What is a good security suite?

[Nikilet]

When I got my new computer about 18 months I ago I had a license for AVG AntiVirus with Firewall, version 7.5. I was also running Spyware Doctor. It worked great. AVG sent me notice to upgrade to their new 8.0. I did so and my computer took a gradual nose dive until I had to reinstall the OS because I couldn't even get an answer from their tech support. I tried uninstalling it and going with Avast and Comodo but that firewall is way too technical for my experience level.

I then went with BitDefender Internet Security 2008. I've had lots of various problems with it and altho it does seem to be operating fairly well at the present and has a user-friendly interface, I just went to an independent site which rates these programs and it had a rating of 1 out of 10, protection level was listed as none and it was not recommended. I was thinking of Zone Alarm but this site also did not recommend this.

Can anyone help me with making a decision. I was looking into Kaspersky. I had also checked out Trend Micro earlier.

I have Windows Vista Home Premium on a Dell XPS 410.

Thank you
Nikilet

[Someone]

I suggest use Norton Internet Security or Kaspersky Internet Security, with Sandboxie or DefenceWall, and Superantispyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as on-demand scanners.

[Bunkhouse Buck]

{QUOTE-> When I got my new computer about 18 months I ago I had a license for AVG AntiVirus with Firewall, version 7.5. I was also running Spyware Doctor. It worked great. AVG sent me notice to upgrade to their new 8.0. I did so and my computer took a gradual nose dive until I had to reinstall the OS because I couldn't even get an answer from their tech support. I tried uninstalling it and going with Avast and Comodo but that firewall is way too technical for my experience level.

I then went with BitDefender Internet Security 2008. I've had lots of various problems with it and altho it does seem to be operating fairly well at the present and has a user-friendly interface, I just went to an independent site which rates these programs and it had a rating of 1 out of 10, protection level was listed as none and it was not recommended. I was thinking of Zone Alarm but this site also did not recommend this.

Can anyone help me with making a decision. I was looking into Kaspersky. I had also checked out Trend Micro earlier.

I have Windows Vista Home Premium on a Dell XPS 410.

Thank you
Nikilet <-QUOTE}

We cannot comment on A is better than B, but I would suggest you try security suites from Avira and Eset. They run light and offer top-notch heuristic protection. NIS 2009 is also good but the heuristics are not equal to the others I mentioned according to AV Comparatives.

[Fuzzfas]

I will follow "Someone"'s path and say that most probably you can pick the internet suite you like more and add some protection like Sandboxie, Defensewall, classical HIPS,behaviour blocker, whatever you like most. Such a combination will most probably be better than any "standalone" internet suite.

[Astech]

If you are looking for a Internet Security suite, I would consider Kaspersky Internet Security, but it is better to try a few options before you decide, standalone programs may be a better option.

[TechOutsider]

You'll be fine w/o a Internet Security Suite. Windows and my hardware firewall fill up the holes. For virtualization I use Returnil Premium.

[GES/POR]

{QUOTE-> Can anyone help me with making a decision. I was looking into Kaspersky. I had also checked out Trend Micro earlier.Thank you
Nikilet <-QUOTE}

Kaspersky is very solid, amazing technologies, extremely light, fast updates(also program updates), def going upwards - as for Trend, wouldnt even recommend it if i got paid to do so - performence impact is 2 much

[blacknight]

Coming soon Online Armor Personal Fw should implement Avira - it had Kaspersky av until the end of 2008; give a look ( http://www.tallemu.com/online-armor-personal-firewall-software.html ) it would be an alternative. Moreover, also if I don't like it, because it seems to me a bit invasive, there is also Outpost Suite: http://www.agnitum.com/purchase/security-suite/ . Just to enlarge the choice.

[firzen771]

man if OA started to use Avira, i might even start using ther AV+FW combo

[Kees1958]

{QUOTE-> I suggest use Norton Internet Security or Kaspersky Internet Security, with Sandboxie or DefenceWall, and Superantispyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as on-demand scanners. <-QUOTE}

Yes NIS or KIS with SBIE

or Avira Free with DefenseWall (save some money)

ThreatFire free (add outbound protection) + DefenseWall also good

Cheers

[jmonge]

{QUOTE-> Yes NIS or KIS with SBIE

or Avira Free with DefenseWall (save some money)

ThreatFire free (add outbound protection) + DefenseWall also good

Cheers <-QUOTE}what about sandboxie or defensewall with malware defender?

[Fly]

Maybe no AV or other signature based software at all, or only free ones for occasional on-demand scans ?

Like Returnil, virtualization, HIPS.

Plus a good firewall of course.

[Someone]

{QUOTE-> what about sandboxie or defensewall with malware defender? <-QUOTE}
I don't think that's such a good solution for average users, because there's no blacklisting component and the classical HIPS will have pop ups.

[trjam]

F-Secure. AV, HIPS and Intrusion Protection. :thumb:

[m00nbl00d]

{QUOTE-> When I got my new computer about 18 months I ago I had a license for AVG AntiVirus with Firewall, version 7.5. I was also running Spyware Doctor. It worked great. AVG sent me notice to upgrade to their new 8.0. I did so and my computer took a gradual nose dive until I had to reinstall the OS because I couldn't even get an answer from their tech support. I tried uninstalling it and going with Avast and Comodo but that firewall is way too technical for my experience level.

I then went with BitDefender Internet Security 2008. I've had lots of various problems with it and altho it does seem to be operating fairly well at the present and has a user-friendly interface, I just went to an independent site which rates these programs and it had a rating of 1 out of 10, protection level was listed as none and it was not recommended. I was thinking of Zone Alarm but this site also did not recommend this.

Can anyone help me with making a decision. I was looking into Kaspersky. I had also checked out Trend Micro earlier.

I have Windows Vista Home Premium on a Dell XPS 410.

Thank you
Nikilet <-QUOTE}

Do you already own a license for BitDefender? If yes, then stick with it. It is not that bad.

You may then improve the security with other measures, mostly preventive ones.

First allow me to ask which browser will you be using? This is start point for any security setup.

Regards

[Mosqu]

I would avoid classical HIPS for average user.

The amount of protection you need depends on your browsing habits - on how many infection attempts you experienced in the past.

[m00nbl00d]

{QUOTE-> I would avoid classical HIPS for average user.

The amount of protection you need depends on your browsing habits - on how many infection attempts you experienced in the past. <-QUOTE}

I agree.

Since the user has Windows Vista (it slipped my eyes before :D), then, perhaps, using UAC wouldn't be bad. It's a matter if the user would or not be willing to deal with the alerts (and repeated ones, which is a good thing, in my way of seeing it). Otherwise, UAC can still be used, but tweaked for no alerts.

DEP also on, including for IE7 (or IE8, if that's the case). UAC on, would also allow to run IE7 (or IE8) in Protected Mode. Assuming the user is runs IE.

A better solution, and not hard to work with, would be to use it sandboxed.

SpywareBlaster would be a great addition to it, as it would, preventively, block access to malicious domains, as well block malware.

HauteSecure, which allow to block malicious domains and offers a soft sandbox and behavior blocker and a very soft HIPS. (Not aware if would work out within Sandboxie, for example.) It will automatically block any changes done to important IE settings. The user may unblock it, if such changes done by him(her)self.

The use a HOSTS file would prevent access to many malicious domains.

Perhaps, the use of Spybot Search & Destroy preventive measures wouldn't be bad, also.

It would offer a very great protection, mostly preventive, without the user freaking out with alerts.

I say it based on the fact he/she considers Comodo firewall, due to Defense+, is "way too technical for" his/her "experience level."

ThreatFire is a great tool, but also demands user interation. It depends if the user would know how to answer such alerts, even if they turn out to be few. I never used it, but, for what I know, it does give alerts. So, it depends on the user.

SUPERAntispyware Free Edition and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware would, perhaps, give the user, some extra peace of mind, to check if the system is clean or not.

Anyway, just my opinion.

[Kaworu]

@Nikilet
Though this is my first post here I can say that the review you've seen is... well wrong. If you have seen that review for the firewall then that test is very disputed as the methods aren't accepted by everybody.

I'm using BitDefender since the 2008 version and never had a problem with security. I'm using Internet Security to be more precise and all I can say is that I'm very glad that I took this recomandation form a friend. If you check on the internet tests from av-comparatives or other tests that are involving the use of malware scanner you'll see BD is still going strong.

Regarding the firewall or other settings: All I can say is that if you dig up for some information a little (on this forum I think there are tips or on other forums or even in their manual), you can end up with a real solid firewall with no problems. Of course that there is always the version where you can use just BitDefender Antivirus and anther firewall of your choice and like th others said extra layers of protection.

Currently I don't see any need in having extra protection or a dedicated firewall, but this is your own choice. All I'm saying is that you should continue on using bitdefender especially if you already have a license like m00nbl00d said.

[Nikilet]

Wow! There's a lot of information here and I thank everyone who took the time to answer my post.

I have done some more searching on BitDefender and have found that it is recommended by several well known sites (such as Cnet) as a good security suite for the average home user. Since I do have a license and it seems to be working halfway decent right now I guess I will stick with it for the time being. But thanks to the information from all of you, I have some information to fall back on if and when I do decide to change.

I had always used SpywareBlaster -- until BitDefender. They told me I had to uninstall it. Is this DefenseWall similar to that? I am assuming it also would probably not run alongside BD.

I also have the paid version of Spyware Doctor, but I no longer run it in the background and I have all the real time protection disabled as BD told me I had to uninstall it. I open it, update and run the scanner and then shut it down. I have the free version of SuperAntispyware and Malwarebytes which I run in the same manner. They also recommended that I uninstall Acronis True Image and Win Patrol (both paid versions) and I flat out told them that before I would remove those programs I would remove BD.

I do a lot online, including paying some bills and shopping, but I try to practice safe surfing. I have WOT installed and I strictly follow the recommendations shown when I do a search on anything. By the way, I have the latest version of Firefox installed, but I use IE7. I don't go to any type of adult sites or chat sites and use no messenger programs.

In the 7 months I've had BD it has never found a virus. It has stopped an intrusion attempt on about 4 occasions.

As far as making changes in a firewall program to make it more secure, I simply don't know or understand enough about them to even attempt it. I will say one thing. I went to that site, ShieldsUp, and ran a bunch of their tests and one of their reports said I needed to get a firewall installed right away. At this time BD was up and running so that was rather alarming. I wrote to BD tech support but never got any answer. They absolutely have the poorest tech support I have ever run up against, which makes things hard for a novice user using their product.

Again, thanks all for your input. If you have anything more to offer after reading this I would appreciate hearing from you.

[Someone]

If you have BitDefender Internet Security and DefenseWall with SAS and MBAM on-demand that should be adequate. You should be able to run DefenseWall without conflicts. IMHO you don't need Spyware Doctor. I suggest you use Firefox with WOT, AdblockPlus and NoScript instead of IE.

[hitbit]

If you are a new user and would like to keep things simple until you gain some experience might I suggest that you use Mozill's FireFox Browser and ThunderBird Mail Programme. both free www.mozilla.org and much more secure than IE. You can also get endless free, handy add ons and plugs ins for both.
Many bad mouth it but I have been using McAfee's suite www.mcafee.com, do check their .com and .co.uk to see who has the best current pricing (now total protection) on 2 systems for many years without difficulties. its reasonable, effective, requires little or no intervention by the user and comes with a few handy extras.CounterSpy www.sunbelt-software.com is an excellent Anti Spyware programme which has been around for many years. It comes from the original developers of Giant another excellent programme. MalWareBytes www.malwarebytes.org is a reasonably new kid on the block but appears to be very good indeed and is very highly spoken of by techies throughout security forums. They offer a free version which you have to manually update, The paid version updates automatically. SpyWareBlaster www.javacool.com is another excellent programme which has been around for years and is also highly regarded. Again they offer a free version. Finally CCleaner commonly known as Crap Cleaner www.ccleaner.com is a little gem which has been around since Adam and Eve. Again it is very highly regarded and does an excellent job of getting rid of temp files etc. Also has an easy to use registry cleaner which has little chance of doing harm as it does not interfere too much. Lets you make a backup of the registry before it makes any changes. There are countless other good programmes out there but many are not for the beginner and I can only suggest what has done the job for me over many years. I might add that I have tried others.
Current set up,
Mozilla FireFox Browser,
Mozilla ThunderBird email,
McAfee Total Protection (Anti Virus / Firewall etc) In realtime mode,
CounterSpy Anti SpyWare (In realtime mode) Can be set up so that it does not conflict with McAfee.
SpyWareBlaster Anti Spyware (In realtime mode) very small footprint
MalWareBytes Anti Spyware Used on demand only,
Crap Cleaner To clean up all the rubbish This is an on demand programme. TrojanHunter a dedicated anti trojan programme (In realtime mode)
KeyScrambler an Anti Keylogger programme which scrambles keyboard strokes.
Another couple of programmes which I use in on demand mode only, they are free and often designed to catch specific threats.
At the end of the day you will have to learn from your own experiences and preferences but don.t run too many programmes at the same time. If you are after free programmes only download from such as Majorgeeks or File Hippo. Have a look at SpyWareWarrior www.spywarewarrior.com an excellent site which has a data base of Spyware programmes which pose as Anti Spyware programmes. Pay regular visits to such as Wilders, SpyWareWarrior, SpyWareHammer so that you are up to date on things and do set automatic updates for windows.
Hope this helps.

hitbit

[gery]

I would suggest
Online Armor FW
AVIRA ANTIVIR PREMIUM
KEY SCRAMBLER FREE
SUPERANTISPYWARE FREE
MALWAREBYTES ANTIMALWARE FREE
MOZILLA FIREFOX for browsing the internet and emails
CCLEANER
And last but not the least common sense

[Nikilet]

In answer to "Someone":

I made my Firefox the default browser and installed the NoScript and AdBlock Plus.

I downloaded and installed DefenseWall and it took my computer considerably longer to boot, but aside from that, is this a program that I have to "program?" I ask because when I opened it it shows untrusted sites and under that were iexplore.exe, ieuser.exe, firefox.exe, wmplayer.exe, WinMail.exe ... among other things. Surely those should all be trusted. Can you help me out understanding this?

Thank you

[fax]

{QUOTE-> What is a good security suite? <-QUOTE}

Is the one working well on your system.

I am currently running ZAXS beta (ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Suite) on my VISTA 32bit system and it works very well... :)

Cheers,
Fax

[Nikilet]

Fax: BitDefender does seem to be operating on my system pretty well at present.

Although, if you seen my post earlier I'm thinking I'm going to have to remove that DefenseWall. In the first place I don't know how to operate it. I've gone into the help files but still don't really trust myself to understand it and it looks to me as though everything in that untrusted sites list should be trusted.

Also, am going to try a reboot before shutting down for the evening and see what happens. After installing DefenseWall and then restarting, computer booted really slow.

[Someone]

{QUOTE-> In answer to "Someone":

I made my Firefox the default browser and installed the NoScript and AdBlock Plus.

I downloaded and installed DefenseWall and it took my computer considerably longer to boot, but aside from that, is this a program that I have to "program?" I ask because when I opened it it shows untrusted sites and under that were iexplore.exe, ieuser.exe, firefox.exe, wmplayer.exe, WinMail.exe ... among other things. Surely those should all be trusted. Can you help me out understanding this?

Thank you <-QUOTE}
TBH, I don't use DefenseWall, but I'm fairly certain it's works well with the default settings.

Those programs are considered untrusted because they're vectors of infection, i.e. malware could get in your computer through those programs. So the programs are limited so malware cannot execute.

BTW if DefenseWall slows down your computer considerably you might like to consider alternate products such as Sandboxie.

[Ilya Rabinovich]

{QUOTE-> In the first place I don't know how to operate it. <-QUOTE}
There is no need to operate it. It runs right out of box.

[jmonge]

{QUOTE-> There is no need to operate it. It runs right out of box. <-QUOTE}that's what i love about defensewall;) easy to use and strong:thumb:

[O.Alexander]

I got one personal question that may be On or Off topic.

Does NIS2009 contain HIPS? (AntiBot?)

Is it really that light?

[GES/POR]

{QUOTE-> I got one personal question that may be On or Off topic.

Does NIS2009 contain HIPS? (AntiBot?)

Is it really that light? <-QUOTE}

It does and it is, have a look in the recent NIS threads

[nomarjr3]

Kaspersky Internet Suite 2009
Norton Internet Suite 2009
Outpost Security Suite
Comodo Internet Security

[fce]

try KIS2009....been using this for 2yrs now and i'm very very satisfied.

[Tomstoy]

I finally settled on:

KIS 2009
A Squared Licensed Version
Sandboxie

Running Windows Vista Premium and Firefox behind a D-Link Router.

I also have Returnil licensed, but not sure if it would add anything to what I have currently.