alright, guys. i've recently took some steps to protect my computer after being irritated of having to get it cleaned every month or so due to various problems. so far, i have the Avira Premium Security Suite which has everything.. antivirus, firewall, malware protection, etc. i just wanted to find out, is avira alone a good security setup? or what other backup antivirus programs, firewall, or additional malware/ spyware preventing software would u guys reccomand? any help is greatly appreciated.
I suggest... 1- An imaging program to protect against failure of security apps, as well hard drive failure. 2- An SPI-capable router 3- A behavior-blocker-HIPS for zero-day and other slip-ups
Hello, Here are a few examples of what bellgamin suggested + a couple more. Always research (google) before you install to see what problems others may be having, or opinions about usefulness. Examples of Imaging programs (free): http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/ http://clonezilla.org/ http://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp http://ping.windowsdream.com/ Most routers on the market today use SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection). Behavior Blocker Hips: http://www.threatfire.com/ http://www.fortego.com/en/ase.html http://www.privacyware.com/dynamic_security_agent.html http://www.eqspywatch.com/ http://www.tallemu.com/downloads.html Is also a firewall File Protectors/Sandboxes: http://www.drivesentry.com/index.htm http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/rubotted http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions/trust-no-exe/trust-no-exe.htm http://www.gentlesecurity.com/getstarted.html http://www.sandboxie.com/ http://force.coresecurity.com/index.php?module=base&page=download I Hope This Helps, Searching
Yeah, I would have to add my thumbs up to the above recommendations for the use of a good imaging program. That has saved my bacon more times than I can count, not to mention it makes life easy if you want to experiment with a lot of apps and programs (which can often cause problems or hose your system), and then later revert to a clean/good image. Get yourself a clean, preferably freshly reformatted, system, and then do an image immediately onto another drive if you can. Then, no matter what happens, it's a simple matter to restore the image and you're good as new again. Aside from that, the Avira Suite is fine. Rather than load up on annoying apps like HIPS and so on, I'd much rather put my eggs into the image basket and restore if and when needed. Life is easier that way..
Another good behavior blocker HIPS (my favorite -- but it ISN'T free)... http://www.mamutu.com/en/software/mamutu/
alright guys. thanks for the replies. i got a couple of other questions now. firstly, it seems Avira Suite is a big resource hog. after installing it, i've seen a tremendous slow down (keep in mind, this is a old computer - amd athalon 1.7 GHz, 480 MB ram). now, i dont mind forking out a couple of more dollars for protection. my question is, what's the ideal firewall for inbound and outboud traffic, which is light on resources? i tried Comodo but i find it very very annoying with the constant pop ups and having to accept like a 1000 times every time there's a change in registry via an installation or something like that. additionally, what's a good antivirus? i've done my research and have found nod32 and kaspersky are the top of the pack. though, which one is lighter on the memory with good scanning and virus definitions? oh yeha, and what are HIPS?? for the imaging program, i've settled on acronis. i wanna create a backup of my system today, but wanna get the whole security line setup properly first and then backup.
