New Laptop - maximum protection with...

... lowest impact on valuable laptop resources. Please base you recommendations on experience if at all possible

Priorities:
1. Resources. This is for a laptop and I don't want my battery running out due to security software repeatedly using virtual memory. I don't want the laptop crawling either...
2. Standard of protection
3. Price


My flat was recently burgled with my laptop and desktop machines both gone (amongst other things).

I am a student and lost a lot of assignments etc. But the good news is all software is cheap as I get massive student discounts. So, I've ordered a new dell outlet laptop (delivery next week) and will reformat disk, install Windows 7, MS Office Academic, Firefox and Photoshop thus getting rid of all Dell programs.

I don't want the Norton or Mcafee option that Dell supply as I have always found them to be a drain on system!! They will be wiped!!!

I last used nod32 but have found out that I can get Kaspersky 2012 AV or IS for half price as a student. I know that NOD32 and Kaspersky AV are both as brilliant as each other (on desktop rigs) but need to know about which one for laptop. Is Kaspersky Internet Security a good option for a laptop (remembering that resources and protection are my primary concerns)? What about ESET Internet Security? Or should I have a separate firewall and AV program to save resources? Are there any other good quality options you recommend through experience? I don't mind paying for the right software....

@ Fanboys: Please don't use this thread to start an eset v kaspersky argument. This about resources and protection on a laptop.
Thanks for any advice.

@ Moderator: I know this is very close to your banned subject but please allow as this is a discussion about resources and your users experiences. Thanks

PS: Moral of the day - Don't let your home insurance expire like a silly cozumel (me)

 

Hi,
I am also a student and I know exatcly what you mean.. I have sql server enterprise running from a laptop that I use only for school, it also got adobe design premium cs5, microsoft office 2010 and visual studio 2008 not to mention about wamp server and so many other things..I have tried most of the av's out there including suites but panda cloud is the one that I like and it works very well for me.I have used it with win 7 firewall control (for outbound firewall control)and ondemand scanner like MBAM free and would suggest the same for you.. I hope you find what you are looking for and best of luck with your studies I would also encourage you to try windows skydrive which provides 25 GB free online storage thats what I use to backup my school projects

 

If you're looking for low impact on your system you're looking in the wrong place. Antiviruses will use your disk quite a bit.

Instead I would suggest you look into a HIPS. Obviously I favor my own setup - it uses maybe 20-30MB of RAM in total... and the disk IO is VERY low (I've monitored it for quite some time, disabled logging in the programs etc to make sure it's as low as possible.)

System hardening has virtually no resource impact. I suggest you move UAC up to max. Check out EMET.

Use a secure browser like IE9 or Chrome. They're both fairly quick (especially Chrome) and they're the two most secure browsers by default.

 

@ Kernelwars - Never considered a cloud-style protection. Will look into that and the impact on resources. And btw, I did have backup but hadn't used it for about two months of work lol. Consider it a lesson learnt lol...

@Hungry Man - On a quick google, Kaspersky Internet Secuity implements HIPS. Although I don't know anything about HIPS, I just read some pdf documents on and understand the theory of HIPS but need to read up some more to see what it means for protection and which manufacturer provide etc. As far as UAC goes, I can't stand it and disable UAC as soon as I build a new system or buy a laptop. It just frustrates me, keeps asking me for authority and slows me down but also means I have to more careful as I have reduced protection....Is why I need AV protection in some form....

Thanks for your input & experiences guys

 

I understand about UAC, it's annoying (I do have it maxed though, I'm used to it now). It wouldn't be a big deal if so many programs out there weren't still designed to run/install as admin. Hell, I can't even open up the MBAM Gui without having to press the stupid UAC prompt. As far as HIPS, I never recommend them right off the bat, unless that person seems to have a fair bit of knowledge of the ins and outs of the OS.

They can be beneficial or they can be harmful, with a single click. My personal suggestion is to take the advice of Hungry in regards to a safer browser first. After that, why not have a look around here for Sandboxie? Both the free and paid versions can be set up to be very secure, and it can allow you to skip out of having a bunch of running processes in the background. Use that along with a couple of on-demand scanners like MBAM and Hitman Pro and, with some attention to careful surfing, you should be golden.

 

Try leaving UAC on for 2 days. If it annoys you on the 3rd day take it off.

The thing about a HIPS is that they aren't "allow or deny" anymore - certainly not with comodo. You can right click and manually sandbox an application, which allows it to run but denies it from accessing resources.

 

I've wondered occasionally what sandboxing is...and just reading up now, it seems to be a more 'localized' virtual machine if I understand it right. I've used VMs to test configurations, new software, hardware etc and that kinda interests me. I definitely will investigate more on HIPS.

So, are you guys saying that HIPS, used correctly in combination with sandboxing, a secure(ish) browser and safe surfing would alleviate the need for av? Plus MBAM etc (which I already use) for scanning on demand ....

On the UAC thing. It's just a preference thing. I'm not a patient dude. And UAC just destroys my soul and eats away at my heart. Whoever invented the thing should be imprisoned imho lol. I have tried it several times over the last few years when building new machines and only last a few days max before I've disabled.

Thanks again for your comments...

 

Yes, it's a lot like a virtual machine. Sandboxes can mean a lot of things, but often they include virtualization of the file system and registry as well as some restrictions on resources.

EDIT: And yes, that's what I'm saying. It would more than eleviate the need. Antiviruses are useless if the rest of your system is configured properly.

The reason I say to wait 2 days is because the first 2 days on your laptop you're doig a LOT of things that require UAC prompts. After the first 2 days you'll likely never see it again.

 

Personal recommendation would be a HIPS too, will be just annoying in the beginning after a few days you will not even notice it

 

Says Noob who likes popups j/k

 

popups = UAC lol

So, looking at HIPS and in particular Comodo, Online Armor and Outpost.

So, some new questions:
Which of these three is easiest to configure for someone who is a HIPS virgin?

I have read that Comodo has sandbox but also read that it is not too hot (sorry, lost the site I was looking at, so can't link). Do the other two have a sandbox or should I go with standalone sandboxie.

Appreciate all your feedback.

@Mods - Sorry about this thread being in your antivirus forum where the conclusion will be I won't install an AV package. You need an irony section somewhere for people like me to start threads within. Excellent site btw....Lotsa helpful folk...

 

If you are using x32 windows 7. DefenseWall Personal FW might be good choice as well Check it out: hxxp://softsphere.com/
It's also possible to get discount from Ilya Rabinovich. DefenseWall has yearly subscription. In year it's 9,95€. Not much

 

I also own a Dell which came with McAfee. deleted that! I don't like HIPS and am very satisfied with Avast free (very light), W7 firewall and MBAM on-demand. never had any issues.

 

I don't know if this fits you but I use Webroot Safe Anywhere, Sandboxie and Keyscrambler for my normal stuff.
Add Returnil for an extra layer when needed.
Good luck.

 

Standard User Account and Software Restriction Policy.
disable autorun/autoplay

an on-demand scanner
backup



you might want to check out Kees1958 threads for setting up Safe-Admin tweaks... it uses almost zero resources.
you can set UAC to silently elevate prompts.

 

Why not just back off from the max setting for UAC and go with the default?

 

Here's a good free setup for you.

For your Browser, use Firefox with the No-Script add-on. Use Prevx in free mode & disable safeonline which has a browsing performance hit. I have found that Prevx minus safeonline is almost as light as no AV at all. If Prevx finds something, run Malwarebytes in free mode to clean. Also run Malwarebytes once a week to pick up anything that Prevx has missed. Turn off UAC - any malware worth it's salt will get around it anyhow.

 

I personally like Comodo and it's free. You can download it without the antivirus portion. It is very easy to configure and provides a lot of security.

The "automatic" sandbox is not amazing (it will be in V6) but you can right click and manually sandbox a suspicious file and it will be sandboxed accordingly.

Sandboxing Java essentially eliminates any malware that attempts to exploit java, same goes for other programs.

I suggest you use Chrome (no need to whitelist javascript with extensions like NoScript) and sandbox your plugins via Comodo. Chrome is essentially immune to exploits on its own - though not completely invulnerable - and if you sandbox your plugins with CIS you'll have secured the largest portion of your attack surface.

 

Did they promise that? Just like they promised us they would improve all the other parts and fix bugs in the past, for version 3, for version 4?

 

Not interested in that discussion. There's really no point trying to verify what they say as neither of us works there.

 

Comodo suite (All on) and mamutu for better Behavior blocking.
Hitman Pro as scanner.
Create Synchronicity from sourceforge.net to create daily backup of any work you make (choose extensions).

Light and secure

 

No-Script is great but someone that complains about UAC popups is gonna HATE No-Script.

 

That's the truth OP: If you take Hungry's advice and use Chrome+Comodo, remember that Chrome sandboxes both Flash and PDF itself. So you'd only "need" to sandbox Java and others like Shockwave, as far as plugins go. I still say by the time you mess with all that, you can just throw the whole thing into the free version of Sandboxie and be done with it. Do what you feel is best for you though, we can only give advice.

 

I recently bought a laptop & decided on ESS4 (NOD) Suite. It works fine & is very light.. I guess if you are sure you want to use Chrome you still can & SBIE works very nicely too. Really I woulden't depend on HIPS or Comodo. I've tried both & they are not the answer for me. Kaspwersky would also offer wonderful security but it may run heavier than NOD.

 

lol..with all this security setups you will spend some time configuring it and not to mention the prompts. I like to keep the setup simple if I know I am going to do some heavy computing. I would stay away from HIPS if the pc will be used for school purposes. I like to play yes / no allow / block autosandbox, policy management games too but I like simple setup for the system used for school.. yes / no playing games is for the other systems I got..rofl