Suggestion For Security Setup for My Wife

Need your help trying to find reasonable protection for my wife's Vista 32bit laptop - something that does not call on her to intervene too much but if it does, is moreeasily understood than some. Thinking of Norton but would like your suggestions. Afrais to go with too many layers because program popups might be confusing to her. Thanks for your help.

Gary

 

Sandboxie
Set it up to delete contents on exit,and you'll never hear her complain

 

Norton - best combination of protection, simplicity to use, and low system impact. Plus you can always find it dirt cheap online.

 

Is she always connected to the internet? If yes.. Panda Cloud AV Free would be nice..

 

just use microsoft security essential which is free and very simple.

 

Yes, she is connected most times via our router. I thought about MSE which I use but I also have some layers added which she would not want to wrestle with. Thanks again and would love to hear a few more suggestions if possible.

Gary

 

I am runnine SBIE 3.46 on my laptop. Does my license allow me to run on my other laptop which my wife uses? If not, it is a tremendous program. that I might pay for again if needed.

Never mind I found answer that I can run SBIE paid on multiple computers at home.

Gary

 

Excerpt from here:http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?EndUserLicenseAgreement (with my own emphasis) -
"...The Author grants You a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-
transferable license to access, install, download, copy the
Software, or otherwise benefit from using the functionality of
the Software, on any number of computers you own, provided that
You adhere to all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement."

Personally, I've stuck with Norton Internet Security as a core for the 6 machines I manage in my household since it can be had cheap, is comprehensively effective, and needs minimal user input (i.e., on the part of spouse and children) even though I use other layers on my own desktop and laptop. My son bought a netbook recently and I set him up with MSE after his trial McAfee expired, thinking Norton, even light as it is these days, may be a but much for his netbook. Both setups have met our needs without complaint.

PS: Yes, Sandboxie is on all machines, although it's still on my list to indoctrinate the whole household on using it...

 

How about an AV and Limited User Account?

 

I'd say LUA + VIPRE Antivirus (w/o the FW) + Windows FW + ClearCloud DNS

Unnoticeable footprint. Could also work on ur son's netbook.

 

Some AV that you feel is light and effective.

Sandboxie with forcing browsers and download directory.

Teach her about how the files she downloads are kept in 'a separate and safe place' and they they can be 'recovered' from the safe place to the real place. Teach her to download everything to one directory and to scan that directory often.

Alternately or in addition to, you could use ShadowDefender or Returnil in shadow mode 24/7 by being sure to make the right exclusions.

All of these in LUA with UAC (or depending how you look at it, SUA with UAC).

The possibility of applying a few other tricks like Kees has described might work, but I think SBIE and LUA would be enough along with an AV just to make her 'aware' of things it might find.

The key IMO is SBIE. It is non-intrusive, light and effective. But the user must understand that the contents (including user settings) can/might be deleted and that what is in there can be put into the real system if desired.

Sul.

 

A non-interfering setup? Ermm....

Limited User Account, leave Windows firewall turned on at the very least, a reliable and trusted AV and most importantly common_sense_RC.exe (safe surfing) does the basics.

However, if your wife is a click-addict, you may need "additional" security - go for a sandboxed browser or a light virtualization app such as Returnil

You may want to look at what I'm using currently if you intend to experiment with a near-silent lock-down system.