Help Improve Caitlin's New Win 7 Security

[Caitlin]

Hi all. Let me introduce myself with a little history first- I used Windows Xp for about 5 years- then soley used Ubuntu for about 3-4- then got a new laptop and figured aw what the heck I'd try windows 8 because there were alot of games I couldnt tweak to work in wine. HATED windows 8 (so unstable. Why cant windows with all their manpower create an OS as good as if not better than something thats free...) but was very busy and knew it would be a PITA to switch so waited for about a year and a half (also re built some windows knowledge which was so outdated from my history) before finally installing windows 7... today! YAY! Got all the drivers going, starting to install programs.

BUT.

I wanted to make a post here when I had windows 8 but knew since I was starting over it would be pointless. I'd like to revamp/improve my setup. I'm going to use this too :
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...aneously.html?filter[2]=Security System Tools

But other than that have no new ideas. The main things I want to improve are (but very open to anything else, throw it at me!!)
-Optimized browser settings for privacy. Are my add ons negating my VPN in any way? I don't think so and IP leak tells me i'm good to go in every aspect and in the torrent checker (if you really think I should use usenet or something... well you better give me a good tutorial and hook up because I dont know how to find what I want to download -_-) Good add ons are appreciated too.
-Optimized settings for Vuze (is there a better torrent client in your opinion? I did research this a while ago but am always open)
-Best VPN client for use with Private Internet Access
-any VPN tips you can give me as I'm quite new
-Secondary virus and malware scanners

Also, a forum I visit quite frequently and wont stop visiting is confirmed to be hacked. Because of this on windows 8 almost all my scans always found PUPS. They didn't before. Any tips on preventing and working around this because I love my LHC. If you want to check out the forum and tell me what you think about it it's http://forums.longhaircommunity.com

Im extremely exited about finally upgrading to windows 7. And yeah, I chose my wording carefully!

Thanks for any and all advice!!

 

[Andrew999]

You should install Eset paid or Panda for free antivirus can run alongside malwarebytes pro and you can get crystal security which is free which I highly recommend check it out http://www.crystalsecurity.eu/

 

[Atlas147]

Welcome to MalwareTips! I agree you should get something to run along side Malwarebytes because it's not really a full AV it's more of a companion. I'm using Avast Free and I quite like it, it's also liked by many in this forum and I think you will do fine with it. If you are into a paid version to prevent the annoying pop ups maybe you could go for the highly recommended ESET, many members in the forum use it too and from the looks of it it is one of the best.

For on demand scanners I suggest you go with Emsisoft emergency Kit which is free, HitmanPro is also another good one although it's paid but comes with a free trial of 30days. Malwarebytes is also another good scanner and you already have their real time protection so I wouldn't worry.

If you want a paid on demand scanner I am using Zemana's antimalware, which is a cloud antimalware that has the ability to scan through a ton of databases to identify a threat, something like Virustotal but without the size restriction. I joined their beta programme when it first came out so I have a free lifetime license.

 

[Ink]

Unchecky will help prevent unwanted software from Adware-bundled installers.
http://unchecky.com
- Free, auto-updates, silent, runs in background, minimal resource usage.

 

[jamescv7]

Being advance user you should already aware on the consequences and enough knowledge to tweak numerous combination.

MBAM Pro should be fine but a good additional combination could be Deny-Default configuration like Appguard or UAC based like Voodoshield or NVT Exe Radar Pro.

Unless you may prefer traditional AV + third party firewall or Windows Firewall tool like from Bininsoft.

 

[Caitlin]

Jamescv7 I'm more advanced medium or low level advanced... i knew most of the qualifiers but not quite all... had to choose between the two which I felt I was closer to but truth be told it's somewhere between. Also i'm not interested in Voodoosheild as I do not wish to disable UAC as it does.

Gonna look into all of that, free stuff first! Crystalsecurity, Emisoft Emergency, Panda, Unchecky. I love free software & open source (not that these all are) and I feel like with some combination it should be more than sufficient for my purposes. BRB with judgement & choices/questions.

Also I decided to switch from Vuze to Tixati.

Thought I should mention that I do have web RTC disabled in Firefox...

Any advice on VPN clients? PIA good enough? It seems sufficient and very easy to use with their service but if there are worthwhile features on others I'd like to know (eventually I will do more research myself.) I had softether before too for use with the free VPNgate but havent used it since I got the paid VPN. (which is much faster and good manners if you're downloading stuff if anyone is wondering/still on the brink with that)

Thanks, all.

 

[Caitlin]

Got a lot of those and going to try all them out and then delete ones I don't think are helping. Or not.

CrystalSecurity to run along side MWB & Zemana (did the beta to get a liscence!)

Emisoft for on Demand and I thought Unchecky was cool so got that to run in the background.

I think that should be sufficient... now to update my first post...

 

[jamescv7]

@Caitlin: Surely you heard Cyberghost VPN, one of the reliable services and their free version may select probably 1 to 14 of 23 countries in order to achieve better server response.

Usually VPN software are playing in a range where the percentage of services satisfaction varies and affordable features; there are lots to choose from but suggest to test first the trial if available or free version.

 

[Caitlin]

Well I already bought service with PIA

I was looking for client suggestions... even though if there aren't any flaws (I havent found any, but perhaps someone else knows more) I'm fine with sticking with PIA's client just for ease of use. It is nice and small and simple and i dont see what i would need past a killswitch...