Paid Suite or Free?

[wuxia1911]

i recently fixed one of my relatives's pcs which was infected by a virus. She was running avira antivir and did not browse and malicious sites (only work, news, email, etc.). That made me think, is my own setup enough protection? I'm running avira antivir free, windows firewall, and superantispyware. I have personal data on my computer such as banking records. If it provides better protection, I think I would opt for a paid security suite such as eset or kapersky. Any advice would be appreciated.

[MidnightCowboy]

Speaking from the time when I was connected with PC repairs the majority of infected customers fell into two distinct categories, those with no protection and those with. Of the ones with, most were paid products and either Norton or Kaspersky as these were the ones widely available here on disc in the native language (Portuguese). IMO from this experience, spending any sort of money on PC security is a complete waste.

First off you need to understand that there never has and never will be a program you can install that will guarantee 100% protection. Then you need to invest some time in understanding what you do choose and configure it properly to achieve the optimum level of security matched to your needs. Lastly, you need to help it to achieve this through other measures such as DNS filtering and adopting other safe surfing practices.

Try to avoid fancy firewalls too unless your system and networking knowledge is good enough to run one properly. If you don't know why ports 1900, 135 and 445 etc might open your system to a vulnerability then stick with Windows firewall because using a third party replacement could actually increase your risk instead of reducing it.

This is my own attempt at explaining this process but there are equally good guides from other editors around the site.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/cont...under-hour.htm

[capoff]

Amen to what Midnight Cowboy iterated! I've been in the business quite a few years myself and have extensively used all the best PAID for antivirus applications. I purposely surfed known infected sites and none of them withstood the onslaught of virii. Not one. Keeping this in mind, I've been using free antivirus applications since with immunity to most of my web surfing. I use the firewall within my router and have configured it for use with bit torrent applications. The best free antivirus I've used lately has been Microsoft's Security Essentials and Avast. I've found one big hole in most individual's protective shield is a good popup stopper. I used to get hammered by popups that defeated my system continuously. Since beginning to use Admuncher that has now stopped completely. For the last 3 years I've been operating relatively unharmed. I also use Windows Defender and Crap Cleaner. As you can see they are all freeware excluding AdMuncher.

[bo.elam]

Originally Posted by wuxia1911

i recently fixed one of my relatives's pcs which was infected by a virus. She was running avira antivir and did not browse and malicious sites (only work, news, email, etc.). That made me think, is my own setup enough protection? I'm running avira antivir free, windows firewall, and superantispyware. I have personal data on my computer such as banking records. If it provides better protection, I think I would opt for a paid security suite such as eset or kapersky. Any advice would be appreciated.

Search Google about using a layered approach for security and you ll be
on your way, learning how to stay clean. Some people add tons of things
to achieve security, but me I only needed one program to help me achieve
a good feeling about being secure. That program is Sandboxie. Most likely
you have never heard of it, but that's OK, 2 years ago I had not either.
When I first started using Sandboxie I was also using Avira and Windows
firewall and its enough protection IF you learn and use Sandboxie well.
Just using Avira with WFW is not enough, its just a matter of time before
you get infected again. If you don't believe me, please go to the Viruses
and other security risks section of the Avira forum and you ll see people,
that believe the Avira fairy tale of invincibility, getting infected everyday.
Definitely you need something else, it might be SBIE but if its not its OK.
Just find something, that works differently than an AV, that plays well
with Avira on your computer and that you are comfortable using and
you ll be fine.

Bo

[wuxia1911]

Originally Posted by bo.elam

Search Google about using a layered approach for security and you ll be
on your way, learning how to stay clean. Some people add tons of things
to achieve security, but me I only needed one program to help me achieve
a good feeling about being secure. That program is Sandboxie. Most likely
you have never heard of it, but that's OK, 2 years ago I had not either.
When I first started using Sandboxie I was also using Avira and Windows
firewall and its enough protection IF you learn and use Sandboxie well.
Just using Avira with WFW is not enough, its just a matter of time before
you get infected again. If you don't believe me, please go to the Viruses
and other security risks section of the Avira forum and you ll see people,
that believe the Avira fairy tale of invincibility, getting infected everyday.
Definitely you need something else, it might be SBIE but if its not its OK.
Just find something, that works differently than an AV, that plays well
with Avira on your computer and that you are comfortable using and
you ll be fine.

Bo

I have read somewhere that google chrome (which is my browser of choice) already comes with sandboxing protection. Is this true?

[Concerned User]

Originally Posted by wuxia1911

I have read somewhere that google chrome (which is my browser of choice) already comes with sandboxing protection. Is this true?

http://blog.chromium.org/2008/10/new...ty-google.html

yes it is "sandboxed". However, please note that "sandboxing" is not a "cure it all". The most secure system can be easily compromised if the user is careless.

For starters, ensure that the default admin account is not used. Create another user account and use that so that permissions will be restricted.

When you're doing netbanking/online banking stuff, make sure that the site is https. When you're done using net banking services, it is advised to exit your browser and start a new session (I do this 'cause I'm extra paranoid ). Noscript is a wonderful addon available for Mozilla based browsers (including Sea Monkey and Firefox). It does have a learning curve, but it is a very useful tool and will help you secure your browser.

As for a layered approach, you should also take care not to use too many tools that will end up bloating your system resources.

My security setup is something like this: Firefox with noscript, cslite and better privacy, Microsoft Security Essentials, Comodo (just the firewall and the defense plus stuff), using sandboxie for unknown programs (if I do have to run them or I do not trust them) and a hosts file from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm.

You could install a cloud av package like immunet (http://www.immunet.com/main/index.html) which will add another layer without bloating your system. I think that it can be installed along with Avira without any problems.

In the end, it's your own decision on what products you choose. Good luck!

[bo.elam]

wuxia1911, If you use your Google browser Sandboxed using Sandboxie
and you go to a site that starts downloading malware or installing things,
they will not install on your real system. They will install on a isolated
area, the Sandbox, where they can not make any changes to your system
nor touch your registry or files. They remain on the Sandbox basically doing
nothing and will gone when you delete the contents of the sandbox. The
best part of it is, your machine will be clean.
Last time SAS detected a cookie on my PC was 2 years ago, before I started
using SBIE. I love SAS but I don't have it install on my PC anymore. Nowdays
I do a clean install with each new version of SAS and after running one scan,
its gone till next one comes out. If you use SBIE 100% of the time, you ll
find that scans are not needed as they were before.
I showed you the light but is up to you to follow it.

Bo

[eyeb]

bo... while i like sandboxie i find your statement a bit misleading :S lol
Sandboxie is good for driveby/misclick viruses...

but it does nothing for someone like me who installs/downloads software. And no I don't look at porn/illegal things but because I like to test software I can't always get background on them so I have to install and play with it. Not everything installs to sandboxie and works so I have to download to unsandboxed spot.

This is a big security hole that sandboxie doesn't cover. I know it isn't meant to but I'm using this example to show that sandboxie isn't always secure if the user thinks it will end all viruses and goes downloading everything. I do have other things like AV and time freeze to sandbox entire OS but that isn't sandboxie anymore

[bo.elam]

Originally Posted by bo.elam

wuxia1911, If you use your Google browser Sandboxed using Sandboxie
and you go to a site that starts downloading malware or installing things,
they will not install on your real system. They will install on a isolated
area, the Sandbox, where they can not make any changes to your system
nor touch your registry or files. They remain on the Sandbox basically doing
nothing and will gone when you delete the contents of the sandbox. The
best part of it is, your machine will be clean.

Come on eyeb, please tell me whats misleading about that statement. In my
opinion and experience that statement is 100% correct, not ONE word in it
is misleading. Please correct me if I am wrong.
You and I are using TimeFreeze also, so whenever you want to test programs
just use it, like I am doing. You know that Sandboxie can be used to test
programs but not all programs will install because drivers, if needed, wont
be allowed to install. On my statement that you are questioning I did not
mention that we should use Sandboxie for trying programs.
I know I did not say that downloads(recovered items) and installs are the
only holes in Sandboxie, but I have said that in many of the other posts
were I give my opinion about Sandboxie, I just did not mentioned here
so our friend wuxia1911 don't start to run before walking. I have always
said that I use real time AV in order for downloads to be scanned.
I know you say that you like Sandboxie but in my honest opinion I doubt it,
you might think you like it but something inside you says NO to Sandboxie.
On my case, I am a believer because I seen Sandboxie doing what it says
it does and how it does it. If you want to become a true SBIE believer, then
use it and depend on it for say....6 months and after those 6 months you ll
know why I feel about SBIE the way I do.
Using Sandboxie the way you do, wont change your opinion about it so,
give it a little shot, a real shot and who knows you might even get to
like it when you see that nothing gets thru.
Please read "Introducing Sandboxie". Thats what Tzuk says about his
program. The statement you questioned mean the same. My own words.
http://www.sandboxie.com/

Bo

[wuxia1911]

I'm kind of confused right now? If I use google chrome for browsing do I still need sandboxie?