What security setup do you have?

[malexous]

Family laptop

Real-time:

LUA, Applocker, DEP, SEHOP, Norton Internet Security 2011.

On-demand:

VirusTotal Uploader.
Hitman Pro.
Norton Power Eraser.

Sandboxie (software installations only).
Secunia PSI.
Windows Backup (testing Paragon Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced).

Browser:

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).

-

When I get my own computer, I'll likely go back to the last set-up. Current set-up minus NIS plus forced Sandboxie.

 

[Francis93]

Security Setup As of 9/28/2010

Primary Protection:
Microsoft Security Essentials

Secondary Protection:

Ternary Protection:
WinPatrol PLUS
User Account Control ON (Always notify; Prompt for credentials
Windows Firewall
CCleaner + CCEnhancer

Browser Addons:
Adblock Plus
Adblock
BitDefender QuickScan
LastPass
Web of Trust
NoScript
Ghostery
BetterPrivacy

 

[Keiichi25]

Security Setup As of 9/28/2010

Primary Protection:
Microsoft Security Essentials

Secondary Protection:

Ternary Protection:
WinPatrol PLUS
User Account Control ON (Always notify; Prompt for credentials)
COMODO Firewall
CCleaner + CCEnhancer

Browser Addons:
Adblock Plus
Adblock
BitDefender QuickScan
LastPass
Web of Trust
NoScript
Ghostery
BetterPrivacy

I think out of all that, you didn't mention only using Firefox as your web browser... Although I know there are some programs that when it accesses the internet, it will use the windows internet connection settings that IE sets up... So assuming Comodo does its job, are any of the browser addons part of the IE coverage?

 

[malexous]

Family laptop.

Operating System:

Windows 7 x86.

LUA.
Applocker.
DEP.
SEHOP.
EMET (web browsers, media players, PDF readers).

Real-time:

Norton Internet Security 2011.

On-demand:

Hitman Pro.
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Beta.
Norton Power Eraser.

Sandboxie.

Browser:

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

Backup:

Windows Backup & Restore.
Paragon Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced.

 

[Tatletz]

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, UAC-on. No worries at all. Before I was using MSE, MBAM, PC Tools Firewall Plus, Threatfire etc. To secure your computer properly using free stuff you need to install few of them.

 

[pparks1]

Skill Level: Windows and Linux sysadmin
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64(free from MS from launch event). Ubuntu 10.10/CentOS5.5
Real Time Protection: MSE 2
Hardware Firewall: Linksys Firewall with NAT
On Demand: MBAM occasionally.
Browser: Firefox 3.6.13
Browser Add-Ons: ABP,Chatzilla, HTTPFox, Fiddler,
Web Protection: None
Hardening: None
DNS Server:OpenDNS
Process Manager: None
Startup Manager: None
Disk Cleaner: None
Backup: Robocopy and Acronis True Image 2010
Update Checker: None
Disk Defragger: None
Tweaking: None
Burning Utility:ImgBurn
PDF Reader: Foxit Reader
Office Suite: OpenOffice
Compression: 7-Zip
System Information: None
Recovery: None
Zero Day Malware Prevention: None

"IF" i do anything questionable, i use either Sandboxie or Linux.

 

[pparks1]

No need to copy my layout. But if you want to use it then please give me credit. Thanks.

Ok, I thought it was a template with answers in blue. So, I guess....thanks for the layout....I got it from you. (wasn't sure how to give you "credit")

 

[MWRed]

Nothing Special here.


Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
Real Time Protection: MSE 2
On Demand: MBAM
Browser: Opera 11.01/IE9(no addons for either)
DNS :OpenDNS
Defrag: Auslogics
Office Suite: OpenOffice
Compression: 7-Zip


I use CCleaner occasionally to clean up junk. For the most part, I use common sense to keep myself out of trouble.

 

[pparks1]

You need to pay attention to any and all the latest av reviews. Especially MRG's. When ever I see MSE in a test it fails. In the field I have also seen about 30 cp's running MSE and all of them were heavily infected.

Malware Research Group

But even when you look at sites like MRG, you will see MSE passing sometimes and failing other times. Same goes for just about any product that they have listed there.

And with regards to malware, I think most of us run secondary scans with things like malwarebytes to double check and ensure that our computers are clean. Security is a layered approach.

In the field, I've seen computers infected regardless of what is installed upon them. And I've also known people who rarely, ever see anything on their computer.

 

[pparks1]

I'm not missing your point. But I've seen tons of people recommend and say that NOD32 is the bomb, yet according to those charts, it fails almost every time. I read a professional review of F secure being top dog approx 1 week ago, yet it failed 6 times and passed 4 times. On those charts, avast failed 6 times and only passed 4....

If you continuously read reviews and watch tests, you likely will be changing your application time after time after time. If on the other hand, you avoid certain sites (adult, warez, software torrents, etc), don't accept USB keys and such from others..you may find that regardless of which AV you choose, it may hardly even stumble upon anything. My AV never goes off, malwarebytes never finds anything.....For me, MSE is more than sufficient.

 

[Dieselman]

OMG....................The amount of samples means nothing in the real world but to experience users like us it does. Missed malware is missed malware. Add up all of MRG's tests and that proves my point. Wether its 20 samples or 20,000 samples. A failure is a failure.

I have been using NIS for awhile now. Before that I was using KIS. When a customer needs a free av a never install MSE. Plus MSE is very ram hungry. No security is bullet proof but I have seen more failures of MSE then any other av. Just go onto YouTube and watch the VM reviews. Heck even AVG 2011 gets swallowed up.

 

[pparks1]

OMG....................The amount of samples means nothing in the real world but to experience users like us it does. Missed malware is missed malware. Add up all of MRG's tests and that proves my point. Wether its 20 samples or 20,000 samples. A failure is a failure.

Well, according to your first chart, seems you would be using Immunet Protect plus...as it's the ONLY product that doesn't have at least 1 failed. None of these products are perfect. MSE is not absolutely the best product hands down..but it's also not stupid to have this product as your AV of choice.

Plus MSE is very ram hungry.

Never experienced that. What do you consider to be very ram hungry? I'm going to look at my Windows 7 box and see exactly what is being consumed by MSE 2 right now. Will post back

 

[Dieselman]

MSE also does not have any means of self protection. You can terminate very easily. Most decide av's also have a HIPS or a BB built into them. Heck even Avast 6.0 is adding on a sandbox and there BB is improving.

MSE cannot stand alone. You either need a HIPS or BB to go along with it. I am talking about the average user and not experienced people.

 

[pparks1]

My MSE is taking about 60MB total at the present time. I've got 8GB of RAM,and 6.6GB is available. So, I'm not too concerned.

Unfortunately, average users make poor decisions and don't really know what they are doing. They pirate software like photoshop and search for all kinds of stuff online that gets them into trouble. No amount of software protection can protect them sufficiently from themselves.

 

[Dieselman]

My MSE is taking about 60MB total at the present time. I've got 8GB of RAM,and 6.6GB is available. So, I'm not too concerned.

When looking at a product you need to look outside the box. Stop thinking just about your pc and think about the average user. Heck I still see pc's with 512Mb of ram. Even with 1GB of ram MSE sucks it dry.

 

[pparks1]

My MSE is taking about 60MB total at the present time. I've got 8GB of RAM,and 6.6GB is available. So, I'm not too concerned.

When looking at a product you need to look outside the box. Stop thinking just about your pc and think about the average user. Heck I still see pc's with 512Mb of ram. Even with 1GB of ram MSE sucks it dry.

60MB of RAM is 'way too much' for an AV? How lightweight does the AV need to be? I think most peoples email clients, browser of choice, heck even a movie or music player can consume that amount of RAM. I mean, my firefox is currently sucking up about 180MB at the present time with 5 tabs open.

 

[whs]

You guys are fighting over a red herring. There are about a dozen fine AV programs free and paid. If you you know what you are doing on the web, they all suffice.

I personally prefer NIS 2011, but I also have a couple of my wife's systems running with MSE. But she only uses AOL and safe sites.

I think the best "protection" is frequent imaging. Then you can always bail yourself out of a tight spot - virus or other.

 

[pparks1]

The other thing to consider with AV's, on top of memory usage, is also the amount of time added to the machine startup, the amount of CPU time that it uses when it's running realtime or scanning, and the amount of time that scans take.

I don't consider this thread "arguing", it's just friendly banter between computer nerds.

This PDF suggests that NIS 2010 has 2 active processes and the 1st usually consumes 5-130MB of RAM depending upon what it's doing and the 2nd takes between 5-45MB. So, I'm not sure that 20MB is the constant usage for all people;
http://technoledge.com.au/pdfs/internet-security2010.pdf

I think NIS 2011 is a fairly decent product...but it's just had so many bad years, that I cannot bring myself to paying Symantec for it.

 

[pparks1]

I think the best "protection" is frequent imaging. Then you can always bail yourself out of a tight spot - virus or other.

It's certainly a solid layer of protection. Of course, if the virus/malware manages to infect another machine on your network, or heaven forbid compromise your identity....that image might not always bail you out of your tight spot.

 

[MWRed]

Ok, look....everyone is going to have their own opinion, and everyone is going to defend their choice. That's fine. No one is better than the rest, otherwise everyone would be using the same thing.
I've used many through the years, but at this point, I can't put down MSE since it hasn't given me a reason to. I've used it since it was first released, and it's on 2 pc's and a laptop. It's light enough on resources, doesn't nag, and I haven't had a single problem since I started using it.

I'm not going to sit here and switch AV's every week based on some "test". It's ever changing, and i'm not going to knock anyone who uses other AV's. More of it is common sense and using your head when doing things that will keep you out of trouble more than a particular AV.

It's really not any different than the argument about browsers on security, speed, how they look. If you like it and it does what you need it to do, then use it. So many people base their browser choice on speed, when it's in milliseconds on a test, but unnoticeable in real world use. What's the point...you'd be changing your browser every damn time some new version of one comes out that 's slightly faster than the one you're using.

Maybe I shouldn't have got this laptop because it's not top of the line, cutting edge, and the best one out there. It wouldn't finish high on any "benchmark" tests, but since it does what I want it to do, that's what matters to me. Same with an AV, and a browser, and pretty much all the other software I use.


EDIT: not arguing....just an opinion based on use of said AV.