Solved Best possible Free security setup

[DBone]

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.

 

[MaxPayne]

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?

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[damien76]

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.


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Check here or this site also. Lot of freebies and hot deals posted there everyday.

 

[DBone]

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.

 

[MaxPayne]

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

 

[DBone]

No problem.

 

[kevi3434]

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.

 

[whs]

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).

 

[Warlockz]

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!

 

[MaxPayne]

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.

 

[Warlockz]

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.

A good HIPS is like the Firewall and D+ combined in Comodo, also comodo has a Sandbox which auto sandboxes unknown files that try to run.

 

[whs]

It is a Host Intrusion Prevention System that is supposed to catch zero day malware. In other words it can determine that something is malware before any specifics are known. You can Google it if you really want to know the technicalities.

 

[MaxPayne]

would you say comodo is the best at that?

 

[Warlockz]

I used to be weary of the AV in Comodo when I was a new Comodo user, I have used Avira, and kaspersky AV with Comodo Firewall and D+ in the past, but i got tired of what a pain they were, and I just decided to switch to Comodo AV and use the complete Free Internet Security Suite from Comodo, and no I have not been infected, I was happy to see that Comodo started using Cloud Based AV, and yes it is very effective, and not a pain in the you know what when I was using other AV software. I bought a license for MalwareBytes and still have not received a single warning from it, except the built in annoying IP blocker has bugged the crap out of me and warned me about safe sites like a constant false positive, so I disabled that feature.

 

[MaxPayne]

ohh that sucks i was hoping to use another AV instead of comdo's but ill see. Im deciding between NIS 2011, and Comodo IS....

I was gonna use comodo IS without AV and use Norton AV instead... but idk if itll work..

 

[Warlockz]

Here is a test from Mautosec, some people dont like Mautosec because they got rid of Online Armor over some personal issues, and lots of false rumors came out of the Die Hard OA Fans, like if a vendor doesnt pay for another test they are just bumped down the list and slowly loose their score ect, But their is not one other software I have seen on their that has ever got a perfect score of 100% except Comodo. And I trust these results because I have tested 50 Zerodays against Comodo and not one of them got through! giving myself a score of 100% clean, after I scanned with MalwareBytes, Hitman Pro, and SAS just to be sure no threat remained, and the same test passed with Comodo Sandbox disabled. so the D+, Firewall, and Antivirus in comodo is awsome! and the sandbox is even better because it Isolates threats.

Results and comments - www.matousec.com



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[MaxPayne]

wow that is amazing, is this comodo internet security free or pro? I dont know why everyone talks bad about comodo's AV then if this shows how great it is.

 

[Warlockz]

Comodo Internet Security Free includes all the features of Pro except,

• 1 year Remote Security & System Support
• $500 Virus-Free Guarantee*
• $15,000 Identity Protection Coverage*

Other paid version offers,

• TrustConnect™ Wi-Fi Data Encryption
• Online Backup Stores Critical Files

So it is basically Complete, except the few you see listed that I dont blame them for wanting to charge for, after all they are premium features.

 

[MaxPayne]

whoa pshh then CIS 2011 it is, I can't believe its that good and its free too!! Now my computer will be safe. thanks for all your help. Can I ask you for your configuration of CIS?

 

[Warlockz]

I dont know why everyone talks bad about comodo's AV then if this shows how great it is.

Yes their are many Unexperienced users out their who only rely on Antivirus for protection, because of all of the propaganda all over the net, either that or their on a quest for commercial profits!