Advice on new security build for Win 7 please.

Hi Folks,

It has been a while since I last visited WSF so I am a bit out of date with some of the new development. I could still remember Comodo & Power Shadow were the "hot" topic of the day when I frequently WSF. So to cut the long story short ....

Could you spec or advise me some security features for my new computer build please as my old PC is more than 10 years now and with the new Windows 7 plate form I am scratching my head in terms of what security to have.

This is my new OS - Windows 7 Home 64bits. Will run in LUA mainly.

Since I have spent my budget on building my PC (entry level DIY not high end stuff by the way) the left over budget is not that high and I doubt I can pay for annual renewal fees. One time payment is fine.

I have been reading catch up by AKO on Best Freeware but still unsure ...

This is the list I have narrowed down.

1) Avira Antivir Personal (free) or Avast (free)?

2) Firewall - Comodo private (free) but not sure about the learning curve or
3) Win 7 firewall.
or
4) PC Tools firewall plus (free)

5) Drive Sentry Security Suite (£15 one time payment)
6) System Protect (free)

7) Superantispyware (free on-demand only)

Spywareblaster (free)
9) Arovax Shield (free) but not sure if it is compatible with Win 7 64 bits or any good at all?

Utilities:

1) Ccleaner.
2) Macrium Reflect plus addition (£25 on time payment)
3) Fbackup or SyncBack (i am using SyncBack now).
4) My lockbox (not sure ... )
5) What's running.
6) Eraser (not sure yet ...)

Shadowing - most important for me but reading all the rumours, I am sad to see some good ones disappearing.... I have been using PowerShadow happily but unsure about their support anymore, so decided to choose Shadow Defender but then the developer has gone missing so I have to wait and see if he would be back. Am thinking of substituting my Shadowing with Sandboxie (I used it when it first came out) but it is not as simple as Power Shadow or Shadow Defender.

Folks, it would be a great help if you could advise me please.

Cheers

 

Hi Folks,

No help for a returner?



p/s: I see no firewood....

 

Hey Chew,
Welcome back! Sounds like you've got everything you need. AV- You can't go wrong with either. Firewall I would choose either PCtools or comodo. I'm sure alot of folks here would disagree and say that win7 firewall is adequate. I'm a sucker for in/out firewall rules and HIPS. I would try MBAM instead of Superantispy. Personal preference and overall experiance. I don't think you need either spywareblaster or averox. As far as shadowing, I would stick with your other option and use sandboxie. Last but not least get a good imaging/backup software. You should be good to go. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

That get's you a long ways there - as long as it's really LUA and not simply Admin with UAC. I've seen folks confuse the two, just verifying LUA/standard user.

I pulled together a bit of a write up here if you haven't seen it. Pretty basic stuff.

From you list, my own selections would be...

On virtualization...

Same thing with PowerShadow - really liked it, became nervous when support evaporated only because I ran into a bit of a glitch a couple of times on first use and required their disabling utility with a time sensitive key to move out of shadowing. If they're not around, that support option isn't either. ShadowDefender and Sandboxie are both very solid. My own choice has been Returnil, but all are solid apps at the moment. ShadowDefender status is somewhat up in the air, but LUA actually would have dealt with much of the recent commotion around this genre of application.

Blue

 

Thank you for the advice. I have been checking / reading as much as I can at the moment ... wowww ... the pace of development is fast.

MBAM is one off payment so I am shortlisting that as I can afford their paid version. Just been browsing their forum. Looks solid and instruction is very detail which I like ... with pictorials / graphics explanation.

Need to re-read Sandboxie as they have moved on since I last use them so might give them a go again.

 

Thank you Blue. Yes, I can recall the time when you were testing shadowing security. It was new then and if I am not mistaken I tried it based on your review/test.

I will re-read the info on LUA as that is one of my very basic security since I only us Admin a/c to update security or to install stuff. Will re-read your basic guide instruction again.

Yes, I will include them.

3) Win 7 firewall.
1) Ccleaner.
2) Macrium Reflect plus addition (£25 on time payment)
6) Eraser (not sure yet ...)

I think I need to read more on either Comodo & PCtools firewalls first before I install one of them so Win7 firewall for now.

I will try to read more on Returnil as it is not as easy as one click button like PowerShadow but I am keeping an open mind since other shadowing products have disappeared.

Cheers



p/s: I will update all that I have shortlisted as I go along ... log off for now.

 

Run as a standard user, with DEP and ASLR on. I would recommend Comodo Firewall + Defense+ (no sandbox) if you're up to the learning curve. Otherwise, AppGuard. A 64 bit version of AppGuard is currently in beta. AppGuard has recently added MemoryGuard, which protects an application from, for example, creating a thread in another process and then being able to impersonate that process and bypass any restrictions that have been placed upon itself - for example, by a firewall.

Comodo is, in theory, slightly stronger, but will require more setup and configuration of rules. Forget about using an AV as soon as you are comfortable doing so. Until then, use Avast as it is lighter than Avira, in my experience. An AV is completely unnecessary with a proper setup.

Macrium Reflect is good! Personally I use Acronis True Image. Imaging is necessary, but any program will do. Just keep in mind that if you are keeping images on a hard drive that is continually connected to your system, they need to be encrypted to ensure integrity - otherwise, in theory, any malware that compromised your system could compromise your backup images as well. I'm unaware of any itw malware that does this, but it is possible.

 

- Avast5 Free for better web security (as *** avira)
- PC Tools (bases on WFP like Win7 Firewall)
- CCLeaner
- any full backup/imaging
- LUA
- LUA
- LUA

 

Will have a look at AppGuard but I will leave out Comodo for the moment as there is a steep learning curve. I will definitely get Macrium Reflect as they are rather reasonable in price.

As for PC Tools I am tempting to install this as it is rather "easy" to use but again I will have a look again at it. Windows Firewall is the one for now.

Yes, LUA ... I need to understand this very clearly first as I need all the instruction to set it up for Win 7 64bits Home premium.

 

Hey, Chew. Welcome back.

I run Bufferzone with MBAM free for on demand when I think I might need it. So far, in a month or so, not a single problem. BZ is much improved from a few years ago. It's got a thumbs up from me.

 

Would you say buffer zone is stronger then sandboxie in a 64?

 

I have just installed McAfee VSE 8.7.0i as the place I work let us use it for free but now I am thinking this might not be a good idea as I am tempted to try out Microsoft Security Essential.

I have the feeling that Uninstalling McAfee 8.7.0i can be a pain ... aarrgghhh ... I had to install AV before they allowed me to go on the internet and I was only installing it to get on the net to get my Win7x64 validated, so installed in a hurry. Now I am not so sure I have done the right thing as this is a new PC. I have reformatted twice now as my initial installation of the mobo drivers were corrupted.

So the question now is how does Microsoft Security Essential compare to McAfee VSE 8.7.0i?

For security I am thinking along this in no particular order:

1) Win 7 firewall
2) Malwarebytes (paid version)
3) Microsoft Security Essential or McAfee VSE 8.7.0i
4) LUA

My headache now is trying to decide on item no. 3 above ... anyone any advice?



p/s: Hi Chuck57 ... Yes, MBAM is one that I am going to buy.

 

Win 7 64bit
guest account
dep for all
mse
safe on line
sandboxie
uac on full
hard and soft firewalls
Been surfin around, lookin for trouble, and so far nothing sticks. So i guess if your not looking for trouble, you will be fine.

 

On my laptop I recently installed Comodo Complete (it's free if you request on the Comodo forum) and used Avast av instead of Comodo's. Everything else was installed by default. OS is Vista basic.

On my desktop I have Avast free and Prevx paid running real time. Hitman Pro and MBAM on demand. I have a subscription for MBAM but it seems to run high on resources and the IP protection can be a bit of a pain, although I really do like MBAM, don't get me wrong.

It appears something recently got through my Avast/ Prevx combo though- some sort of spyware/malware sent a bunch of spam emails from my yahoo account to people in my address book although there is nothing in the sent mail folder. I think overall Avast web protection is good and the program is easy to configure as you like. The Behavior Shield though seems still in its infancy so an extra behavior monitor of some sort would be a good idea.

Also I believe drive sentry has had some bad reports business wise the last year or so.

 

How do you find MSE?

I am thinking of using this instead of McAfee 8.7.

 

If you need facts - pls read here:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=111264

Another one question gives you next 10 answers - confusing, heh?
you should use software you can handle!

And you should NOT use TWO malware scanners - they block each other
(refering your choice of mbam/paid with other stuff)
mbam itself is powerfull enough.

the funny thing i miss - do you use internet with that computer?
so whats your favorite browser and how do you think you want to secure it?
the best intrusion detection is worth nuts when it fails on the browser and its plugins.
any browser with flash, java, pdf and illegal stuff are exploits number one.
it makes no sense when you click "ok" and the damage is done by purpose.

 

You can download mse from microsoft. It seems to be at the
top with a few other well known av's right now, but with less fp's. I think sandboxie is a must, but with a few modifications (delete upon exit & drop rights)
Sandboxie may be the best security app ever.

 

Any suggestion for Utilities? I have some in mind but have not concluded them yet.

 

Yes, I have installed MSE and it's running very nicely along side MBAM paid but I need something extra. Will definitely look into Sandboxie again since I used it long time ago. I only stopped using Sandboxie because I got PowerShadow but they stopped after a while so I cannot have them on my new rig now. Also pity about the ShadowDefender's developer as he has gone missing as I like ShadowDefender too and would pay for it.

 

@chew - i think you have made your homework - good boy, good boy

For PDF i have not really a hint - i use PDFX for a long time now (paid)
and i dont miss Adobe Reader not really - although i a have a portable version
here for some issues. I cannot say anything about foxit - i lost focus long ago
about this crap software - too much issues left with printers and pdf files.
maybe they have fixed a lot with foxit 3 but phantom is out now
and their marketing strategy on foxit or phantom is not clear for me.
translation is still a mess on foxit software.

 

I used PDFXChange but had a few problems, have been using Nitro for about a month and so far it is working great. Use PeaZip for unzipping after trying a few others. The rest is in my sig.

You could also check http://www.techsupportalert.com/ (Gizmo's) for lots of information on freeware.

 

I bit the bullet by going back to PDF-XChange latest free version 2.0(Build 54.0) 64bits eventhough I still have the concern of the search providers included in their latest free version. So let's see ... been agonising for few days now to find one without search toolbar.

If I have the cash I would buy something else but I have blown my budget on my new rig ...

 

Thanks for the Gizmo's link as it helps me a lot in narrowing down the stuff I want ...

Okay ... next search for screen capture. I have been using Hoversnap for a while so time to move on to something better I hope.

Any suggestion?

 

Not sure if this thread is dead, but to answer your question chew,

Prevx Safeonline Facebook Edition

http://www.prevx.com/safebook.asp