Lightning_Brian's 2017 Security Config

[Lightning_Brian]

Hello Everyone,
Here is my security setup!

I am open to any and all questions, comments, or concerns about my security configuration. I haven't been infected with my current security configuration for many years as I keep everything locked down really good.

I would like to get your opinion about Aomei Backupper Standard vs Professional as I have been looking at buying a lifetime license of the professional version for this software for a while. Aomei seems to be making a lot of great progress with their software and I am quite impressed! Some of you may be wondering why I have three backup methods. I have used Clonezilla for over a decade now and I find it hard to part with this as it has saved me in the past a couple of times when my system went goofy. I use Acronis True Image 2017, because I got a free license for it a long time ago from Newegg. As for Aomei Backupper I have been using this software for a few years now and I enjoy using it as a fail-safe in case the other two backups do not work. I am not one to trust every backup even if there is a high level of verification set in place. I store my backups in a large external hard drive, and with a cloud service. I keep my cloud backups highly secure. My online backups are secured with 256-bit encryption with a minimum of 32 character password to secure my backups even further. In other words, I encrypt everything with 256-bit encryption and password protect the encrypted backup. I then have all of my manual backups updated to the cloud with 256-bit encryption to the online cloud provider which is then stored in their own 256-bit encryption. I do not like to have my information out in the open with any cloud service provider as the information could be 'sniffed' or data mined.

Please let me know if you'd like me to change any of my on demand scanners as I do have quite a few. I do not use all of them at once, but I do like to use each one at least once a month to check everything out. I use JRT, and AdwCleaner once a week to double check Norton Security, and Malwarebytes Pro (Lifetime). Nothing can easily squeak by my security configuration as I keep everything locked down really good with custom settings and scanning.

Does anyone know if VoodooShield offers any lifetime licenses? I have been using the free version for a long time, but if they offer a lifetime license I would be quite interested in this!

As of lately I have been reading that Malwarebytes Pro isn't getting as top notch protection scores as they have in the past. I have three lifetime "professional" licenses that I purchased a long time ago. What are your thoughts about Malwarebytes Pro? I have been a big fan for many years, but after doing some extensive reading about this software it seems as though their 3.xx isn't on par with the older versions.

Thanks in advance for providing me with your thoughts and insight!

Sincerely,
Lightning_Brian

 

[The paranoid one]

You have a bunker, an authentic defensive arsenal
I prefer other passwords managers like LastPass, Bitwarden or KeePass. All three are free, though KeePass is not so comfortable. I am now using Bitwarden and I really like it.
A paranoid like me only can say that I really like your configuration.
One question and really not very important, just out of curiosity: Voodooshield free or paid?
Thanks for sharing

 

[Lightning_Brian]

You have a bunker, an authentic defensive arsenal
I prefer other passwords managers like LastPass, Bitwarden or KeePass. All three are free, though KeePass is not so comfortable. I am now using Bitwarden and I really like it.
A paranoid like me only can say that I really like your configuration.
One question and really not very important, just out of curiosity: Voodooshield free or paid?
Thanks for sharing

Hello The paranoid one,

Thank you for your reply!

Indeed, I am quite paranoid! haha Thank you for your insight. I like to keep everything locked down as much as possible wherever possible.

Thanks for your insight on password managers. I thought about LastPass many times, but I cannot get over the fact the company had information exposed through various exploits and 'hacks' throughout the company's existence. I know LastPass is not like how it used to be, but being a security guru I don't like going with solutions that have had some extensive problems in the past. I believe Roboform Everywhere is a nice password manager. In addition to this, Roboform has never been hacked to the best of my knowledge. Roboform has a good long standing history when it comes to password managers as well. While it may not be as robust as LastPass I am more inclined to use a service that is tried and true for many years without any security over lapses. Bitwarden looks intriguing and I have done extensive research on this password manager in the past. I'll have to look into using this again! Thank you for your recommendation!

Currently, I am using Voodooshield free. At the moment, I do not believe my current security config warrants the paid version. However, I am open to moving towards the paid version of Voodooshield if they have any lifetime licensing or free licensing that doesn't expire. Do you know if lifetime licensing exists? From my research that I have done I cannot find anything that states that Voodooshield offers such licensing.

 

[The paranoid one]

Hello The paranoid one,

Thank you for your reply!

Indeed, I am quite paranoid! haha Thank you for your insight. I like to keep everything locked down as much as possible wherever possible.

Thanks for your insight on password managers. I thought about LastPass many times, but I cannot get over the fact the company had information exposed through various exploits and 'hacks' throughout the company's existence. I know LastPass is not like how it used to be, but being a security guru I don't like going with solutions that have had some extensive problems in the past. I believe Roboform Everywhere is a nice password manager. In addition to this, Roboform has never been hacked to the best of my knowledge. Roboform has a good long standing history when it comes to password managers as well. While it may not be as robust as LastPass I am more inclined to use a service that is tried and true for man years without any security over lapses. Bitwarden looks intriguing and I have done extensive research on this password manager in the past. I'll have to look into using this again! Thank you for your recommendation!

Currently, I am using Voodooshield free. At the moment, I do not believe my current security config warrants the paid version. However, I am open to moving towards the paid version of Voodooshield if they have any lifetime licensing or free licensing that doesn't expire. Do you know if lifetime licensing exists? From my research that I have done I cannot find anything that states that Voodooshield offers such licensing.

Thanks for your response bro in paranoia. I think as long as you look at information about Bitwarden, I'll do the same with Roboform, hahaha, it's true.
About the license, I think the best is to ask the developer directly. I can tell you that he is certainly a very kind person. @danb
Nice to meet you

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Thanks for your response bro in paranoia. I think as long as you look at information about Bitwarden, I'll do the same with Roboform, hahaha, it's true.
On the license, I think it is best to ask the developer directly. I can tell you that he is certainly a very kind person. @danb
Nice to meet you

Thanks for the contact information for danb I have sent him a message about this. I'll have look into Bitwarden!

Nice to meet you as well The paranoid one!

 

[frogboy]

Looks good to me, nothing to add here.

Thanks for sharing your config with us here at MT.

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Looks good to me, nothing to add here.

Thanks for sharing your config with us here at MT.

@frogboy Thanks! I am happy to share my config here at MT.

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone know if there is a large difference between uBlock Origin vs Adguard Premium? I know Adguard Premium costs quite a bit of money, but I have been on the fence (about to jump) with regards to Adguard Premium. I have heard a lot of great things about Adguard and the software continues to improve.

Thanks!

 

[frogboy]

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone know if there is a large difference between uBlock Origin vs Adguard Premium? I know Adguard Premium costs quite a bit of money, but I have been on the fence (about to jump) with regards to Adguard Premium. I have heard a lot of great things about Adguard and the software continues to improve.

Thanks!

Just use uBlock origin as it is free and you can add your own custom filters quite easily.

A good list can be found here. Logethica's Free Security Configuration

 

[Plebman123]

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone know if there is a large difference between uBlock Origin vs Adguard Premium? I know Adguard Premium costs quite a bit of money, but I have been on the fence (about to jump) with regards to Adguard Premium. I have heard a lot of great things about Adguard and the software continues to improve.

Thanks!

"
uBlock Origin is superior because you can easily add more block lists.

It's open source and does not require installation of Win32 programs on your computer.

It also allows you to select specific elements on a website and manually block them.

It has an advanced feature that dynamically finds and blocks elements that are being loaded on your browser. You can pick which scripts you want to allow or block.

uBlock's lists are being maintained by popular and large companies specialised in ad and tracker blocking. uBlock team does not maintain any lists.

uBlock lets you ad more HOST files to block ads.

uBlock allows you to manually create rules.

uBlock allows you to manually white-list ads on specific sites, if you want to support the site.

uBlock should be better on memory than AdGuard.

I'm not 100% sure how AdGuard's malware protection works, but I think it sends every single visited site URL to their servers to check for malware. This is a huge privacy issue.

AdGuard is freemium. uBlock is free." Reddit Thread: Adguard Adblocker or uBlock Origin? • r/chrome

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Just use uBlock origin as it is free and you can add your own custom filters quite easily.

A good list can be found here. Logethica's Free Security Configuration

@frogboy Thanks for your post. Yes, the custom filters is quite nice! I like making these filters and as you have pointed Adguard does not have this option.

"
uBlock Origin is superior because you can easily add more block lists.

It's open source and does not require installation of Win32 programs on your computer.

It also allows you to select specific elements on a website and manually block them.

It has an advanced feature that dynamically finds and blocks elements that are being loaded on your browser. You can pick which scripts you want to allow or block.

uBlock's lists are being maintained by popular and large companies specialised in ad and tracker blocking. uBlock team does not maintain any lists.

uBlock lets you ad more HOST files to block ads.

uBlock allows you to manually create rules.

uBlock allows you to manually white-list ads on specific sites, if you want to support the site.

uBlock should be better on memory than AdGuard.

I'm not 100% sure how AdGuard's malware protection works, but I think it sends every single visited site URL to their servers to check for malware. This is a huge privacy issue.

AdGuard is freemium. uBlock is free." Reddit Thread: Adguard Adblocker or uBlock Origin? • r/chrome

@Plebman123 Thanks for pointing out all of the differences between Adguard and uBlock! I have always been battling the fact that Adguard sends every single visited site URL to their servers and then back out to the end user. Who knows what they are all doing with the data (perhaps data mining) over there! Even if they do not keep the data this still is a bit of an issue with privacy in my humble opinion. I agree this would be a rather large privacy issue that I am not fond of at all. Some of my security friends swear by their software, but I have been using uBlock for a long time. I am glad I have stuck with this software. I have experimented with memory aspect between uBlock and Adguard. I can confirm the memory usage is far less with uBlock compared to Adguard. This could go back to the fact that every URL is being sent and received by their servers before getting processed through.

 

[Exterminator]

VoodooShield does offer lifetime licenses.
Probably do not need MBAM Pro in real time.
Secure Windows 10 config! Thanks for sharing it with us

 

[Lightning_Brian]

VoodooShield does offer lifetime licenses.
Probably do not need Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro in real time.
Secure Windows 10 config! Thanks for sharing it with us

VoodooShild does offer lifetime licencing? Great!! Can you point me to how I could obtain these licences?

Yes, I believe Malwarebytes may be a bit overkill, but I have everything configured so that neither Norton nor Malwarebytes conflict with one another.

Thanks for the reply Exterminator!

 

[AnonMan]

Good config you got there.

Does anyone know if there is a large difference between uBlock Origin vs Adguard Premium?

A very big difference is uBlock origin can only block ads in web browser, unlike adguard premium which can block ads on every apps (like utorrent, spotify if you use free account, etc...). But i recommend you to just use uBlock origin as you already use it.

VoodooShild does offer lifetime licencing? Great!! Can you point me to how I could obtain these licences?

AFAIK, you need to email the dev himself to obtain lifetime license for voodooshield.

 

[JM Safe]

Good config.

You are protected.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Good config you got there.

A very big difference is uBlock origin can only block ads in web browser, unlike adguard premium which can block ads on every apps (like utorrent, spotify if you use free account, etc...). But i recommend you to just use uBlock origin as you already use it.

AFAIK, you need to email the dev himself to obtain lifetime license for voodooshield.

@AnonMan Thank you for your reply. Agreed uBlock origin can only block ads in the web browser which is not like Adguard Premium. I don't use any apps that have ads in them which is probably a saving grace, because that cuts down in a lot of tracking cookies. I also use Windscribe VPN which has allowed me to cut tracking cookies, trackers, and has a really nice firewall (I call it a kill switch) that doesn't allow an IP leak. The double VPN with Windscribe through a web browser on the physical machine is even better.

I have reached out to the dev to ask about a lifetime license for VoodooShield. VoodooShield is amazing! I use it on both my desktop and laptop. Personally, if I could only have a few security tools this would always rank on top of the list.

~ Lightning_Brian

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Good config.

You are protected.

Thanks for sharing.

@JM Security Thank you! I strive to keep my system locked down like a 'bunker' as @The paranoid one has said.

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Hello Everyone,

I am sure all of you have noticed I have three different backup methods. The primary backup software I use is a full clone of my PC through Clonezilla. The second type of backup software that I use is Acronis True Image 2017 (received a free key from Newegg a while back through a mail in rebate) for a full clone of my computer, incremental backups, differential backups, and manual backups. Lastly, I use Aomei Backupper Standard (free version) for many years for manual backups.

This is just a general question.... I have been using Aomei Backupper for many years now (almost from the point of the creation of the software). What are your thoughts about Aomei Backupper Professional? Here is an overall comparison that I have been looking at the following link: Compare Different Editions of AOMEI Backupper

Do you use the professional version? Let me know your thoughts on this software! I have been quite interested in upgrading to the professional lifetime version. By the way, does anyone know of anything that is similar to Clonezilla as far as restoring? What I mean by this - for restore purposes can you think of any software or freeware that is like Clonezilla that allows you to restore from a flash drive or DVD media? I know Acronis offers this feature, but I am unsure about Aomei. With large companies partnered with Aomei, I am highly interested in moving towards their professional version. Some large companies that took me by surprise are GM, CISCO, City, FedEx, and Samsung!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and insight!

~Lightning_Brian

 

[LukeLovesSecurity]

Nice configuration

Considering Malwarebytes went completely downhill with their signatures, I don't see any reason to have the paid version. I would replace it with Zemana and use Malwarebytes for On-Demand or even not at all. Xvirus has a small team of people and even they do better than Malwarebytes (To their credit).

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Hello Everyone,

I have made some minor changes to my security configuration. After much debate, I have changed my password manager. I am now using Sticky Password Premium. I recently purchased the lifetime version of this password manager after having used a free promotional offer for the past few weeks. I enjoy using this password manager. I am not going to expand on how I am keeping my passwords, but I will tell you this: I'm paranoid a bit so this will give you some clue to how I'm storing my passwords.

Changes I'm looking into:

Sandboxie! What are your thoughts about purchasing a lifetime license for this great software? Do you believe it is worth it?

Change Log:

A few days ago I purchased Shadow Defender for my laptop. Man, this is great software! I know it may be a bit overkill for my setup, but I'm really enjoying it. Lifetime free updates, upgrades etc for the price they are selling it for is great.

I have also purchased Hard Disk Sentinel 5.01 PRO lifetime license Family Edition for all of my computers. This is great software to have to alert me of changing signs of my SSDs and HDDs. This is yet another great purchase that I have recently made that I really like. I had 1 license, but I figured I'd go for the Family Licence while it was being offered for $28 dollars.

I'm going to be adding WiseCare 365. After the whole CCleaner issue, I'm exploring this software to add to my to my system utilities.

Lots of changes, but great changes for security reasons!

Let me know your thoughts.

Lightning_Brian

 

[Lightning_Brian]

@The paranoid one I have made decsion to go with Sticky Password Premium after seeing the lifetime version highly discounted on a particular website. I couldn't pass it up and it has lots of nice features that RoboForm doesn't have.

I have made some other changes too. Feel free to see the change log.