How much protection is enough?

[sonic]

Just wondering how protected are you?

I have on my comp the following..Avast/spybot/adaware/Advanced windows care.

I was just on my phone with HP tech support about a back-up issue i am having & he told me i have "too many" virus/spam programs that may be slowing down my system. I always though the more the better?

He said i should just keep Avast & make sure my ISP provides a firewall.
:confused:
Whats up with that?

[Silver Bullet]

I personally just run AVG AV free version and that's it. If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

[hades]

I have McAfee Security Center 2008. Cost me 5$. Never had a spyware/virus/etc problem.

I'm not going to install 1548 pieces of software, that many programs will have the same affect as the malware they are designed to protect.

hades

[CheapScotsman]

I run a hardware firewall and a couple of times a year I run spybot and a online virus scanner. Never had a virus, etc.

[ipxxx]

If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

+1

[TotallyKiller]

Things to have:

1) Firewall (always on)
2) Anti Virus (always on)
3) 3 different Spyware/Adware tools (none are good enough by themselves - these would mostly be run on a scheduled task, not taking up too many system resources)
4) Trojan detector (Stinger is a good one - again, only run when required)

With these you'll have all you need and only the Firewall and AV would be running in the background.

[zoolander]

Porn will bust ya sooner or later :lol:

[darius_m5]

Just be careful when doing p2p stuff. Limewire is a hacker's dream come true for spreading botnets.
If you aren't careful on what you click on, then download the Noscript plugin for Firefox. After installing it, go to whatever "Free Serialz" or "Direct Download Warez" site you want.

[board123]

Porn will bust ya sooner or later :lol:
Only if you run around in circles on random TGP sites.

[CSAgent]

I personally just run AVG AV free version and that's it. If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

Yep, all I got too.

[teknoluv]

I agree very much with others who said its your "online LIFESTYLE" that dictates how much protection you need.

[Andrewm]

www.ubuntu.com

No viruses, no spyware, no sluggish system registry.

and heck, I even play TF2 and Spore on it.

[JAC]

www.ubuntu.com

No viruses, no spyware, no sluggish system registry.

And seemingly random system support between versions.

[ShadowVlican]

I personally just run AVG AV free version and that's it. If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.
+1 except i use AntiVir instead of AVGFree

[gordholio]

I just bought a router (Linksys WRT54GL for doing the Tomato thing for faster torrents) and will setup the firewall through it.
I also have NOD32.
If you frequent porn sites and other shady sites, then you have a higher risk of problems.

My neighbour is trying to push Ubuntu (Linux) on me, but I don't like Linux, except for just experimenting with it a bit in the past.

[Keas]

anti virus and firewall running and the spyware stuff on manual or set times.

i do not consider a router to be 100% protection so always have a software firewall up as well. might as well make it 30 seconds longer for a hacker to get into my system ;P

[ASharp]

I'm just using whatever is built into Vista plus a hardware firewall. That's it.

In my experience, if you don't do anything stupid then you should be relatively safe.

[coolspot]

I'm just using whatever is built into Vista plus a hardware firewall. That's it.

In my experience, if you don't do anything stupid then you should be relatively safe.

You do need an antivirus tho.

[CheapScotsman]

You do need an antivirus tho.

Nope, you don't NEED one. I've run basically nothing but a firewall ever.

I've used online virus scanner a couple of times in the last 10+ years and downloaded, installed then uninstalled one of the virus scanners once and never had a virus.

As the guy you quoted said, IF you don't do anything "stupid" then you will be okay ... but that could be a big IF for many people

[TotallyKiller]

anti virus and firewall running and the spyware stuff on manual or set times.

i do not consider a router to be 100% protection so always have a software firewall up as well. might as well make it 30 seconds longer for a hacker to get into my system ;P

Hardware Firewalls do not protect you from Worms/Trojans that send data out. Software firewalls are better for protection in these cases.

[Calmuser]

As has already been said. You only need a firewall (HW preferably), and an anti virus software.

You do need multiple anti-spyware progs that should be run semi-weekly, or more depending what sites you visit.

running much more then this will slow down your sys.

[coolspot]

Nope, you don't NEED one. I've run basically nothing but a firewall ever.


So you dont' share documents/usb keys with friends/family?

[__Kingpin__]

no security and everythings running smooth for 6 months.

[ASharp]

With or without protection, if you're dumb about surfing (no offense to anyone), you're going to get viruses and spyware regardless. I've seen people with anti-viruses installed but they're total idiots and still manage to get infected. It might act as an extra barrier but in the end, surfing smarter is the best solution/preventative measure. That's not to say that you should leave your computer totally exposed but I think simple precautions such as a hardware firewall and the like are enough.

[trixstar]

i lol'd at the thread title.. ..

[CheapScotsman]

So you dont' share documents/usb keys with friends/family?

Nope, I don't share USB keys. The only document that I share on a regular basis are (home) movies and photos and maybe some PDFs once in a while. Maybe a couple of times a year I'll get a Word or Excel document but if you disable macros / VB from running then you are okay there.

[sonic]

Is there any spyware on movie sites?

like moviesister.com or http://www.watch-movies.net/

:confused:
i visit a few times a month.

[poedua]

I just bought a router (Linksys WRT54GL for doing the Tomato thing for faster torrents) and will setup the firewall through it.

I also have NOD32.

If you frequent porn sites and other shady sites, then you have a higher risk of problems.

My neighbour is trying to push Ubuntu (Linux) on me, but I don't like Linux, except for just experimenting with it a bit in the past.

+1

[Tijuana]

The only protection you need is knowledge. I dont have any anti-virus or spam or firewall programs and havent had a single issue in over 5 years. And i do surf and download alot

[darius_m5]

Step 1) Get Comodo Firewall (free)
Step 2) Get AVG (free)
Step 3) Surf & Download responsibly.
Step 4) ????
Step 5) Profit

[euua]

well all you need is

-----------------hardware firewall -----------------

I also have ESET smart security just in case someone in my house will go to "bad" website. I use internet scans one in a blue moon and that about it.

basically all you need in " know where you going and dont go where you dont know"

[euphoria24]

no point at ALL for having more than 2 .. (2 max is good)

I use ad aware alone and its fine - just run ad watch on the taskbar and your good to go


Having several protection programs are not good because those programs will detect each other and call it a trojan or any other virus

[Amourek]

Router
Keep Windows updated
NOD32
Spybot
Good internet behavior

[Dave98]

There is no reason why you shouldn't run at least a decent anti-virus if you use windows. Any decent anti-virus won't use much resources and is barely noticeable running in the background. It is not true that you have to visit "shady" sites to come upon malware either. "Antivirus 2008" is an example of this.

Yes, having a good sense of what to do and not to do on the internet is a good way of keeping malware off the system but combining it with a good security setup is even better.

In my opinion, the best way to keep your system safe is using a limited account with software restriction policies, a good anti-virus such as Avira AntiVir free, and keeping all your software up to date.

[TotallyKiller]

A few remarks after reading everything:

1) Ad-aware will not detect all. Although there are other programs that give false positives, there is no single program that gets all of the adware/spyware. That and ad watch is a resource hog for many systems. It's a good base, but at least one more program should be run periodically to make sure.

2) Hardware firewalls will not stop trojans. They can control what comes in, but if anything malicious tries to get out, your router won't stop it.

3) Having no AV at all and just 'surfing responsibly' is horrible advice. If you've done this and claim that you've had no problems, then either you are very lucky, a really passive internet user, or mistaken. You don't have to go nuts, but at least get AVG or something.

4) "not going where you don't know" is great in theory, although it kind of defeats one of the main purposes of the internet, which is research and discovery.

5) Statistically speaking, everyone who has a computer will eventually get some form of spyware/adware/virii/malicious code/etc. Some won't ever notice, while some will have their systems rendered inoperable. The whole point of this thread is that there are steps you can take to prevent the majority of issues, or at least minimize your chances of getting anything significant.

6) If your kids, or someone else other than you is using your PC, then make them another account and don't give them admin privileges. This will stop a lot of the problems and it shouldn't allow the installation of programs, and depending on how you've done it, it can prevent the user from disabling something that you've installed. (there's ways around this of course, but you can only prevent so much).

Be smart and don't listen to anyone who tells you that you don't need any type of protection. It's just bad advice. If you truly believe that you don't, then there's nothing I can say to change your mind, so what I say here shouldn't matter to you.

[kenyu28]

1) Firewall : None installed, use router and turn off dangerous processes
2) Av : Symantec corporate version
3) Spyware: Spybot or Ad-ware

Don't visit "those sites" and shutdown when not using. Then you'll be safe.

[darius_m5]

I usually recommend a software firewall to block suspicious activity. A software firewall will detect a trojan when it makes a socket connection.
This is good when you're infected with a newly coded or undetected trojan that's not in any Antivirus database.

[silentio]

-Avira (got rid of crappy nod32)
-Threatfire (highly recommended by pc mag and many others for heuristic detection of known and unknown malware and virus)
-Outpost firewall
-router
-PG2 and custom host file file in case something gets past the first 3 and tries to call home
-Spybot SD registry protected (non-resident)


I think avira is what nod32 was about 3 years ago. Since nod32 became popular malware is now getting past this virus scanner, since i suspect the malware makers are checking against the most popular virus scanners.

I found a weird trojan on my system prior to doing the above. Weird thing was, it only showed up if I ran a certain setup exe. Try running blocklist manager's setup, if you flash a black screen and then setup complains about some cpu error then you got problems lol. Ya blocklist manager is safe and isnt infected.

[kenyu28]

I love Symantec corporate version ... Even though there are a lot of good coders, this thing upgrades like 3-5 times a day. and doesn't hog memory.

[infamouskid]

1. linksys router firewall
2. nod32 antivirus with heuristics on.
3. superantispyware

44 months and not 1 single infection.

[kenyu28]

no infection? because of the stuff? or because of the sites you go to?

[infamouskid]

cuz of the stuff.

im constantly downloading p2p and its always picking up infected files. but nothing has gotten in.

+1 to nod32.

btw whoever said nod sucks is a moron. nod32 was voted best virus scanner 3 years in a row. as compared to avira. avira is good. but not as good. and not as small of a footprint either.

[dhamilton]

Yes, you should always wrap it up.

[kenyu28]

The worst one was this I dled... The whole file (300mb+) was spyware and trojans!!!!!!

hijackthis is also a great asset