Consolidated Security Thread (legacy)

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Diasper
Something else you missed

Bit defender anti-virus is FREE.

Add that onto AVG, Anti-Vir and Avast.

Except this one beats them all in detection rates - AVG and Avast by some margin.

Also they have ALOT of individual removal tools available for those who don't use Bit Defender and are having difficulty with removing a particular nasty

My main problem with bit defender free is that it has no real time protection. That is the reason i did not include it when i was making the antivirus guides.

http://www.bitdefender.com/files/Main/file/bitdefender8_winwks.pdf

 

[Diasper]

Also for non-windows users (ie linux, BSD, Solaris) there's F-Prot for free..

However, for windows users for an alternative way of tackling a nasty infection when you don't want to go into windows for whatever reason there's the DOS version of F-Prot with its own advantages which also happens to be free.

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Diasper
Something else you missed

Bit defender anti-virus is FREE.

Add that onto AVG, Anti-Vir and Avast.

Except this one beats them all in detection rates - AVG and Avast by some margin.

Also they have ALOT of individual removal tools available for those who don't use Bit Defender and are having difficulty with removing a particular nasty

My main problem with bit defender free is that it has no real time protection. That is the reason i did not include it when i was making the antivirus guides.

http://www.bitdefender.com/files/Main/file/bitdefender8_winwks.pdf

True but that makes it perfect when it comes to fitting it in with another scanner as the active guards aren't conflicting.

I've just been testing it and it runs quite happily concurrently.

Of course, the best way of taking advantage of it would be running whenever you want eg after an infection or otherwise say once a week while still having another mainstream scanner. Otherwise, just have it disabled. Exactly, as you might do with a variety of other scanners (eg ad-aware, spybot, ewido, a-squared etc).

NB with Bitdefender just disable it starting with windows so it doesn't need to start up so as not to have unnecessary processes happening in the background not having utilized it - as even after you close the program several of its background process remain and take some RAM so it's a hassle having to close them down all the time if you had it automatically starting.

 

[Diasper]

Just for further information Bitdefender's modules are currently using approximately 23.5MB. Anti-Vir uses about 18.5MB. That's both pretty good.

 

[Schadenfroh]

For a little while you can get Trend Micro's PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 for free after MIRs, pretty good deal.

 

[RampantAndroid]

OK...so I have Norton Systemworks 2005, and NAV does really seem to work as a firewall, but I am wondering: should I go grab the latest free version of Zonealarm to suppliment this, or will I have program confilcts, or will it just plain be uncalled for? Any and all help is welcome.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: RampantAndroid
OK...so I have Norton Systemworks 2005, and NAV does really seem to work as a firewall, but I am wondering: should I go grab the latest free version of Zonealarm to suppliment this, or will I have program confilcts, or will it just plain be uncalled for? Any and all help is welcome.

Uncalled for. Having 2 software firewalls can sometimes cause them to step on one another (as mentioned in Section F) One software firewall on your PC and a router with a firewall in it should be enough in terms of firewalls that is.

 

[RampantAndroid]

OK...well, yes, I have a Netgear router, and also an nForce3 Ultra built in hardware firewall. Thanks.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: RampantAndroid
OK...well, yes, I have a Netgear router, and also an nForce3 Ultra built in hardware firewall. Thanks.

Ahh, then you dont even need the norton or zonealarm firewall, you can just use the NAM (network access manager) and nvidia firewall built into your drivers, the NAM is in your eithernet driver directory when you extract them if you have not installed it already. The nvidia firewall should use less cpu cycles than zonealarm and norton firewall.

 

[meltdown75]

Wow. Leave OT for once and look what I find! Great guide Schadenfroh. Your work is much appreciated.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Well, my norton "firewall"is just part of my norton antivirus....its what they call their worm protection, but it also has program permissions and such. I'm not goingt o disable my NAV....I will not go with antiirus software...

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: RampantAndroid
Well, my norton "firewall"is just part of my norton antivirus....its what they call their worm protection, but it also has program permissions and such. I'm not goingt o disable my NAV....I will not go with antiirus software...

Ahh, nevermind then, i misread, thought you were talking about Norton Internet Securities rather than Systemworks, heh, sorry and no, dont disable realtime virus protection.

 

[Medea]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
For a little while you can get Trend Micro's PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 for free after MIRs, pretty good deal.

You can also purchase Trend Micro's PC-cillin Anti-Virus ver. 11 from Best Buy - $19.99 after the $20 mail-in rebate. It was originally released in Nov., 2004 before they released their Internet Security Suite.

I like it because I didn't need the Suite apps, just wanted the AV component, and it's reasonable on resources. Also, Trend Micro releases updates daily and sometimes more than one per day.

 

[Hadsus]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
Norton Anti-Virus uninstalled

AntiVir DLed and about to be installed!

I just did the same. I had Norton SystemWorks 2003 with antivirus but my subscription ran out.....they don't let you resubscribe the 2003 edition 'cause I guess it is too old so they make you buy a whole new SystemWorks. The reviews for 2005 are horrible so I just uninstalled the dam* thing. AntiVir seems to work well....2 trojans detected. Now I gotta find a speed disk program 'cause I used Norton for that.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

House Call require IE Booooooo. I even got my wife to stop using that program!

 

[RampantAndroid]

1) Go Mozilla!

2) Systemworks 2005 is awesome (yes, it is really good. despite what you've read)

3) I don't use Norton speedisk however...I use Diskeeper 9.0...gotta love autodefrag

4) (and I want advice in here) I use Microsoft Antispyware (how is this any good?)

 

[Hadsus]

I don't doubt that SystemWorks is good.....I just saw too many horror stories about upgrading from a previous version. I know that the squeeky wheel is what's heard most but there are a *ton* of squeeky wheels out there complaining about SW. BTW, with the program uninstalled the change in speed, especially during bootup, is not insignificant.

 

[Medea]

Originally posted by: RampantAndroid
(and I want advice in here) I use Microsoft Antispyware (how is this any good?)

I was using MSAS, but I stopped. The primary reason was that Spybot S&D found a spyware file on my hd that MSAS didn't and, yes, I had just d/l'ed the most recent version and updates for MSAS. It also happened with Ad-aware before that.

MSAS' "alert" feature is nice, i.e., alerting you if a program is trying to change your settings, adding to/modifying registry keys, etc. - but there's a free program called WinPatrol that does the same thing. You can get info and can d/l it from here. I'm using it now, and it's very good as well as being light on resources.

Given both reasons, I didn't see the need for MSAS. WinPatrol is doing the same thing re: alerts, and Spybot and even Ad-aware seem to do a better job than MSAS.

Op Ed: not a critique of MSAS, but I think MS is running MSAS as a free beta until the license period that people paid for via Giant (original owner of the program) lapses. I think that, once that happens, MS is going to charge for the program. I could be wrong - maybe they intend to have it packaged in Vista/Longhorn but, then again, why did MS buy Giant out if it didn't intend to profit from it in the long run? Just my 2¢ worth....

 

[spyordie007]

:thumbsup:

 

[Heinrich]

I'm going to browse the net bareback on my gaming PC. I trust myself and my firewall on this machine not to stray from basic sensible places.

How do I get Windows to stop nagging me that I'm barebacking?

 

[Medea]

Originally posted by: Heinrich
I'm going to browse the net bareback on my gaming PC. I trust myself and my firewall on this machine not to stray from basic sensible places.
How do I get Windows to stop nagging me that I'm barebacking?

If you're running XP: How to Disable Security Center Alerts:

 

[fbrdphreak]

Great guide Schadenfroh :thumbsup:

I've been delving into a lot of spyware issues myself lately, as I took over IT support for a small agriculture (READ: HICK FARM FOLK WHO DONT KNOW ABOUT PUTERS) dept on campus. There are a lot of old Dell Win2K & XP laptops that are just laden with spyware. You wouldn't believe how many "we pay you to view our ads" sh!t I removed :roll:

Anyway, what works 95% of the time for me is the following (which schad mostly covered):
*Uninstall all spyware/adware apps
*Update AV
*Install & update MS AS & Spybot
*Clear internet cache
*Disable system restore
*reboot into safe mode
*Scan/remove w/Spybot; reboot & repeat until Spybot reports nothing
*Scan/remove w/MS AS on Full Scan; reboot & repeat until MS AS reports nothing
*Reboot into Windows, verify clean

That has worked on all but 2 of the several dozen laptops I've cleaned over the summer. The others were heavily loaded with a deeply rooted Look2Me, Aurora, and a few others. I ended up using SAV Corporate to find the malware, then using their instructions manually deleting the files & reg keys. Damn that took a long time

Great guide :thumbsup:

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I have a simple question for you security vets. I want to get Kaspersky but I would rather get a hard copy on disk. I know I could download it now, but if I download it will they send me a disk later or what? What is the best route to go to get Kas since nobody seems to carry it? Also, if I just get the download version, is it possible that malware could prevent the AV from ever detecting it?

Originally posted by: Medea


If you're running XP: How to Disable Security Center Alerts:

^^^Oh and thanks for that Medea.

 

[CptObvious]

Any fixes for those annoying Winfixer 2005 popups? It shows up even in Firefox with Ad-aware/Spybot, and Norton AV doesn't detect anything.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: CptObvious
Any fixes for those annoying Winfixer 2005 popups? It shows up even in Firefox with Ad-aware/Spybot, and Norton AV doesn't detect anything.

1) Use Add/Remove Programs and remove: winfixer
2) Reboot to safe mode, disable system restore (if applicable) and see if there is a program files\winfixer folder and delete it
3) Install Spysweeper and Spyware Doctor while in safe mode, update the definitions, then run a full scan.
4) Download and run http://www.dcwclan.com/files/VundoFix.zip
5) Run HijackThis and see if Winfixer is still listed