What's the lightest efficient security setup?

[wekslap]

What's the lightest efficient security setup?

ie as light or low as possible on system reources CPU, RAM etc, whilst still doing a good job and being as secure as possible?

Maybe i'm asking for the holy grail, but I would be really interested to know if this is do-able, and the opinions of this forum?

Thank you

Wekslap

[J_L]

Lightest would be a secure third party DNS like ClearCloud. It wouldn't affect your resources at all (especially if put on a router). Other internet safety checkers are also light.

Almost as light would be using what Windows have built-in. That includes Windows Firewall, Software Restriction Policy, etc.

Next would be virtualization programs or HIPS. The former is more secure in most cases, and both require a pretty big learning curve. Sandboxie is the easiest and most secure in my opinion.

Last would be real-time scanning programs, especially with multi-engines. Also one of the least secure, unless they have other technologies incorporated.

Always have backup (preferably disk imaging) in place. Windows Vista Business and above (including all versions of 7) have that built-in, although third party programs such as Paragon may be better for you.

Other things you may want to add are software update monitors and EMET.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by J_L

Last would be real-time scanning programs, especially with multi-engines.

Which are the freeware options for these?

[J_L]

There are many, and none really stands out. My recommendation would probably be Avast by a slim margin.

[MidnightCowboy]

Shows what I know - I didn't know Avast had a multi-engine scanner? What does it use then?

[J_L]

I never said Avast has a multi-engine scanner. It is a real-time scanning program.

There are no freeware multi-engine real-time programs. Some like Hitman Pro have multiple engines, but only on-demand. You can add separate compatible programs together though, but that isn't very light.

[eyeb]

cloud antiviruses are lighter than ones with definitions saved to HDD in my opinion. the trade off is you need internet connection :S

but panda cloud does use multiple engines to scan with I think. Something like how hitman pro works but panda licensed other engines.

Was another cloud AV but I forgot it's name :S

edit: I think Microsoft's security essentials might be part definitions and part cloud based but I'm not 100% on this. Actually I think most modern AVs are starting to turn to part cloud, again I forget where I read this or if I'm making it up lol.

[J_L]

Where do you get your info about Panda Cloud from?

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by J_L

I never said Avast has a multi-engine scanner. It is a real-time scanning program.

There are no freeware multi-engine real-time programs. Some like Hitman Pro have multiple engines, but only on-demand. You can add separate compatible programs together though, but that isn't very light.

This is where I got confused then as this was a reference to commercial programs. I didn't think I'd seen any freeware AV's with multiple real-time scanners but things change so fast in this industry I thought maybe I'd missed something.

[eyeb]

Originally Posted by J_L

Where do you get your info about Panda Cloud from?

I'll let you know when I find it lol, It's just that was my assumption when I used it. For some reason I remember seeing it uploaded and showed something like virustotal where it showed multiple engines scanning it.

Maybe I really am getting things like hitman and virustotal confused into this. Since I do use multiple engines while I was testing AVs before, I may have just thought they were all one product lol.

But I'll look around to confirm this, since I dont want to install an AV just to see how it behaves right now