Yeah I agree with Microsoft Security Essential being great and free. My uncle had some one year free subscription with McAfee and that didn't do jack for him (god that AV is so bad...), it missed so many things until I installed MSE for him.

Thanks for those tips though, they're really helpful and are great reminders for those who are always thinking about securing their PC. I didn't know about that DEP thing either.

prOxi.swAMi

Australia3091 Posts

January 11 2010 03:29 GMT

#23

edit: nvm

Plexa

Aotearoa39261 Posts

January 11 2010 03:54 GMT

#24

I feel like I know nothing
But now I feel safer =]

Thanks R1CH!

7Strife

United States104 Posts

January 11 2010 04:22 GMT

#25

Personally, I disable the Windows Update, Windows Firewall, and Security Center services (and many others) by going to Run > type services.msc Every year or so I download a new copy of the last Integration of Windows in a torrent and do a clean install instead of updating (which can cause performance issues.) I use a third party open source firewall because Windows Firewall (fine for many) doesn't give me nearly as much control as I enjoy tinkering with (trust me, it's like the UAC in Vista was thought out.) I only do virus scans on files I'm paranoid about before execution. I never run auto-protect type products because they can cause your computer to behave mysteriously. I don't use Microsoft's DEP that they introduced in Service Pack 2, and I hardly bother to update programs as a security measure. I can't remember the last time I had a virus/malware/etc...

R1CH

Netherlands10340 Posts

January 11 2010 04:54 GMT

#26

Regarding free anti-virus choices, I really do think the MS Security Essentials is the best both in detection and resource usage. Also I forgot to mention in the guide, if you download something you think might be suspicious or you want a 2nd opinion on something your AV says is OK, you can upload it to www.virustotal.com to have it run through a ton of AV engines. Keep in mind new viruses will have a very low detection rate as a lot of AV vendors don't have good heuristic / emulation engines.

R1CH

Netherlands10340 Posts

January 11 2010 04:55 GMT

#27

On January 11 2010 13:22 7Strife wrote:
I'm an idiot

Congratulations, you probably have a rootkit.

alffla

Hong Kong20321 Posts

January 11 2010 06:42 GMT

#28

thanks r1ch lol i nevr really cared about antirvirus stuff o_ O haha

and my norton antirvirus kept spammign me for subscription or whatever so i guess it was time i removed it lawl D:

da_head

Canada3350 Posts

January 11 2010 06:45 GMT

#29

thanks for the dep tip

Saturnize

United States2473 Posts

January 11 2010 06:57 GMT

#30

All i need is Microsoft Security Essentials. My computer hasn't had any problems for the longest time now.

alffla

Hong Kong20321 Posts

January 11 2010 07:03 GMT

#31

lol i just downloaded and did a quick scan with microsoft sec essnetials and foudn 2 win32.chepdu.I files

lol well i dont even know what they did with my computer but they're gone now bwahawha

Cambium

United States16368 Posts

January 11 2010 07:10 GMT

#32

On January 11 2010 15:57 Saturnize wrote:
All i need is Microsoft Security Essentials. My computer hasn't had any problems for the longest time now.

Yea, it's actually very good. I'm surprised so many people don't have it installed.

proberecall

United States104 Posts

January 11 2010 07:19 GMT

#33

very informative resource put up here. thank you very much

CaptainPlatypus

United States852 Posts

January 11 2010 07:20 GMT

#34

Very good post, hits a lot of points that a lot of people are unaware of. Even made me go "oh...right" a few times (I'm not as proactive as I should be about Windows' security because I only run it to play games).

In particular, the point about "if you're running software you don't trust, you've already lost" is an important one that a lot of people overlook.

zatic

Zurich15325 Posts

January 11 2010 09:50 GMT

#35

Signed 100%. Read and follow people.

It's amazing how people still refuse to enable Auto Update 12 years after that Windows 98 incident. It's by far the easiest and most effective measure you can take to secure your PC. Windows update, NAT, common sense and you are 99.9% safe.

Actually the points about Adobe products are very good, especially about the browser plugins. I can recommend Noscript for Firefox as well which disables all Flash / Reader / etc plugins by default.

madnessman

United States1581 Posts

January 11 2010 10:24 GMT

#36

On January 09 2010 18:00 Disregard wrote:

Show nested quote +

NOD32 had almost 100% detection rate on the boards, but that was awhile ago.

It wasn't NOD32. I tried using NOD32 for a while but I didn't cleanly uninstall AVG so I kept on getting BSODs. Being too lazy to go through the registry and shit, I just uninstalled NOD32 and went back to AVG.

writer22816

United States5775 Posts

January 11 2010 10:30 GMT

#37

Very good guide, I strongly second the Microsoft security essentials as a 100% free (and legal to get free) antivirus program. imo you should add some tips on smart browsing, i.e. don't randomly download stuff, be wary of exe files, etc because it's more important than any security software

I know it may seem like common sense to a lot of people including me, but apparently it must not be that common if people can have antivirus + firewall and still get viruses while others may not have anything and still never get infected.

Itachii

Poland12466 Posts

January 11 2010 11:12 GMT

#38

hm so i have windows firewall off since forever becouse of eset smart security firewall, always thought that i don't need it since obviously eset starts at startup...
and it does work,online scans don't show anything and when something trys to infect, it does get blocked.
should i seriously turn window's one on?

SchOOl_VicTIm

Greece2394 Posts

January 11 2010 11:15 GMT

#39

It says MS Security Essentials not available in my region... wtf =/

Mystlord

United States10264 Posts

January 11 2010 11:22 GMT

#40

On January 09 2010 17:34 R1CH wrote:
Adobe software in particular seems to have a very poor history - Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Adobe Air have all had exploits that could allow your system to be compromised by visiting a webpage. Worse still, many of these products don't auto update so you have to rely on 3rd party assistance (Secunia PSI) or do it manually.

On January 09 2010 17:34 R1CH wrote:
Adobe software in particular seems to have a very poor history - Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Adobe Air

On January 09 2010 17:34 R1CH wrote:
Adobe software in particular seems to have a very poor history

On January 09 2010 17:34 R1CH wrote:
Adobe

Makes me rage so hard.

Aside from that, R1CH is absolutely right in that it's better and easier to prevent anything from getting onto your computer than trying to get it off. I'd bold literally everything R1CH said because it's all vital. Besides from the anti-virus, you can get away with disabling DEP, but only if you have compatibility issues. There's no real reason to turn it off.

NoScript is GOD. Everyone get it. I've pretty much stopped using any sort of anti-spyware programs now because I have literally everything that's untrusted blocked.