PG & Secure Windows (Advice)

Gents/Ladies, I’m not that much of a security expert; but I wonder if you can help me with this.

Basically, I’m trying to secure my PC in a way that would be considered “above average”. Currently, I use the following software:

- Process Guard
- Norton Antivirus
- Norton Internet Security (Firewall, Spyware, Adware, etc.)
- Ad-Aware SE Professional

After reading Andrea’s Paper “Win Secure” & “Process Guard”, I’m thinking about adding these security features as well:

- Linksys Router: Upgrade PC connections as well as a secondary firewall.
- NOD32: Have a second antivirus. Of course, only one of them would be activated at all time.
- Ewido Anti Malware/A-Squared Anti-Malware/Online Armor: Have an anti-trojan scanner for extra protection.

Therefore, my overall security features/softwares would be:

- Security System: Process Guard
- Antivirus: The primary would be NOD32 and a secondary Norton Antivirus. The 1st running at all times, while the second in off mode most of the time.
- Internet Security: Norton Firewall as a software and a Linksys Router as a hardware firewall.
- Spyware/Adware: Ad-Aware SE Professional
- Anti-Trojan Scanner: Only one or two of the above described.

My questions for you are:

01. What do you think of these upgrades? Do you see any problems at all by having them activated and/or running at the same time?
02. Which anti-trojan scanner do you recommend? What about using 2 of them, do you see any problems at all? If not, which ones do you recommend?

Thanks in advance for your feedback. Is highly appreciated.

Regards

Bruce Wayne

 

A router with a hardware firewall is always a good idea as a first line of defense (and it will reduce the amount of work your software firewall has to do). Multiple anti-malware scanners though would be of far less benefit, unless you are the type who likes to live dangerously by downloading programs from questionable sources (IRC, P2P, Usenet, etc).

Assuming that you are cautious about what you download, I would suggest you keep one anti-virus scanner only (possibly exchanging Norton for NOD32) and use a non-IE browser with a web filter (or appropriate extension for Firefox) like WebWasher or Proxomitron (the most powerful, but the most complex also) to protect against malicious webpages. This should remove the need for an anti-spyware scanner (an occasional check to confirm that your filter is not letting things through should suffice).

You may find an alternative firewall (that offers better leaktest performance than Norton) a useful addition also - Look'n'Stop or Outpost would be good choices if you prefer ones offering a greater degree of control while ZoneAlarm would be better for those wanting simplicity above all.

The key thing here is not to pile on overlapping security products, but to use a few complementary ones that you know well enough to gain maximum benefit from them. PG gives you control over program execution and limits certain actions so complements a signature-based detector very well (those few items that slip past an AV-scanner are still going to be hamstrung by PG's controls), but, like a firewall, it does need to be properly configured (i.e. global protection options enabled).

 

i think that you can run into problems from having too many security programs running in realtime due to a limitation within windows itself..

 

Hi! two AVs are never a good idea. Get one u like, if u ask me I will say NOD ( the best) or Kaspersky.
PG is good. Router with any good softwrae firewall( however I don,t know exactly how imp is a software firewall with router esp when u have PG also that will monitor outgoing traffic I think_ but if u get one, ZA Pro, LnS and OutPost are good one.
About antispyware- I like SpySweeper and for an additional on-deamand scanner u can use SuperAntispyware free.( U can all along drop a real time AS scanner acc to ur surfing habits)
Anbti-Trojans-- I don,t know much but if I am Iin ur place I will ass Ewido free ad on-deamnd scanner.
About OA, if u like u have to choose between it and PG- both together will be overlap.
If u like a suite, try KIS suite( the only good security suite I guess so far).
For myself I will always use a recovery software like FDISR( or RollBackRx- still has some buggs). Also Sandboxie for off an on use.
BTW, I told u my likings rather than an advice but these are based upon the information I got mostly from here and from my tril of softwares. SO when u decide any of these, first run a trial version to see if it is Ok for u.
Hope this helps.

 

Hi
same about here and just testing ProcessGuard; works just fine together with the other software. Webroot Spysweeper is/was the main blocker of evil, and just use Lavasoft Adaware from time to time. These two seem to be a bit heavy to run at the same time.

 

Hey,

another good software desktop firewall is Jetico Personal Firewall (www.jetico.com ). Is free, very tiny, light on resources and catch most of leakage tests..

I don't suggest SuperAntiSpyware because it isn't that good, but Ewido Anti-Maleware should be fine.

best regards,

iNsuRRecTiON

 

Have you tried SUPERAntiSpyware against actual infections? I think you will find we often clean up infections that others miss. Our new version 3.2 release on Monday and features our Kernel Direct technology that will get around userland and kernel hooking applications, which many of the other antispyware applications won't even see running.

Running both Ewido and SUPERAntiSpyware gets you quite a bit of solid protection.

Nick Skrepetos
SUPERAntiSpyware.com
http://www.superantispyware.com

 

Folks,

Please stay on topic. SUPERAntiSpyware isn't - so discussions about SUPERAntiSpyware are welcome over on the "privacy & other anti-malware software" forum. This thread is about PG & Secure Windows, no more, no less.

Regards,
Bubba

Edit
One recent off topic post removed and any similar OT's posted in future will be removed without further comment.