So, you think you are secure and don't need precautions

UrbanBounca said:

]I stand corrected, however, I still don't trust IE. Out of the box, IE may be more secure, but is IE still more secure than a Firefox browser with access to the addon database?

That I can't comment on, due to lack of experience. I certainly respect the hesitation to trust IE, given their track record, but it's important to realize IE8 is a completely different product than IE6 or IE7.

Tews said:

pacinitaly said:

can you please post your lines of defense

I use a Dlink router with WPA2 encryption..Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, NIS2010, UAC on default settings, Sandboxie, Standard User Account... All are updated daily/weekly and run on a daily schedule... I also use Acronis True Image Home 2010 to make incremental backups to an off site drive.... I know that some may think this is overkill, but forewarned is forearmed...

awesome.
what are the programs I highlighted in red?

UrbanBounca said:

I stand corrected, however, I still don't trust IE. Out of the box, IE may be more secure, but is IE still more secure than a Firefox browser with access to the addon database?

It's hard subject,
As Both of them can be hardened and secured with additional things.

As you said firefox with addons.

But Internet Exlorer 8 can be hardened aswell by GPO (Group Policy)

And Internet explorer's advantage out of box are:
cross site scripting protection
good phising philter
Smart filter which checks website or downloads.


But browser comparison difficult topic.
I personally use Google Chrome. Advantages:
Speed
Simplicity
Internal sandbox

And just because I like it

Tews said:

Norton Internet Security 2010 ( just testing this one at the present time...it may or may not stay ) Sandboxie runs your browser in an isolated environment separate from your OS/System....

If you're going to browse the web without A/V, Sandboxie is a fantastic line of defense, provided you set it up to empty the sandbox each time you close the browser. Heck, I recommend it even if you do have A/V!

pacinitaly said:

awesome...what are the programs highlighted in red?

Norton Internet Security 2010 ( just testing this one at the present time...it may or may not stay ) Sandboxie runs your browser in an isolated environment separate from your OS/System....[/QUOTE]


thanks so much, I'm reviewing sandboxie!!!!

Sandboxie - Video Reviews

ultraplanet said:

Dogz said:

I read about a report in Maximum PC that out of 10 viruses 8 ran WITH UAC enabled so you do need antivirus.

Can you provide a link to the report?

He was talking about this article: SophosLabs Sets Out to Prove Windows 7 Has Some Vulnerabilities | Maximum PC

I haven't used an AV in three years and still have not been infected, Vista's and 7's additions to the group and local security policy's made it possible for you to null the attack surface of Windows down to your preferences.

Firefox will be my primary browser while they keep nightly-builds as it helps stop drive-by-download exploits, nightly builds help make it near impossible for anyone to find/exploit a flaw and figure out a way to infect your machine before a new build is released all while without you knowing about it.

If UAC had a configuration wizard (like everything else ) that allowed us to specify our own execution level for an application and instead hash checked the program and the dll's it loaded against the preferences we set if indeed we set one for that program, it would then have some real teeth against a huge range of infections or attacks. Vista and Windows 7 include CardSpace in Control Panel and its a secure digitial 'wallet' thats more than capable of acting like a while-list for UAC but has yet been utilized

The current implementation of only checking the executable for a requestedExecutionLevel flag set by the developer and willy-nilly allowing dlls to load into an elevated application and execute code is unacceptable, this is a known limitation since Vista RC1 and I have yet to hear a reason why it hasn't been fixed in two OS releases.

dmex said:

I haven't used an AV in three years and still have not been infected, Vista's and 7's additions to the group and local security policy's made it possible for you to null the attack surface of Windows down to your preferences.

Firefox will be my primary browser while they keep nightly-builds as it helps stop drive-by-download exploits, nightly builds help make it near impossible for anyone to find/exploit a flaw and figure out a way to infect your machine before a new build is released all while without you knowing about it.

If UAC had a configuration wizard (like everything else ) that allowed us to specify our own execution level for an application and instead hash checked the program and the dll's it loaded against the preferences we set if indeed we set one for that program, it would then have some real teeth against a huge range of infections or attacks. Vista and Windows 7 include CardSpace in Control Panel and its a secure digitial 'wallet' thats more than capable of acting like a while-list for UAC but has yet been utilized

The current implementation of only checking the executable for a requestedExecutionLevel flag set by the developer and willy-nilly allowing dlls to load into an elevated application and execute code is unacceptable, this is a known limitation since Vista RC1 and I have yet to hear a reason why it hasn't been fixed in two OS releases.

Why you are worried about Drive-by-download exploits if you use group and local security policies.
They can be configured to deal with Drive-by-downloads. And with the help of SRP it can be denied to execute even if downloaded somehow.

About your next statement.

Maybe AppLocker?
Enforcing rules too all files including DLLs.

I do agree with you that with AppLocker or SRP added with group and local security policies, there is not much need for resident real-time AV.
Just on demand scanner to scan downloads.