Grateful for quick answers from folks on simple question

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by Galcoolest, Nov 14, 2004.

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  1. Galcoolest

    Galcoolest Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2004
    Posts:
    229
    Location:
    San Francisco
    I would be very interested in hearing from those of you willing to take a couple of moments to satisfy my itching curiousity. All I want is for you to post a quick list of the protective and/or security programs you always load at start up and which I'll call your "basic security suite".

    So if I were answering, for instance, I'd list what I have running on ME at this moment- (and version numbers aren't critical so don't bother going and looking them up- unless you have spare time or something!) This is a very bare bones set-up cus I am wiping ME in a couple of days when XP PRo arrives and there's no real need to load all my stuff on here, having no programs or files to protect on here anyway..... Me will have been around less than a week - had Home but simply hated it..........

    AVG free v. 7.0.289
    Spybot resident v 1.3
    Zone Alarm Pro 2004 v 5.5.062
    Pest Patrol's Cookie Patrol, Memcheck, Keypatrol
    RegWatcher
    (and underlying setup configs done by SafeXP and IESpyAd)

    So of course I also regularly use all sorts of other programs like Adaware, Stinger, CW SHredder, HJT, etc. with this minimal suite and on XP have many more resident ones too, my answer would list just that software always engaged or behind default configurations like in my example.

    Thanks to all of you kind enough to respond! :D
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2004
  2. Blackspear

    Blackspear Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2002
    Posts:
    15,115
    Location:
    Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
    Hi Galcoolest, you may want to take a look here for further discussion on security and how to make your system that much stronger, and here for more discussions.

    This is what is set up on my system and they all play together nicely:


    1. XP Pro


    2. Acronis True Image 8.0 (paid product) – Total system backup, and incremental backup to various media, including CD/DVD, additional Hard Drive etc. Use this when you have first installed a FRESH copy of windows and again when you have installed all your KNOWN stable programs, do this BEFORE you have transferred your data onto the system.
    http://www.acronis.com/


    2. Nod32 – Anti-virus (paid product).
    http://www.nod32.com.au


    3. Spyware Blaster (FREE) – Spyware Prevention.
    http://www.javacoolsoftware.com


    4. Spyware Guard (FREE) – Real time scanner for Browser Hijack prevention.
    http://www.javacoolsoftware.com


    5. Spybot Search and Destroy (FREE) – Spyware removal and protection, with registry monitor. If running the above 2 programs, your system should remain fairly clean.
    http://beam.to/spybotsd


    6. AdAware (FREE, paid PRO product available) – Spyware removal. What Spybot Search and Destroy doesn’t pick up, this will.
    http://www.lavasoftusa.com


    7. Security Patches (FREE):

    BugOff.exe
    http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/10/17/10-17-218.shtml

    dsostop2.exe
    http://www.nsclean.com/freebies.html

    htastop.exe
    http://www.nsclean.com/freebies.html

    TweakUp.exe
    http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/12/1/12-1-30.shtml


    8. Zone Alarm (FREE, paid PRO product available) – Firewall with visual outgoing alerts.
    http://www.zonelabs.com


    9. Script Defender (FREE) – Script protection.
    http://www.analogx.com/contents/dow...tem/sdefend.htm

    I’ll soon be replacing this with Process Guard 3 from DCS
    http://www.diamondcs.com.au/


    10. Proxomitron (FREE) – Proxy. This allows a program (local or remote) to sit between your web browser and the Internet at large, to monitor everything and change it if you want to.
    http://www.sankey.ws/proxomitron.html


    11. Kye-U's filters (FREE) – Rule Sets for Proxomitron giving greater protection against exploits.
    http://www.kye-u.com/proxo/forums/i...topic=131&st=0#


    12. Ewido (FREE) – Anti-Trojan. I currently use Ewido though I do NOT use the active file scanner as it slows my system down to much.
    http://www.ewido.net/en/


    13. IE Spyad (FREE) – Adds a long list of sites and domains associated with known advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the Restricted sites zone of Internet Explorer.
    http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm


    14. Mozilla Firefox (FREE) – Safer Web Browser - try some of the exploit tests in the "Polls" section here at https://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php it's scary stuff, enough to have most sensible people start looking for better solutions. The programs I listed should be enough to thwart these current exploits.
    http://www.mozilla.org


    15. Mozilla Thunderbird (FREE) – For email.
    http://www.mozilla.org


    16. File Checker (FREE) – Monitors important ".exe" files of various programs.
    http://www.javacoolsoftware.com


    17. Prevx (FREE, paid PRO product available) – Host Intrusion Prevention.
    https://www.prevx.com/


    18. Netgear FR328S ProSafe Firewall (paid product) – Cable/ADSL Hardware firewall and Router with External Modem backup facility.
    http://www.netgear.com.au


    I’m also in the process of looking at my Host File.

    The above will give you a very tight system. Ultimately it comes down to safe practices, and it is always best to practice and think of safety, otherwise it will remind you and it won’t hold back in doing so... it's a bit like gravity, very unforgiving...

    Hope this helps...

    Cheers :D
     
  3. Galcoolest

    Galcoolest Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2004
    Posts:
    229
    Location:
    San Francisco
    I have about 95% of those programs saved and waiting on CD for my install of XP Pro this week. Many of them will not run on ME, and I see no reason to install others of them here on my temp ME (which will have been around less than a week and was thrown on here when I got so damn sick of the problems HOME was giving me and just refused to reinstall it- choosing to buy Pro instead.)

    In other words, I am going to be doing a lowlevel format of this machine again as soon as my ebay bought Pro arrives in the mail, I have nothing loaded on here vis a vis my normal programs like Office, Photoshop, Roxio Media Creator, etc. or personal files at all- I saw zero reason to spend a lot of time loading up my usual array of security stuff on here since it's gonna be history in a couple of days. And I have been unbothered at the firewall thanks to the router, so that's why I have that bare bones "basic security suite" at the very moment.

    I shoulda mentioned that... and am gonna go edit my initial post to explain that...

    Thanks for responding with all that detail and helpful spirit.!
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2004
  4. yahoo

    yahoo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2004
    Posts:
    290
    Location:
    nowhere
    My security software at startup:

    1. XP Pro with SP2
    2. KAV Personal 5.0 --> Anti-Virus/AntiTrojan
    3. Tiny Personal Firewall 6.0 --> System security suite which is equivalent to a rule based firewall + SSM/Prevx/AbtrusionProtect/ProcessGuard + a lot more.
    4. Ad Muncher --> web advertsement removal.

    Other (not loaded at startup, but used for security reason):

    5. Ad-aware --> scan for spyware now and then.
    6. Host-file --> block bad sites.
    7. Opera --> main browser.
    8. TheBat --> main Email client.

    The software set is the result of my desire for a relatively lean but secure system.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2004
  5. GlobalForce

    GlobalForce Regular Poster

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2004
    Posts:
    3,581
    Location:
    Garden State, USA
    Howdy Gal (too many eastwood westerns :D ),

    Well I'm not as armored as our good friend Blackspear, and presently cruise the internet with IE. Basically only protected by the latest McAfee, both vs and fw. From Mr.Spears list I'd agree on the first three of those security patches, and absolutly IE Spyads (just updated). It's beyond me to vouch for most of the others, though they are proven and have a strong following. SpyBot I utilize for "suspicious" activity only. So startup only McAfee, IE Spyads, XML Import, and ScripTrap,
    along with numerous registry edits.

    Being a bit of a purest, moderate tools like ProcessExplorer and OpenPorts round out my needs.
    Additionally, cookies are handled by that custom xml file, courtesy Eric and crew.

    A very nice item to have on board can be found here.

    Oh did I mention :D, most of my online activity is text-based. Therefore, no need for activex or scripting.
    Those functions are reserved for only a few select sites.

    In my eight months or so online, the majority of problems I have seen are a direct result of active components.
    I feel this a good practice until enough knowledge about whats out there can be obtained,
    at least from my own standpoint.

    Gal, a few helpful pages around the web can be found here. There's usually someone friendly to help out lol,
    Blackspear showed up..... :cool: ~ and forgot to note his most powerful system! ~ :D

    You be careful now...


    GF
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2004
  6. still_longhorn

    still_longhorn Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2004
    Posts:
    256
    1. XP Pro
    2. Zone Alarm 4.5 with Visual Zone 5.7 & Slap 1.2.2.0
    3. Naviscope 8.7
    4. AVG 6.0
     
  7. Jack Black

    Jack Black Guest

    For my startup apps I use

    1. NAV

    2. Pest Patrol (cookie patrol/mem check)

    3. WinPatrol

    4. SpywareBlaster

    5. Spybot's- Tea Timer

    6. IESpyad

    7. Giant anti-spyware (now expired trial, but some protection still works)

    9. System Safety Monitor

    10. Firefox

    Also have many other security apps but this is my main startup setup. Looking into MJRW but I already have TT, WP, SSM and Giant monitoring my reg, which is probably too much already, so any more might cause problems.
     
  8. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2004
    Posts:
    5,116
    more patches...
    Windows Worms Doors Cleaner v1.4.1
    http://www.firewallleaktester.com/wwdc.htm

    SocketLock
    http://grc.com/dos/sockettome1.htm
    something to read... http://grc.com/dos/sockettome.htm

    Unplug UPnP
    http://grc.com/unpnp/unpnp.htm

    after these patches ^^^ try afew online port scans

    XP-Antispy
    http://www.xp-antispy.org

    a hosts file will block bad sites :D
    http://www.dozleng.com/hpguru/

    spybot has an hosts too, though not as many sites are in it; also remember to immunize when you update spybot
     
  9. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2004
    Posts:
    5,116
    if you use this hosts file, it is big and can make your computer slow down. if you are on a standalone computer (xp) you can disable DNS Client in services.msc. i tried to look it up but dont know about a network o_O
     
  10. Cochise

    Cochise A missed friend

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2003
    Posts:
    2,549
    Location:
    North Thoresby Lincs Good Olde England
    For my part Galcoolest, I'm a simple man with simple needs, soooo I have the latest versions of AVG, Spybot S&D, Adaware, Spywareblaster and A2....what more could a man want?.....Oh! and although I'm pretty adventurous for my age, I don't go swanning off into 'Black-Holes' were there are 'Things' that may bite me in the Neck....I have recently acquired XP Home and the dreaded Broadband, (Shudder) and so far I'am a very happy Man moving through Cyberspace at the speed of Light.... :D :D



    Cochise, :cool:
     
  11. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2004
    Posts:
    1,097
    Nice thread. It's nice to see what people use and to see if your keeping up with the Jones'...

    ZoneAlarmPro 5.5.062 or Jetico Personal Firewall (Jetico not allowing me to use Cisco VPN 4.6 at the moment hence ZAP)
    DiamondCS PG 3.05
    RegRun 4
    NOD32 2.12.3
    Ewido 3

    Thanks,

    Chris
     
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