Advanced Plus Security Gandalf_The_Grey's Laptop Config 2024

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Refreshed my config for 2024.

My license for FS Protection (beta) expired again and I will not ask again in their forum to get it renewed again...

Enjoying the Windows built-in security enhanced by Windows Hybrid Hardening Light.
Thanks (again) @Andy Ful for your great tools and outstanding support.
Thanks @Shadowra for your test of Windows Hybrid Hardening Light.

Most problems I had with using uBlock Origin and AdGuard's or Fanboy's annoyances filters came from websites where blocking cookie notices caused parts of those websites not working.
Therefore, I added the I don't care about cookies extension as only source for blocking cookie notices.
You can very easily turn that extension off on those sites and do not have to use your own filters to get those sites working again.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Changed my custom uBlock Origin filters to:

• AdGuard Annoyances filter (Optimized)
• EasyList (Optimized)
• EasyPrivacy (Optimized)
• HaGeZi's The World's Most Abused TLDs
• Kees1958 most used EU US ad & tracking networks
• Kees1958 personal blocklist for cosmetic filter leftovers

Now I don't need the I don't care about cookies extension anymore

Removed Bitdefender TrafficLight and added McAfee WebAdvisor.

Protection is about the same, but McAfee is available as Edge extension and Bitdefender is not.
Plus McAfee gives a warning when going to a website for remote access tools and I find that a nice bonus for inexperienced users:

 

[ForgottenSeer 107474]

Great setup with WHHL

Hope you don't mind commenting on your uBO blocklists. Since you use Hagezi's most abused TLD blocklist, you might as well use (shameless plug) my non-latin character TLD blocklist (LINK) also I found the combined (optimized) blocklist of Adguard base plus Easylist (LINK) a little more effective than EL alone. Also when you use Kees1958 Mv2, the added value of EL privacy blocklist is minimal (in uBO logger you will see blocks because of the sequence of rule application, but when you disable EL privacy you probably won't notice a difference).

Protection of McFee is great, but privacy policy is not.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Great setup with WHHL

Hope you don't mind commenting on your uBO blocklists. Since you use Hagezi's most abused TLD blocklist, you might as well use (shameless plug) my non-latin character TLD blocklist (LINK) also I found the combined (optimized) blocklist of Adguard base plus Easylist (LINK) a little more effective than EL alone. Also when you use Kees1958 Mv2, the added value of EL privacy blocklist is minimal (in uBO logger you will see blocks because of the sequence of rule application, but when you disable EL privacy you probably won't notice a difference).

Protection of McFee is great, but privacy policy is not.

Thanks

I was using your blocklist's, but now I am using Hagenzi's because your GitHub is archived:

This repository has been archived by the owner on Nov 30, 2023. It is now read-only.

AdGuard Base plus EasyList (optimized) has a lot more rules (72691 compared to EasyList (optimized) 47994) and I don't notice a difference on the websites I usually visit.
For me EasyList (optimized) is enough.
Will look into EasyPrivacy vs Kees1958.

A good point about McAfee's privacy policy. Is Bitdefender's privacy policy better?

 

[ForgottenSeer 107474]

Thanks

I was using your blocklist's, but now I am using Hagenzi's because your GitHub is archived:

AdGuard Base plus EasyList (optimized) has a lot more rules (72691 compared to EasyList (optimized) 47994) and I don't notice a difference on the websites I usually visit.
For me EasyList (optimized) is enough.
Will look into EasyPrivacy vs Kees1958.

A good point about McAfee's privacy policy. Is Bitdefender's privacy policy better?

OK thanks, I will look into EL again the rule count makes it worth to investigate

In terms of privacy Netcraft is good, TrafficLight and MBAM are okay (with MBAM asking user okay for telemetry a little better)

It is archived, but you can still use it. I have played with AG DNS and it lacked the TLD protection of NextDNS, that is why I added those lists in the past. The non-latin list is still actual. Hagezi is updating the list, so it is better to use his list for most abused TLD's (mine is old).

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Ok, thanks to the feedback of @LennyFox I replaced McAfee WebAdvisor with Bitdefender TrafficLight (again).

New custom filters for uBlock Origin:

• AdGuard Annoyances filter (Optimized)
• Block non-latin Top Level Domains
• EasyList (Optimized)
• HaGeZi's The World's Most Abused TLDs
• Kees1958 most used EU US ad & tracking networks
• Kees1958 personal blocklist for cosmetic filter leftovers

Added Block non-latin Top Level Domains and removed EasyPrivacy (Optimized).

 

[Jan Willy]

About using Kees1958 filterlist in relation to EasyPrivacy the master himself explains as follows:

New Update - Kees1958 EU-US most used blocklist for uBlockOrigin and AdGuard

Hi, I added a new source and created a new blocklist version for the most used Ad & Tracking networks in the EU and US. The intended use of this is to combine it with two AdGuard filters and your local language EasyList filter. You can disable all other filters in AdGuard and uBlockOrigin...

malwaretips.com

 

[ForgottenSeer 107474]

About using Kees1958 filterlist in relation to EasyPrivacy the master himself explains as follows:

New Update - Kees1958 EU-US most used blocklist for uBlockOrigin and AdGuard

Hi, I added a new source and created a new blocklist version for the most used Ad & Tracking networks in the EU and US. The intended use of this is to combine it with two AdGuard filters and your local language EasyList filter. You can disable all other filters in AdGuard and uBlockOrigin...

malwaretips.com

You are right about smart TV, thank you I will create a third NextDNS free account blocling ads and telemetry of my smart TV on the router. Surprisingly what people can do using the DNS priority sequence (none = your ISP,in the router overrules none, On DNS settings on your PC overrule the router's DNS. DNS-over-HTTPS in your btowser overrules the DNS in your PC).

@Gandalf_The_Grey apologize for stealing your thread

 

[Jan Willy]

You are right about smart TV

Progressive insight: it's possible to change the dns-provider in the settings of the TV.

 

[lokamoka820]

Why you don't use dedicated uninstaller software life HiBit or Revo? Does O&O AppBuster remove leftovers like others?

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Why you don't use dedicated uninstaller software life HiBit or Revo? Does O&O AppBuster remove leftovers like others?

Probably not, but AppBuster also does not break things. The leftover removal can be tricky when removing too much.
AppBuster does warn you when you cannot remove an app because it is used by another app.
For me it feels safer then when using apps like HiBit or Revo.

 

[oldschool]

Probably not, but AppBuster also does not break things. The leftover removal can be tricky when removing too much.
AppBuster does warn you when you cannot remove an app because it is used by another app.
For me it feels safer then when using apps like HiBit or Revo.

Indeed, I think I'd use O&O products because it's an established company, if I used anything.

 

[lokamoka820]

Probably not, but AppBuster also does not break things. The leftover removal can be tricky when removing too much.
AppBuster does warn you when you cannot remove an app because it is used by another app.
For me it feels safer then when using apps like HiBit or Revo.

I didn't know that uninstallers may break things, is there any safe uninstaller? If not, what do you use to delete leftovers?
Do you use the registry cleaner in CCleaner?

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

In this case I use AppBuster to remove some Microsoft programs that came with Windows 11 and that Microsoft does not want me to remove. That is already questionable.
Removing leftovers could break Windows 11 if it removed the wrong things.

Another example is Comodo Firewall if you remove it with Revo the cleanup script that Comodo runs after the uninstall is removed as leftover and the result is that there are more leftovers with Revo than if you just let Comodo do the uninstall.

Leftovers are generally speaking harmless.

The only time they matter is when uninstalling AV software.
Then I use some other programs after the uninstall and reboot:

Troubleshoot - Not a real problem, but I think it is weird none the less?

Not even sure if I should post this here in this forum, but here it goes. Okay, over a month ago I uninstalled KSC Free because I wanted to try Ziggo Safe online from F-Secure. (And I like Ziggo Safe Online so far.) Now today I used a program called HiBit System Information so that I would have...

malwaretips.com

I do use the registry cleaner in CCleaner and had no issues with it.
But it is not really needed.

 

[lokamoka820]

Thanks, this is the greatest answer I get about uninstallers ever, I think I will never use them again, you are a life saver.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Great setup with WHHL

Hope you don't mind commenting on your uBO blocklists. Since you use Hagezi's most abused TLD blocklist, you might as well use (shameless plug) my non-latin character TLD blocklist (LINK) also I found the combined (optimized) blocklist of Adguard base plus Easylist (LINK) a little more effective than EL alone. Also when you use Kees1958 Mv2, the added value of EL privacy blocklist is minimal (in uBO logger you will see blocks because of the sequence of rule application, but when you disable EL privacy you probably won't notice a difference).

Protection of McFee is great, but privacy policy is not.

It seems that the AdGuard extension will change automatically from MV2 to MV3 when that will be needed.
So, I'm trying to do the same with the AdGuard extension.

Filters currently used:

AdGuard (built-in) English filter (optimized)
AdGuard (built-in) Dutch filter (optimized)
AdGuard (built-in) Cookie Notices filter (optimized)
AdGuard (built-in) Popups filter (optimized)
AdGuard (built-in) Other Annoyances filter (optimized)
Kees1958 most used EU US ad & tracking networks
Kees1958 personal blocklist for cosmetic filter leftovers
HaGeZi's The World's Most Abused TLDs

In total 64816 rules

 

[lokamoka820]

• O&O ShutUp10++: custom settings

Can you share your custom settings?

• O&O AppBuster: removed apps I don't want or need

What apps you remove? I'm asking because I want to know what is safe to remove.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

I used it to remove the Windows Web Experience Pack (no more widgets) and Phone Link.
Most other apps can be removed through apps & features.
An app that I previously removed but is actually useful is Get Help.
That app now runs the troubleshooters for when for example you have connectivity issues.
So, put together a list of apps you want to remove, Google them and when in doubt ask on MalwareTips.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Added DefenderUI, because:

DefenderUI significantly improves usability & unlocks many hidden security features of Microsoft Defender.

DefenderUI

defenderui.com

Switched from AdGuard to uBlock Origin Lite because AdGuard is at the moment not so good at blocking ads on YouTube.
No ads with uBlock Origin Lite and it is MV3 ready.
All my extensions are MV3 ready except Bitwarden but they are beta testing at the moment.

How many MV3 extensions do you use in your browsers?

Please also provide how many MV2 extensions you have installed. To perform verification in Chromium-based browsers follow the method in the image...

www.wilderssecurity.com

Bitwarden transitions from Manifest v2 to v3 | Bitwarden Blog

As Bitwarden upgraded its browser extension to Manifest v3, it required a significant architectural shift in structure, affecting how the extension operated. Here's how Bitwarden made the shift.

bitwarden.com

 

[lokamoka820]

No ads with uBlock Origin Lite and it is MV3 ready.

Which filtering mode do you use with uBlock Origin Lite?