What is your security setup these days?

Welcome to the OCD thread

 

Sandboxie, with some other stuff.
Used to be Sandboxie and some other stuff.

 

Hahahaha it's been a long time since i last posted here.
EAM + OA!

 

DefenseWall personal firewall here and i feel very secure

 

Security setup as per signature.

 

DefenseWall 3.21
Shadow Defender 1.1.0.325

AdMuncher 4.93
Macrium Reflect 4.2

OpenDNS
Opera

 

@Noob
And together they form Captain Planet!.....Captain Planet, he is a hero.......oh just got carried away.

I meant to say they are called Emsisoft Internet Security Pack.

 

@LoneWolf
Nice setup as always. I think you don't even need SD as DW & Macrium is more than enough.

 

I'm using the fab avast! Internet Security. YAY!

 

I am glad we agree on that. Delete them once in a while. I guess it is part of total security, it's something that may not be as important, but should not be ignored. Thanks for the reply!

 

I think most of the time they are benign, but looking for that chink in the armor pays off, you might have the best security setup in the whole world, but if they can slip in where you least suspect it, well.....I think if you get rid of them manually every so often, it would be a good idea. And I agree, this thread is not about cookies, its about security settings and apps, maybe someone will take the time to start a thread about cookies. Problem is, the answer is clear, you are better off without them, so there may not be much to talk about.

 

I noticed when I log out of Wilders with my Opera browser, a balloon pops up that says "all cookies cleared" ....thank you Wilders, that is the way to do business.

 

Added VirtualBox... now that I have a CPU that supports hardware virtualization (both VT-x & VT-d varieties), I've decided to take advantage of it.

I see no reason to add ShadowDefender to this box now.

I haven't yet put .NET FW & EMET on... was waiting around for the new version of EMET that is probably coming soon. But after hearing about these "phone home" scenarios, I'm debating whether or not to throw it on there at all. I may just wait to see if a member here follows through on a project they speak of and use theirs instead. Or maybe ExploitShield once there's a stable build of it.

Until then, I feel perfect safe with Hardware DEP, the buffer overflow protection in Comodo D+, other software/hardening I have in place to prevent exploits. My miniscule attack surface. The knowledge that my OS isn't being targeted anymore. And my extremely safe habits as an end user.

The day I see that all of this is no longer adequate to protect me, I'll be quick to throw Windows 8 on here. It hasn't happened so far in 8 years of being on XP. It didn't happen even back when my OS was being actively targeted, and all I had was Mcafee and my XP FW, and knew little of about computers.

VirtualBox, as with everything I jump into, was much easier to set up than I anticipated. I had the same concerns with Sandboxie, and Shadow Defender, and imaging apps... expecting a nightmare of confusion. And the reality is always much different.

 

I can't use virtual-box, as it never seems to be the same. I would be happy to use it but to my knowledge there is no button that makes the screen and functions the same as using a computer natively. I also get audio distortions and such. I also now use Emsisoft which blue-screens with VirtualBox, I think? I have heard of that bug.

 

Well after hearing about the EMET notifier phoning home, I'd say the people that stuck with 2.1 now have a much better leg to stand on to defend their stance for doing so.

I saw a debate about cookies... true they are not malware and can no directly "infect" you. But they are a privacy concern. I personally consider privacy & anonymity subcategories of "security", and when I speak of security consider them as part of the package. So to me, cookie management is definitely part of my approach. They = bad. I block all cookies (even 1'st party) globally in both my FF settings and CS Lite Mod addon. And allow them temporarily on a case-by-case basis in CS Lite, as needed... which is rarely. I'm logged into Wilders right now and posting without any cookies or scripts needed, for instance. And can do so most places on the web. The only times I ever really need to allow cookies are to sign into Youtube, or Amazon to order things, or my webmail. That's really it. And come to think of it, the same applies to scripts.

I sometimes wonder what type of usage people have that things like NoScript & CS are a hassle to them...

 

XP Pro SP3 - Hardened secondary Admin account, LUA for sensitive usage (i.e. purchasing online)
9 services & 13 processes running at boot (none connecting to the net or with known vulnerabilities)
User friendly default deny SRP (library files & .lnk ext excluded for easier LUA use)
Tight folder permissions for LUA - only 1 dedicated partition allowed write access
A ton of other Local/Group Policy tweaks - Attachment Manager settings filter file types allowed to download/install, must enter Admin PW to do so
TCP/IP the only installed thing in LAN properties, NetBios disabled, DNS not registered, LMHost lookup disabled
VirtualBox
Hardware DEP Always On
Comodo FW/D+ - Custom Policy FW - Very High alerts - All checked except ICS server setting, Advanced - All checked except bottom (other than TCP/IP). Paranoid HIPS, Execution Control on - Unrecognized = Untrusted, Buffer Overflow Protection (essentially ASLR), Protect All Files (Chiron). Keyboard & screen access blocked for all apps.
Sandboxie - Restricted boxes for all internet facing apps. Removable drives/USB ports forced
Firefox/Ixquick (SSL) - NoScript, Adblock Plus, CSLite, RequestPolicy, HTTPS-Everywhere, WOT, Keyscrambler, Download Statusbar*
* VT Hash Check set up to autoscan new files via Download Statusbar before recovering from sandbox.
OpenVPN 2.2.1 - AirVPN (direct connect), Mullvad (chained). Run Ixquick proxy tunnel through them when browsing normally, but not when needing to fill in forms and/or allow javascript.
Macrium Reflect imaging
TrueCrypt - OS partition encrypted, sensitive stuff in dedicated container/partition.

Speaking of partitions... I have so many things on my box in their own dedicated partitions. I'm practically out of letters in the alphabet, all the way up to U (V if you count the TC container). Isolation is part of my security approach. I especially like internet facing stuff, like my FW, AV(s), Pidgin Messenger, VLC, Firefox, etc... in their own. Office programs (in my case OpenOffice). Moved all TEMP folders to a dedicated partition. Have one called "Downloads" I send all new downloads to, which is forced in a sandbox. Games. Studio software. Sandboxie. Installers. And of course Data.

No Java, PDF Reader, .NET Framework

On Demand scanners: VT Hash Check, MalwareBytes Free, Comodo Cleaning Essentials, Kaspersky TDSS Killer, GMER, Hitman Pro

In my FW/D+ I quite simply create rules allowing only what is absolutely necessary for proper functionality of my apps/processes, and block all else, silently (no logging). And the same applies with my SRP, and sandboxes. There is no frivolous activity happening on my box, period.

The irony of it all is that I really don't "need" all of this, because I'm a very safe end user. My habits are very safe & routine. I don't look at porn or visit dodgy sites. I never download anything except updates for apps. I run a very static setup, which is why running in a VM (now) is very feasible for me. Very little has changed on my setup over the past 2-3 years other than updates for my apps. I've grabbed every app/game/movie/music album I've ever wanted ages ago now through P2P. I browse a half dozen or so sites actively, use Youtube, check the weather and my email, do the occasional research on a subject... and that is really it. Oh... and obsess in here about security I probably don't really even need.

 

Haha, that's beauty of it, it's my only opinion. ^^ Only UAC and Sandboxie tells me if something is wrong in real-time.

 

@raven211
LOL. Yeah HMP is really light and effective.

 

Well I've reverted back to Win 7 64 bit from Win 8 64 bit. Windows Blue doesn't sound promising to desktop users so here is my security setup.

1. Standard Accounts with UAC on Full
2. Windows Firewall
3. MSE
4. Firefox 19.2
5. Router with WPA2/ firewall
6. All MS updates
7. Macrium Reflect for system recovery

 

Am running Emet 3.0-if you click on "exit notifier" will that prevent it from "calling home"?

 

Got the urge to experiment...

AVG Internet Security 2013
MBAM Pro
Sandboxie (latest beta)

Browser Google Chrome, computer Dell Dimension 3000 2G RAM and Pentium 4 processor.....old but refurbished. I hope to get at least another year out of it.

So far, some slowdown but it's tolerable. AVG and MBAM seem to be playing nice together, and no problem with Google in Sandboxie.

 

Yeah and its bullet proof . . . just kidding. I better shut up before someone decides to prove i am wrong.

 

I put avast on a friends computer did a boot scan and it found and deleted a Keylogger.Got to love that boat scan.

 

I Agree but I Got false positives from time to time and the culprit is always from Ikarus.

 

Bullet resistant but sometimes one may slip through the Kevlar. watch out for teflon coated myth.