Security Holy Trinity - Suggestions Please.

MorbusG on 17/8/2009 at 23:53

1. ipfw
2. n/a
3. n/a

PeeperStorm on 18/8/2009 at 01:32

AntiVirus: Avast. Not only does it do the job, but manages to do it without interfering with any software that I've ever run. That includes games, video editing and DVD burning. I can't say that for any commercial software that I've ever run on PC or Mac in the 15 years that I've needed AV software. The only disadvantage is the minor irritation of having to reregister (for free) every 12 months.

Firewall/Spyware/Adware/Popups/Script Blocking/Animation Blocking: Here I use either Firefox or Mozilla (depending on what I'm doing at the time), along with Windows Firewall and WebWasher. Webwasher is nice because it can be temporarily disabled and reenabled with a single click on its taskbar icon. It's also completely configurable as to what items to block. I find script and animation blocking to be very useful on some websites.

TTK12G3 on 18/8/2009 at 01:32

Quote Posted by Xenith

As for spyware, I used Spybot.

I use this, too.

june gloom on 22/8/2009 at 21:52

I to this day swear by NOD32 2.7, which is still available on their site if you buy a subscription.

st.patrick on 22/8/2009 at 23:13

Nod32/Comodo/Spybot

AVAST OR AVG WHAT HERESY IS THIS

EvaUnit02 on 23/8/2009 at 05:57

Quote Posted by TTK12G3

Just use firefox with adblocker plus, noscript and flashblocker. If you have Windows, Windows defender will most likely keep the smaller problems at bay, so keep it on.

Noscript can block Flash as well, BTW. Having that third extension installed is utterly redundant.

doctorfrog on 23/8/2009 at 06:20

The following is for me, a combination of lightness, lack of annoyances, security. Use good sense, also, and a router to cockblock most nonsense.

Firewall: Sunbelt/Kerio Personal Firewall. A few unnecessary features turn off in a month, you will also get nagged about once every thirty days. Decent tradeoff, IMO. If you care, any decent firewall will also catch which of your apps is phoning home, which is a good enough reason to keep a firewall around. Used to have Comodo, which was too needy and heavy. Now it's a whole-hog security suite. No thanks.

Antivirus: Avast, with only the 'Standard' antivirus enabled, everything else turned off. Slim on resources this way, about as secure. Kind of a pain to configure at first so it keeps quiet, especially when the VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED.

HIPS: WinPatrol. This covers the bit of Sunbelt/Kerio that gets switched off in a month. This watches things like startups, personal preferences, cute little apps that like to hijack your preferred apps for file extensions, etc. It's not the strictest thing around, but it's easy to use and generally stays out of the way.

Spyware: I don't download things I don't trust, so I generally don't scan for viruses or spyware. When I feel paranoid, I just pick whatever shows up as number one on TechSupportAlert.com this month.

I've found that paid products tend to be chatty, as though they are reminding you of how secure and better off you are paying for them every year. The free stuff tends to meld into the background a little better. I'd avoid McAfee and Synaptec, anything that comes in a 'security suite.'

Why let your paranoia stop there? Encrypt your private stuff with (http://drfrog.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/encryption/) TrueCrypt, AxCrypt, and dsCrypt (this leads to a blathering blog post of mine).

smallfry on 23/8/2009 at 06:36

Quote Posted by st.patrick

Nod32/Comodo/Spybot

AVAST OR AVG WHAT HERESY IS THIS

He did say free, otherwise I'd be recommending Nod32 like everyone else.