system to a crawl. Also, don't use CH and AOL AVS together. It's a BSOD waiting to happen. I've read of many others who have had problems running CH with AOL AVS or Kaspersky. Cyberhawk did alert me to a few things - all false positives. The one thing I really don't like about the new Cyberhawk program is that the new version doesn't give the user any menus to create rules, etc. I prefer to have control of my own system and make the rules, which is why I use SSM. It is really hard to tell how effective CH is. At least with SSM, when I get pop-ups, I know it's actually working and doing something. Anyway, to each his own, but I wouldn't recommend CH.

Spyware Terminator has excellent resident protection, but its scanner leaves something to be desired. So far every "spyware" it has found on my system have been a false positive. However, as for resident protection, it is excellent, although its memory usage is about double that of SSM. I you were to use ST, I would not use the HIPS function, otherwise you'll find yourself with the same amount of pop-ups that you'd be getting with SSM and having to make the same decision. If you just run ST's resident shield without the HIPS, I think you'd be set, and pop-ups would be minimal.

As far as GAPS, the only gap would be registry protection. That is one of the reasons I use SSM, as it monitors registry changes, and you can add whatever registry keys you want it to monitor (which I've done). One way you could cover the registry gap is by downloading Winpatrol (www.winpatrol.com), which monitors start-ups among other things. Extremely light program, and free to boot. Also, one other thing I need to mention is that while Spyware Terminator is good at catching changes as they happen, it doesn't seem to recognize them after the fact. In other words, if a startup is added while ST is shut down, it doesn't alert you when it starts again. Same thing with the Hosts File. It is good at catching changes if it is up and running, but doesn't catch it if it is not running. Hope that makes sense. Winpatrol, on the other hand, takes a snapshot of your system and polls for any changes. So, if the Hosts File changes, or a start-up is added, Winpatrol will alert you no matter what. It is a great little program that I wouldn't be without. There are other registry monitors out there that are good programs, but are not necessarily easy to use. I wouldn't recommend using apps that tweak the registry unless you really know what you are doing. With Winpatrol, you don't have to know a thing about the registry. Just let it do its job. It was the first security app I ever used (other than AV software) when I knew absolutely nothing about security, registry, et al.

So with Antivir, Comodo, Spyware Terminator and Winpatrol, you'd have a pretty good security setup that would take up very few resources and be very easy to implement.

[Jarmo P]

-{ Quote: "Avast slowed my system down considerably; boot time was forever as Avast checked everything else that was starting up." }-

Not with me. When starting Avast on demand scan, sure system checking that can be bypassed takes maybe 5 seconds. But boot up does not sure take much longer?
The only thing I would worry if I were a gamer is that once every 4 hours avast checks for updates and that takes a system to drag for maybe 5 seconds :P

-{ Quote: "Sandboxie - I used it for awhile, and finally uninstalled it. It is actually a very good program and the free version is sufficient, but it caused me more than one headache. It really isn't necessary unless you're a really risky surfer, do online gaming and download a bunch of crapware. For the average user, it is wasted resources. For me personally and my own preference of things, Sandboxie was a pain in the neck. Of course, that's just my own preference. It is an effective program and a good one to use if you really need it. It ran fairly light but caused considerable slowdown while surfing the net." }-

I cannot see how Sandboxie would have slowed down your surfing. It takes no CPU on mine and it is no active content filter.
Maybe your firewall setting did not allow loopback etc. in the same time you ran SB. Or maybe just a bad day for your ISP.
All the tests I have ran the speed is same with or without it with my measly 1 MB connection, lol.
And also in real time surfing.

-{ Quote: "the old Kerio 2.1.5 runs less, but you say you're looking for something easy to configure. For the average user without any network knowledge, Kerio 2.1.5 can be very difficult to configure. Comodo gets my vote here." }-

It is not at all a difficult firewall. You can use blitzen's ruleset as a start and then answer for the program allowance prompts. And from that on you can make them more restrictive when wanting to do that. All is there to control.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8023708
For an average newbie, yes, everything is. Needs some teaching when he/she has blocked something as a made rule and it needs to be allowed.
The only thing that one should do is customize the DNS and DHCP rules to the ISP connection instead leaving them wide open. Also something to do with running local proxy software with the loopback rule.

I am not an advocant of building the ruleset from blank as this guide tells:
http://www.urs2.net/rsj/computing/kerio/index.html
The basic protection comes with new firewalls as a force feed stuff. It needs good judgement to build a good firewall ruleset, something that a newbie sure is not able to do. Nice reading that too. Some good information etc. I would not put a deny everything rule at the bottom since kerio is a diagnostic tool too.
Leave the 'Ask Me First' setting on since kerio is by default blocking everything unknown.

Past experience with Kerio 4, Comodo latest and CHX-I 3.x that is not as light as they say.
Running Comodo is like in a straight jacket. Did not even knew if it allowed normal loopback, lol.

My kerio 2.1.5 is a once set and then forget firewall. No crazy popups unless something new is needed in internet. And all the rules I have made are also loggable if needed. Not same thing to be said of Comodo black box. I am rather dissapointed in the newer firewalls I have used.
Just my contribution to this thread. :)

[ejr]

-{ Quote: "So with Antivir, Comodo, Spyware Terminator and Winpatrol, you'd have a pretty good security setup that would take up very few resources and be very easy to implement." }-

Thank you. This was exactly the type of discussion I was hoping for. Your input is much appreciated. I decided to keep NOD32 for at least the next year. I am keeping Comodo as well, I love this firewall. For the next year I am also going to pay for Spyware Doctor for one year. But this time next year, I will implement the entrely free system. By then, Comodo will have released and hopefully fine tuned V3 of the Firewall with HIPS and a Sandbox module. And I may then be able to get away with just AntiVir Free and Comodo Firewall (free).