Best possible Free security setup

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  1. Posts : 431
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1
       #21

    MaxPayne said:
    DBone said:
    There are to many opinions on security regarding AV's. avast!, Comodo, Panda Cloud, and MSE will all do fine. MBAM and HitMan Pro are a must, regardless of which AV you chose.

    What I haven't seen mentioned yet is also a must, and that is Norton DNS . It's free and makes any AV better by filtering out 30-40% of bad websites...........A no brainer.
    Thanks for the info on the dns just what I was looking for. Can I still get your opinion on which AV you think is better?

    Testing and trying AV's, be it final release or beta, free or paid, is sort of a hobby of mine. I test them all on a real XP x32 SP3 machine, so I don't do much protection tests for obvious reasons, but I get a real good feel for performance impacts on the machine, as well as real world user experience.

    If I were going to use a free AV, it would be avast! & Comodo tied for 1st, with the edge going towards avast! because it's the lightest of all on the machine. After those two, I would go with Panda Cloud, then MSE. Panda has really good protection, but to get it, you have to use their URL filter and that comes with a toolbar, which I really don't like. You can either install the toolbar to get the URL filter, then after install, you can uninstall the toolbar via programs and features and leave the URL filter in tact, or you can choose to not install either, and just let the on-demand scanner do all the work. If you install Norton DNS, that is what I would do.

    MSE comes in last for me because it uses the most RAM (65-90MG's) and I have seen to many tests in which it doesn't perform very well. I'm not saying that it's a bad choice, I'm just saying that there are better choices.
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  2. Posts : 145
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #22

    DBone said:
    MaxPayne said:
    DBone said:
    There are to many opinions on security regarding AV's. avast!, Comodo, Panda Cloud, and MSE will all do fine. MBAM and HitMan Pro are a must, regardless of which AV you chose.

    What I haven't seen mentioned yet is also a must, and that is Norton DNS . It's free and makes any AV better by filtering out 30-40% of bad websites...........A no brainer.
    Thanks for the info on the dns just what I was looking for. Can I still get your opinion on which AV you think is better?

    Testing and trying AV's, be it final release or beta, free or paid, is sort of a hobby of mine. I test them all on a real XP x32 SP3 machine, so I don't do much protection tests for obvious reasons, but I get a real good feel for performance impacts on the machine, as well as real world user experience.

    If I were going to use a free AV, it would be avast! & Comodo tied for 1st, with the edge going towards avast! because it's the lightest of all on the machine. After those two, I would go with Panda Cloud, then MSE. Panda has really good protection, but to get it, you have to use their URL filter and that comes with a toolbar, which I really don't like. You can either install the toolbar to get the URL filter, then after install, you can uninstall the toolbar via programs and features and leave the URL filter in tact, or you can choose to not install either, and just let the on-demand scanner do all the work. If you install Norton DNS, that is what I would do.

    MSE comes in last for me because it uses the most RAM (65-90MG's) and I have seen to many tests in which it doesn't perform very well. I'm not saying that it's a bad choice, I'm just saying that there are better choices.
    Thanks for this very detailed review. So comdo AV is actually good because I heard it wasn't.
    In terms of protection and removal who do u think won avast or comodo?

    Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using Tapatalk
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 181
    Win7 Ultimate 64bit
       #23

    MaxPayne said:
    whs said:
    That is our Sunday morning ritual (when we are in FL). We read all the ads and the wife does not miss one letter. She would not buy anything without a coupon or a hefty discount.
    Ima start doing that. Thanks for the heads up.


    Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using Tapatalk
    Check here or this site also. Lot of freebies and hot deals posted there everyday.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 431
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1
       #24

    MaxPayne said:
    Thanks for this very detailed review. So comdo AV is actually good because I heard it wasn't.
    In terms of protection and removal who do u think won avast or comodo?
    Well, protection and removal are both different creatures. AV's need to have great protection, and for removal/repair, that's what MBAM, HitMan Pro and SAS are for.

    Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.

    For the best protection against web based attacks, Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing is probably your best weapon. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's free and you can learn a lot on YouTube...........Definitely check it out.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 145
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #25

    DBone said:
    MaxPayne said:
    Thanks for this very detailed review. So comdo AV is actually good because I heard it wasn't.
    In terms of protection and removal who do u think won avast or comodo?
    Well, protection and removal are both different creatures. AV's need to have great protection, and for removal/repair, that's what MBAM, HitMan Pro and SAS are for.

    Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.

    For the best protection against web based attacks, Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing is probably your best weapon. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's free and you can learn a lot on YouTube...........Definitely check it out.
    I will definitely check it out thanks for the advice.

    Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using Tapatalk
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 431
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1
       #26

    No problem.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 36
    Windows 7 Pro x64
       #27

    Doesn't windows also have previous images stored? Once I had a virus and I just ran system restore, took be about 10 minutes and it restored to yesterdays state.
      My Computer


  8. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #28

    kevi3434 said:
    Doesn't windows also have previous images stored? Once I had a virus and I just ran system restore, took be about 10 minutes and it restored to yesterdays state.
    I think you are referring to System Restore Points - so called Shadows that are being created automatically whenever you install or uninstall a program and once per week.

    But that is not the same as images and a restore pertains only to system files and not user files (although they are being stored in the shadows and can be retrieved with Shadow Explorer).
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 122
    7 Home Premium x64 SP1
       #29

    DBone said:
    Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.
    +1

    Yep I agree, I don't care if you use the best Antivirus software from AV comparatives, or listen to 1000 users who tell you what their favorite AV is, you can be using the best of the best AV and it still isn't going to protect you against all of the Zero Day Threats out their, and I guarantee that because I'm always seeing peoples posts as their wondering why they got a virus. This is why a Good HIPS, and virtualization software is needed, and Backup Images are Crucial!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 145
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #30

    Warlockz said:
    DBone said:
    Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.
    +1

    Yep I agree, I don't care if you use the best Antivirus software from AV comparatives, or listen to 1000 users who tell you what their favorite AV is, you can be using the best of the best AV and it still isn't going to protect you against all of the Zero Day Threats out their, and I guarantee that because I'm always seeing peoples posts as their wondering why they got a virus. This is why a Good HIPS, and virtualization software is needed, and Backup Images are Crucial!
    Can you guys please explain to me what exacly HIPS is and how i can use it? I have no idea what it is or what it does.
      My Computer


 
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