Which programs to choose

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by ahinterl, May 30, 2007.

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  1. ahinterl

    ahinterl Registered Member

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    Can someone please enlighten me and answer my questions:

    I currently have only McAfee Virusscan Enterprise 8.5i (incl. the Spyware module) as well as the McAfee Desktop Firewall 8.5 installed on one PC and like to raise the security level.

    Freeware wouldn't do it I guess, so I accepted that I need to pay.

    1) With the pending arrival of Prevx2 in a couple of hours, is it still recommended to use additional products for anti-spyware and HIPS or would Prevx2 cover it all?

    2) My search for anti-malware resulted in the following products:
    a) AVG Anti Spyware 7.5 (German site: http://www.grisoft.de/doc/products-avg-anti-spyware/de/crp/0)
    b) System Safety Monitor (http://www.syssafety.com)
    c) ProSecurity (http://www.proactive-hips.com)
    d) PrevX2 (www.prevx.com)
    e) AntiHook (http://www.infoprocess.com.au/)
    I'd prefer a combination of either d) alone or a) with b) or c).
    What do you recommend?

    3) For firewall, I think of the following:
    a) Jetico 2
    b) Comodo
    c) ZoneAlarm Pro
    I run c) on two of my home PCs and are satisfied so far.
    What I don't know is whether ZoneAlarm would make sense at all and whether it would collide with any of the products in 2).
    Should I better drop ZA in favor of another firewall/anti-malware combination?

    Anything else I need to consider or am I completely wrong?

    Thank you in advance.

    Andreas (LOWW)
     
  2. EASTER.2010

    EASTER.2010 Guest

    Well, from that line-up your choices are right up there with best. From the looks of things you have a pretty formidable armament of shielding at your disposal to choose from.

    I might only add as a suggestion Power Shadow or another sandbox to add to such choices and would go as far as suggest FD-ISR now BootBack for emergency rollback preventions. Also always keep on hand and make use of a very dependable IMAGING app to back-up the whole ball of wax in event of the unthinkable.

    My preferences (personal only)
    System Safety Monitor = STRONG! shielding! But requires some learning and that takes a little time to get a handle on.
    PREVX2 is formidable in it's own right. Very Sharp Indeed.
    KIS6/7 would weigh in as an AIO protection scheme thats a hard pill for intruders to swallow.



    Anyone else?
     
  3. trjam

    trjam Registered Member

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    I will second the vote for Power Shadow. I have found that adding Sandboxie with it, I dont need a AV or AS. Though I do keep Avira on, just to do a weekly scan and make sure these 2 guys stay honest.
     
  4. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Location:
    USA still the best. But barely.
    Right now I'm using KIS6. With AME (see sig). That's it.:D
     
  5. ahinterl

    ahinterl Registered Member

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    Will Prevx2 make other anti-spyware/HIPS obsolete?

    Andreas (LOWW)
     
  6. Doom Scythe

    Doom Scythe Registered Member

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    I can only comment on the firewall, as I never used any of the anti-malware products listed above. Have tried ZA free version and Comodo. I must say I like Comodo better, and that was like half a year ago, when Comodo was just gaining momentum. Comodo also passed all of the leak tests, as shown here:

    http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php

    Just so that you know, Comodo is very much more responsive to users, via its forums, compared to the other companies. It does listen to its users, although it is offering a free product. I recently ran some tests on my McAfee Personal Firewall (I'm using McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall and SpamKiller) and it is reported that my entire password list in Firefox can be stolen and sent through the Internet. McAfee Firewall did nothing.

    Thus, in terms of value for money, I think Comodo is the way to go.
     
  7. Kees1958

    Kees1958 Registered Member

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    Hi,

    When you want to buy also consider Online Armour (with Firewall) and DefenseWall.

    Reg K
     
  8. the insider

    the insider Registered Member

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  9. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    Webwasher is not free and it's a gateway-only AV.
     
  10. eniqmah

    eniqmah Registered Member

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    Hi,

    I currently have McAfee Virusscan Enterprise 8.5i patch 1 (incl. the Spyware module) as well as the McAfee Desktop Firewall 8.5.

    Although the ratings and reports floating around about security software don't ever really include enterprise level software such as the Mcafee's we're talking about, I would still tell you that Mcafee's enterprise engines are strong, flexible and light on resources. These puppies are nothing like the consumer versions, they can be tweaked to do whatever you need them to do. But to address your issue: the VSE engine you have contains the access protection module, add the antispyware module, add the Firewall's application Policy module and the flexibility of the firewall, you're pretty much in good hands.

    Please make sure you tweak your Windows services to optimize resources and minimize security problems. I've tried other AV+ firewall combos before (ZA, Norton, KIS) and they didn't load as fast while using a little more RAM.

    Having said that, I am also weary of the implications of Mcafee's poor performance in the consumer market. So, just to gain a little more control, I run SSM full. I also DeepFreeze the system just to be sure. Believe me, if you are competent at using those softwares, I don't think you will have any problems any time soon.

    As for the complementary softwares, I'm pretty certain that VSE and SpySweeper will hang your system. The same for VSE and AVG Anti Spyware 7.5. Fortunately, Superantispyware and spyware doctor have no problems doing their job on this system. But, I use them on-demand only.

    Other softwares that work with VSE:
    Panda-antirootkit free.
    AVG antirootkit-free
    Blacklight Free
    Trojan remover.

    Again, ondemand scans with these.
     
  11. ahinterl

    ahinterl Registered Member

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    As I said, I use that as well.

    Ditto that.

    Have all that, and cought a Trojan which McAfee was unable to detect/remove. That for "protection" à la McAfee.

    I see McAfee's strength in VSE, but not in the other areas, so I already think of replacing the Enterprise Desktop Firewall with Comodo and get rid of the spyware module in favor of Prevx2 (need to test compatibility yet).

    But thank you for your comments.

    Andreas
     
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