3 more things i can do to harden my system?

JohnCoder · 31 Aug 2014

What are 3 doable things i can do to further harden my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 system? nothing too complicated even though i am a geek of many decades. This is for a personal PC, not a server. I already have a separate Superuser account so I can daily use a regular user account, strong passwords, Avast antivirus for realtime security as well as Windows Firewall on and Malwarebytes for additional scanning. Firefox has addons like DoNotTrack, Better Privacy, Ghostery. My email has Spamassassin. I don't open emails claiming to be from banks etc wanting account info, I do not open attachments that look suspicious (sometimes I have saved attachments to then scan just for fun to see they are indeed malware, then I shred them). I copy+paste usernames/passwords off a usb stick into forms on known financial accounts rather than type to avoid keystroke logging malware if it was on my system.

So, are there a few pretty simple things I could do to further harden my system?

Tookeri · 31 Aug 2014

Javascript can access the clipboard, so to use a good Password Manager would be safer than copy+paste.

My favorite Firefox security addon is NoScript. If you do not have it, at least check it out.

Sandboxie is a great protection, especially for browsers.

You could use an anti-exploit software. The easiest ones to use are not free for example Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, and the great free one EMET (Microsoft) might be difficult to configure so it's compatible with all you programs. I don't mind a perhaps difficult configuration as long as the product is free.

JohnCoder · 31 Aug 2014

I will add NoScript to Firefox. I know nothing about Sandboxie, will have to look at that.

I am not a fan of paid subscription software, can be hard to stop a software or service subscription sometimes depending on the vendor, etc.; unless using a disposable credit card. I love free software :) so I will take a look at EMET and if i can not figure it out I might get a disposable credit card for MB's Anti-Exploit software.

1PW · 31 Aug 2014

Hello JohnCoder:

Backups, backups & backups. Update, update & update.
If not done already, upgrade Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to the fully enabled premium version. Prevention is always better than cure.
Install, update, and keep current: Brightfort's free SpywareBlaster®.
Populate your system's HOSTS file with http://***********.mvps.org/hosts.htm. Installing the free HostsMan - abelhadigital.com automates this nicely.
Uninstall all current & past versions of Oracle's Java with the free JavaRa - SingularLabs.
If you use Adobe's Flash Player plug-ins/extensions, try to update them the same day they are updated.

Do any three you wish. Then do the other three...

HTH :)

JohnCoder · 31 Aug 2014

Tookeri said:

... EMET (Microsoft) might be difficult to configure so it's compatible with all you programs. I don't mind a perhaps difficult configuration as long as the product is free.

Installed! :)

Tookeri · 31 Aug 2014

Congrats :)

I wrote a short description of Sandboxie here: Trying to secure my computer ?

Tookeri · 31 Aug 2014

About EMET I should add that it's when you try to start programs protected by EMET you might experience problems. Usually EMET alerts with a message of which mitigation wasn't compatible with a program. You can then go into Apps in EMET and uncheck that mitigation for the specific program. Then restart the program that crashed to see if it works.

JohnCoder · 31 Aug 2014

Tookeri said:

About EMET I should add that it's when you try to start programs protected by EMET you might experience problems. Usually EMET alerts with a message of which mitigation wasn't compatible with a program. You can then go into Apps in EMET and uncheck that mitigation for the specific program. Then restart the program that crashed to see if it works.

Yup, already happened to me; i added Firefox and then i could not get Firefox to run, so I went in an removed Firefox from the apps list in EMET. I guess i need to RTFM lol. But at least it was painless to install EMET and just go with the automagic default install for now, I feel a bit more secure until i read the fine manual on EMET. :) Never heard of EMET before, thanks for sharing this resource!

JohnCoder · 31 Aug 2014

1PW said:

... Uninstall all current & past versions of Oracle's Java ...

. Don't I kind of need Java on my PC for games and other software?

Tookeri · 31 Aug 2014

JohnCoder said:

i added Firefox and then i could not get Firefox to run, so I went in an removed Firefox from the apps list in EMET. I guess i need to RTFM lol.

Yes obviously, because that way Firefox isn't protected by EMET anymore

I wrote some general advice here regarding the new EMET 5.0 that might help if you run into problems
Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET)