>>> My Security Protection <<<

[spt60]

Please reply sharing what you are using to secure your 'ultimate' machines.
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My T60 - Core Duo:
(latest versions of)
- Windows XP Pro sp2
- NOD32 + Windows XP Firewall
- Ad-Aware SE Pro (w/ AdWatch)
- Spybot SD (Immunized)
- Firefox (w/ NoScript + Adblock Plus) (default browser)
- IE7 with IE7Pro plugins (for Windows Update and Visual Studio)
- Buffalo WHR-G54S wireless router (w/ NAT + packet filtering)

[ryengineer]

Windows XP Firewall

I don't think it actually protects you from anything.

I am using:

NOD32 2.7 with ZoneAlarm 7 combination on my T60.
AntiVir and SuseFirewall on OpenSuse 10.2 of a X31.
ClamAV on Ubuntu 7.04 of another X31.
AVAST and ZoneAlarm 7 on Windows Vista Ultimate of my desktop pc.

[Turbo Audi]

I have not used virus protection in years. The last virus I had was in 2003.

[dsigma6]

Well literally, on my Ultimate machine (Vista), I only have Windows firewall along with Defender. I'm not entirely confident on that right now, but I'll put Comodo on there if it magically becomes compatible.

With XP I use Comodo firewall, AVG anti-virus, as well as the utterly useless Spybot and Ad-Aware. They have found NOTHING but things like "Windows firewall disabled" and "Security notifications disabled." It's like thanks, I know they're disabled, since I did it.

[spt60]

Personally, I've tried lots of sw firewalls, and when it comes to the conclusion, thing that bugged me the most is the sw firewall itself. Taking closer look to each alert, I rarely have to "deny" anything.

I dropped them and no problem since. Really all the "outbound connection monitor, beware, bla bla bla..." I heard enough. If we'd like to talk about surfing habit, well I did come across bad sites, ads, cracks, hacks, ... whatever, and Firefox with noscript and adblock plus does do way *perfect job.

I was afraid of using my pc without a sw fw, really. It took myself a bit guts and a while just to confidently toss them all and use that Windows FW, but so far so good. I can even disable that Windows FW but... well, leave it for MS/Windows to be happy

btw I never store any surfing pass in the web browsers, including emails, banks, etc. Status bar does come handy to check for phishing, I usually hover the link and look at the status bar before I clicked on it. I reported bunch of Paypal and banks phishing to FF that way

And at least make sure keeping Windows up-to-date all the time.

In the end, it's all come down to the actual needs.

With XP I use Comodo firewall, AVG anti-virus, as well as the utterly useless Spybot and Ad-Aware. They have found NOTHING but things like "Windows firewall disabled" and "Security notifications disabled." It's like thanks, I know they're disabled, since I did it.

I use AdWatch and uncheck/disable Spybot TeaTimer, then config them to be *silent*

[dsigma6]

...uncheck/disable Spybot TeaTimer, then config them to be *silent*

Agreed. There is no reason to use that, especially since it causes a performance decrease.

[gator]

Maybe you should try some unconvetional methods - like this:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=35101

[spt60]

Maybe you should try some unconvetional methods - like this:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=35101

LOL

[ryengineer]

Maybe you should try some unconvetional methods - like this:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=35101

I wish they had something like that installed on microsoft's operating systems.

[Puppy]

I use restricted user account this way http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972802.aspx

As for firewalls, the only reliable solution is hardware firewall which turns into NAT router these days. Software firewalls can not serve its purpose because it is just (buggy like everything else) software running on the same system it is supposed to protect. On the other hand the XP Firewall is ok as long as you don't allow any exceptions (which is valid for other toy-like software firewalls as well).

Basic rule is to not use administrator account for everyday work, that's 90% of real security.

[dr_st]

I use Kerio Personal Firewall on my laptop, to protect me from potentially malicious users on foreign LANs that I connect to wirelessly.

[dsigma6]

As for firewalls, the only reliable solution is hardware firewall which turns into NAT router these days. Software firewalls can not serve its purpose because it is just (buggy like everything else) software running on the same system it is supposed to protect.

If that's the case (which I'm not really arguing), then why does an IDS work better host based, vs. network based?