basic computer protections

Hello, I'm new here and was hoping some could give me their experiences and recommendations on what I should be downloading for protection. I really don't "get" computer technology, so any products deemed in need of tinkering are not a real good fit. I had Online Armor, but that bogged my computer's speed down. Right now I have Spybot and not too much more, so I'm gonna go back on try installing ESET again for the meantime. It was quite difficult determining what exactly was the cause of my computer's speed since I had so much stuff downloaded onto it. I remember laughing at this one download where you install it to help make the "other" stuff work more efficiently. I think that's when I decided to uninstall the whole schibang and start from scratch. LOL!

I'm looking for recommendations on:

-firewall
-anti-virus
-possibly an all-in-one security thing instead
-system cleaner (maybe Windows Washer; again, I have no idea "what" I'm looking for in the registry to remove myself and don't wanna remove stuff that will permanently effect my system's performance)

I'm sure there's other basics that I'm forgetting at this time. If there's a link to a similar topic, please do so for me. Thank you

 

BTW, the recommendations should be free or at least have a decent trial period.

 

Regarding Online Armor, I wouldn't mind going back to it, but I'd have to know exactly how to tinker with it to make it non-boggy.

 

Found the one on registry cleaners. Don't use them, but maybe a registry defragger is a better option?

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=233440

 

What OS do you have? Are you a high risk user?

I would recommend in general:
Windows Firewall
AntiVir free or Avast free
ThreatFire
Sandboxie free or GesWall free

Browse with Firefox with the WOT and Adblock Plus addons.

Use the Secunia Software Inspector to update your applications, and keep Automatic Updates on.

Use an image backup program, such as Paragon Drive Backup Express, and a file backup program, such as SynBack.

Ccleaner and JkDefrag are really all the tune-up utilities you need.

 

The commentor below 'seemed' to know what they're talking about. I think they were talking about false positive leaks.


http://www.pcworld.com/article/133631/15_great_free_security_programs.html

"i wouldnt recommend zone alarm free, its one of the worst free firewalls out there. if your not gonna use the comodo or pctools firewall for vista and arent gonna use comodo or online armor free for XP then go with sunbelt personal firewall, its compatible with both vista and XP and is much more secure then zone alarm plus it doesnt have the annoying pop-ups of the other 3 if you choose no pop-up mode. Matter of fact zone alarm free is so poor that it is no longer mentioned in firewall leak tests only the zone alarm pro is. You have to score at least 3% better then windows firewall to be included and its not.


Comodo Firewall Pro Free - 95%

Online Armor Free - 89%

PC Tools Firewall - 74%

Dynamic Security Agent - 62%

Webroot Desktop Firewall - 60%

Sunbelt Personal Firewall - 7% (is shareware)

Ashampoo Firewall Free - 5%

Filseclab Personal Firewall - 3%


notice of 8 free firewalls zone alarm free wasnt even listed. so its protection is even worse the filseclab."

 

When you do not want to bother with complex user settings,

PC Tools BrowserDefender: to keep out of dangerous places
EdgeGuard Solo to protect your entry points, see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=234443&page=2
Avast home free: with relevant shields enabled (Anti virus/spyware) like standard shield, webbrowser and webmail shield.
PC Tools ThreatFire, as an extra protection, make sure to create a restore point before quarantaine see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1412992&postcount=3

Also click Advanced tools, click on custom rules, select the two default extra rules of "Host file protection" and "Process creating network connection" (for outbound protection). Together with windows FW you will be fine.

No configuration, good straight forward security

 

Online Armor Free Firewall
AVG free Antivirus or AVAST Antivirus Home Edition
Ccleaner -registry cleaner it is also free
Dr WbCureIt free back up scanner
SUPERANTISPYWARE free
Malwarebytes antimalware
FINJAN secure browsing or McAfee Site Advisor both are free
Firefox Mozilla for browsing the internet safely

 

What OS do you have? Are you a high risk user?

SP2. I'm afraid I don't even know what qualifies as a 'high risk user'?

Also, what would be the point of having McAfee Site Advisor if my Firefox add-ons are already giving me warnings and level rankings of websites?

Thus far I have:

-Zone Alarm Forcefield
-Eset AV
-Super Antispyware
-Spybot
-putting up Comodo Firewall
-Sandboxie, but not sure I need it with ZA FF

 

Also click Advanced tools, click on custom rules, select the two default extra rules of "Host file protection" and "Process creating network connection" (for outbound protection). Together with windows FW you will be fine.

I just get the protocols and certificates. There's nothing under the advanced option that gets me those.

 

i had a very slow down pc when i used sandboxie and forcefield

 

If you happen to download alot of naughty files chances are you need some protection

 

Nope. Never use Sandboxie with Forcefield. For simple free config with really good security, Windows firewall, Avast home and Sandboxie. SBIE will sandbox the browser, Avast will handle spyware and virus. If you want a little fun, replace the windows firewall and Avast with CIS, leave CIS at its default settings so you want get too many popups. Ccleaner is great also.

Ice

 

cool thanks for advise ccleaner maybe for privacy

 

Good advice here. Appguard might also fit into the bill.

As far as firewalls go, you need to decide, are you ready to monitor every application that wants to go outbound? Do you need to? Most application firewalls are great for letting you know just what is happening. But they can also confuse and fluster and in general bug you to death. Especially if you don't implicitly know how to answer.

If you use something like SandboxIE, much of your browsing could be considered protected to a good degree. Maybe not absolute 100%, but still very fine enough for most uses.

It is when you download and run something, or open email in unprotected state, that issues could then arise, as standard SandboxIE may not be configured to cover you there. Common sense goes a long way in this case.

But also as Kees states, use of edguard/appguard and something like Threatfire, along with a reputable AV, should provide you with much protection at minimal user interaction.

I am suprised that so far you have not been steered towards LUA using SuRun or something similar. If you can get by with being a user only, it is probably the safest, easiest, freeest (is that a word? ) way.

Sul.

 

Reason mentioning Solo instead of Appguard, it is freeware (1)


Haha, we agree on (2), https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=234443
"Because nothing beats LUA + SRP and next best soluton (best when running admin) is a policy HIPS like DefenseWall or GeSWall, so I decided to give EdgeGuard (also freeware) a spin.

 

Hello Siamese Dream,

Look to my signature, please.

Yours PROROOTECT

 

Comodo and Online Armor are out of the question for me. They're resource hogs on my system. I'm gonna go with Windows Firewall for the short term (unless it's already on my SP2?). After reading on how leak tests are not all their cracked up to be, I'm lost. I think it's much simpler just to find something fairly reputable yet light.

I don't really download anything because there's always a risk involved. But I would ask is streaming ok? I gather that the former "installs" something on your computer while the other is already housed onto someone's system, therefore no attachment is made to your system. A "run file" is only possible after downloading, I'm gathering? I would also ask: I get those moderate to heavy warning signs from Firefox on sites that are not really threats. Does visiting a site even if one doesn't download gonna give them any issues? Can things be attached without opening windows? I ask because it's something I've never really understood.

 

When you peeps say Windows Firewall, do you mean something in addition to what's on my SP2?

 

No we mean the firewall that is shipped with your XP OS.
Click this for more info on how to enable and disable the firewall

 

That is to say OA team took some very impressive steps toward optimization. The latest OA beta here is incredibly light. This screenshot was taken after 4h of intensive surfing and my everyday routine work:

the columns make in English:

Image name, PID, User, Session, CPU, CPU Time, Memory, Virtual memory, Page faults, Handles, Threads

 

I've got an idea I need to introduce some proof OA was started with the system and not right before screenshot was taken. Here it is

Also I should add this is paid OA AV+ (with antivirus), which usually takes more resources than OA w/o AV and OA free (which is the lightest).

 

I'd like to use the beta, but it's a test run and I haven't any understanding of technology. If you have a recommendation with the beta, I'm all ears.

 

To say the truth I'd not recommend to use the current beta, for it is not stable enough. Not dramatically unstable, but on my machine after a long idle period I need to restart firewall to restore connectivity, for example. Hoping stable version is coming.