What security setup do you have?

jsmoline said:

I tried ZA 9.2. It caused BSOD. Is it working ok for you? I'm a little gun shy now.

jsmoline said:

I found the problem with ZA. It was on Microsoft's end. I think MSE and ZA didn't play well together. I read where it was resolved a while back, but I'm satisfied with W 7 firewall and I'm sitting behind a firewalled router.

I had terrible Blue Screen issues with Zone Alarm Free. I had to uninstall it, and now I'm using the built-in firewall. I've been pretty satisfied with it, and since reading so many positive reports about MSE, I'm thinking of switching to that from Avast Free. I'm not sure whether it's worth the bother though, because Avast Free has always worked well for me.

I have also used the mvps.org Hosts File for as long as I can remember... which helps a lot and prevents me from visiting known malicious and questionable sites, and also prevents ad servers from loading.

I use the WOT add-on with Firefox. I also have tried to use Noscript more than once... but I just can't stand it and always end up uninstalling it very quickly.

Dinesh said:

Hi, just to let you know, you can run Avast and MSE together without any issues. If you want to try MSE without ditching Avast, you may install them side by side.

Thank you. I decided to run a full scan today with Avast and my computer immediately crashed. I ended up uninstalling it and installing MSE instead. I have had issues with third party software, some of which doesn't seem to play nice with my Windows 7 for some reason.

Latest:

Router w/Firewall
Windows 7 Firewall Control Plus
Avast 5 w/File and Behavior Shield only
PeerBlock
SpyWare Blaster
Malware Defender
AppGuard
SpyShelter w/KeyLogging Protection only enabled
UAC (Highest Setting, provide password)
Software Restriction Policy (Disallowed All, Including Admin)
SEHOP
Data Execution Prevention (All Programs and Services)
Hitman Pro (On Demand)
Comodo Time Machine
Win 7 Built-in System Image

All of the above is probably a little much but with this ancient laptop, it works really well. To be honest, In addition to Win 7 Pro built in security features, I've found that AppGuard would be all I really need to run. Most folks don't like a classical HIPS but I like it for the additional info it(Malware Defender) can generate through it's logging, so I keep it onboard. Malware Defender has Network Protection also which means I really don't need Windows 7 Firewall Control Plus but I like how it works, easy to configure. Having said all that, here's all I really need

Router w/Firewall
Windows Built-in Firewall w/Outbound and Inbound
AppGuard (With this, I can lose the built-in SRP)
UAC (Highest Setting, provide password)
Data Execution Prevention (All Programs and Services)
SEHOP
Hitman Pro (On Demand)
Comodo Time Machine
Win 7 Built-in System Image

As I expected, I can't change our DNS with O2 mobile broadband so back to Norton Safe Web Lite for my parents.

Real-time:

LUA, Applocker, DEP, SEHOP, Windows Firewall - all built-in.

On-demand:

Sandboxie (Firefox, Foxit Reader, Windows Media Player, VLC).

Hitman Pro.
VirusTotal Uploader.
Secunia PSI.
Windows Backup.

Browser:
Norton Safe Web Lite

Installed but not for security reasons:

AdBlock Plus
NoScript (only installed for my profile; allow top-level sites by default, forbid plug-ins for all sites).

malexous said:

Real-time:

LUA, Applocker, DEP, SEHOP, Windows Firewall - all built-in.

On-demand:

Sandboxie (Firefox, Foxit Reader, Windows Media Player, VLC).

Pretty much unbeatable and one of the best setups!

frzwin7 said:

My current security setup 8/15/2010

Real-time Protection (Primary Protection)
Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0.375.0 BETA
avast! Free Antivirus 5.0

On-demand Scanners (Secondary Protection)
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.46
SUPERAntiSpyware
Hitman Pro 3.5.6 Build 109
VirusTotal Uploader 2

Ternary Protection
WinPatrol PLUS
User Account Control (Always Notify, Prompt for Credentials)
Windows Firewall
CCleaner + CCleaner Enhancer

Browser Addons
BitDefender QuickScan Beta (Firefox Add-on)
AdBlock Plus (Firefox Add-on)
NoScript (Firefox Add-on)
Web of Trust (Chrome and Firefox Add-on)
AdBlock (Chrome Addon)
Flash Block (Chrome Addon)


Do guys recommend to enable DEP? SEHOP? I don't have any router.

thanks for saying ccleaner enhancer because i didnt know about it, ill try it now

Real-time:

Microsoft Security Essentials
Comodo Internet Security (Firewall Only).

On-demand:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Hitman Pro
Sandboxie

Browser:

Google Chrome

With the Following Extensions Installed:

*AdBlock
*FlashBlock
*Web of Trust
*LastPass