Advanced Plus Security Lightning_Brian's 2020 Security Config

[Lightning_Brian]

Hello Everyone at MT!

Hope everyone is having a great day! Here is my 2020 build. I keep fairly current without many changes compared to my last update from Nov. 2019. I will highlight some changes in the change log section so you can see what I have changed in the last few months.

Let me know your thoughts of my setup!

Thanks!
Brian

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Hello Everyone!

Additional notes here:

As noted in my previous 2019 build -- VDS will remain in the "active" department, but I don't always have it "activated" in the since of real time - more or less 60-40% here. Dan has done some great work on that software and I totally support him. Dan's the man!

Bit Note: Norton has remained in my setup as the family suite of BitDefender can cause issues if someone decides to delete another family member's computer in the console... Still looking into moving over to BitDefender though. I use BD in my enterprise for my enterprise security. BD GravityZone is a nice security suite especially with all of the add-ons that and other nifty stuff BD has that Norton does not.

Cheers friends!
Brian

 

[Moonhorse]

Nice collection of system utilities to check out

Norton or bitdefender, those are both good enough so just go with the family suite ( control center & dashboard) you feel most comfortable to work with

 

[harlan4096]

Norton Security Premium (paid - latest release) + VoodooShield Premium (paid - latest release) => overkill

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Norton Security Premium (paid - latest release) + VoodooShield Premium (paid - latest release) => overkill

Hi @harlan4096 ! Please note as I have said above VDS will remain in the "active" department, but I don't always have it "activated" in the since of real time - more or less we are looking at Norton being activated 60% or more of the time. Now if both are on at the same time I would say it is overkill. haha With VoodooShield on I have Norton in "off"/disabled mode.

Nice collection of system utilities to check out

Norton or bitdefender, those are both good enough so just go with the family suite ( control center & dashboard) you feel most comfortable to work with

Thanks @Moonhorse ! Indeed I have quite a few utilities for sure. All have their purpose in my technology tool chest I would say. I have paid some serious $$$$$ for the tools that are paid which is quite a few.

Norton and BD are really tight as far as security. I would go with BD if the control center didn't give others in the family the capabilities to delete other computers. Therefore, Norton it is - for now at least. Would be nice if BD had a control center similar to GravityZone for licensing - that way other family members cannot play around with licensing of computers.

~Brian

 

[EndangeredPootis]

A few things I wanna mention:

This is huge overkill, you have 7 programs with real time protection, Glasswire, Norton, VDS, Shadow Defender, Adguard, Zemana Antilogger and Malwarebytes Premium, and if you though you have disabled some of these, whats the point of paying for them?

You dont need the adguard extension if you have adguard for desktop.

You dont need multiplie data backup/restore utilities.

 

[Zorro]

This is huge overkill, you have 7 programs with real time protection, Glasswire, Norton, VDS, Shadow Defender, Adguard, Zemana Antilogger and Malwarebytes Premium, and if you though you have disabled some of these, whats the point of paying for them?

With so much RAM, not 7, but 27 real-time protection programs can be launched Another question is how to resolve program conflicts, if any.

 

[cliffspab]

A few things I wanna mention:

This is huge overkill, you have 7 programs with real time protection, Glasswire, Norton, VDS, Shadow Defender, Adguard, Zemana Antilogger and Malwarebytes Premium, and if you though you have disabled some of these, whats the point of paying for them?

You dont need the adguard extension if you have adguard for desktop.

You dont need multiplie data backup/restore utilities.

FYI The Adguard extension switches to Integration mode if you have the desktop software and you can use it instead of the Assistant if you wish.

 

[show-Zi]

I am interested in how to use multiple backup software. Isn't it a burden to manage things such as capacity?

 

[HarborFront]

You run VMWare WorkStation Pro, Sandboxie and Shadow Defender together as triple protection?

Actually, if you always use VMWare Workstation Pro you can ignore the other 2

 

[Lightning_Brian]

A few things I wanna mention:

This is huge overkill, you have 7 programs with real time protection, Glasswire, Norton, VDS, Shadow Defender, Adguard, Zemana Antilogger and Malwarebytes Premium, and if you though you have disabled some of these, whats the point of paying for them?

You dont need the adguard extension if you have adguard for desktop.

You dont need multiplie data backup/restore utilities.

Hello @EndangeredPootis !

Thanks for reaching out. Are you aware how Glasswire differs from the other programs? I expanded upon this in my 2019 posting. Here is some more information here about Glasswire: GlassWire Network Security Monitor & Firewall Tool Features

The feature set of Glasswire is what makes this software super cool and in my humble opinion quite excellent. Yeah, some software that I do own may overlap with Glasswire, but the overall vast feature set does not.

Now this may not happen too often, but you can understand why I take the precautions that I do. Have a read here: Discuss - A malware defeating a Sandbox, a VM and an AV - Case Study.

I will let you all in on a fact: a few of the programs that is marked as "PAID" I actually received directly from the manufacture a lifetime license for testing that I have done with them or though various bug reports or even through a very short lived promotion that offered lifetime licenses. I believe I may have mentioned this in my other configurations as well.

While I can get your point about AdGuard and understand it. For me, having both turned on and working in tandem has never caused any issues.

As for the "You dont need multiplie data backup/restore utilities." I would have to say if I didn't have a backup fail on me many years ago I would agree. However, until you get burned once you will never fully appreciate having more than one backup utility. I got burned using EaseUS. I'm not knocking the software at all by any means, but one of the backups failed miserably. Luckily I didn't lose much data at all - in fact quite little. However, it was the experience of the backup failing that lead me down the road of using more than one backup software. Here is the posting I had a while back about backup software: SECURE: Complete - Lightning_Brian's 2019 Security Config.

Here is what I said in that posting:

So someone out there is bound to say "Brian why in the world do you use so many backup tools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????" Simple answer: Trust issues.... LOL! When you get burned once....Youch!! You wouldn't want that to ever happen again. I keep a good rolling backup. Macrium Reflect for a full system and data at least once a week. Acronis True Image - for a full system and data backup at least a different day of the week. AOMEI Backuppper Pro - for a full system and data backup at least a different day of the week.

I don't want to go into great detail what is backed up each day by each application, but I use two applications for continual backup to a rather large 256 GB double encrypted USB 3.1 flash drive. For a full data backup I have a rather large external drive that I use for backups and from there that gets duplicated out in a 3 + 2 + 1 format with high levels of encryption.

 

[Lightning_Brian]

@show-Zi - friend - I hope the above post helps answer your questions about my backup methods.

@HarborFront Glad you now know why I use what I use! haha Link: Discuss - A malware defeating a Sandbox, a VM and an AV - Case Study. Granted I hope that scenario never happens to anyone.

With so much RAM, not 7, but 27 real-time protection programs can be launched Another question is how to resolve program conflicts, if any.

@SFox ,

I wouldn't say 27 real-time protection software is launched all at once at the same time. The main security software that is consistently running is Norton 360. Now for the rest of the software would be utilities. The main utilities that I consistently have running is AdGuard and GlassWire Network Security. Of course I have my favorite VPNs out there running nearly 24/7 on the routing level. The rest of the software is used on a need to be used basis. Some used more often than others, but again I wouldn't say 27 real-time protection programs would be accurate by any means.. However, we are all entitled to our own opinions!

To be honest I do not run into any program conflicts as much of the programs do things differently or are not running at the same time at all. If everything was running at the same time - lets say backup programs - I would say we would run into some serious issues. Same with MalwareBytes and Norton 360 or my other third party scanning tools I am using. There is a use case for all of them, but using them improperly can cause massive issues. Some folks will argue that MB and Norton 360 are good to be used in a active-active state (at the same time). I could agree with them in some scenarios, but other scenarios (mostly) I would say its best to have just one (1) real time AV software at any point of time.

FYI The Adguard extension switches to Integration mode if you have the desktop software and you can use it instead of the Assistant if you wish.

Very true @cliffspab ! Integration between the two is nice. Hence why I use the two. Never had issues using both all these years.


Hope I helped answer all of your questions thus far MT! Holler if you have other questions.

~Brian

 

[Zorro]

I could be wrong, but it seems that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware already includes the functionality of AdwCleaner by Malwarebytes. Why then do you need to keep AdwCleaner by Malwarebytes in the system? Why use Norton Power Eraser (NPE) if Norton Security Premium is already installed on your system? Zemana Antilogger Premium also seems redundant, given that the system has Norton Security Premium. Zemana AntiMalware (Portable & Free) is not needed when Zemana Antilogger Premium is installed, since Premium includes all the functionality of Portable & Free.

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Hi Everyone!

Made some major changes to my configuration from the last time I updated my post. Please see below:

Major Changes:

• Upgraded to Windows 10 2004
• Upgraded to the latest release of Acronis True Image 2020 (paid and latest release - perpetual license for v2020)
• Upgraded to the latest release of Adguard Premium which is v7.4.2 (paid - latest release - lifetime license)
• Upgraded to the latest release of AOMEI Backupper Pro which is v5.8 (paid - latest release)
• Upgraded to the latest release of AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager Pro Edition which is v8.8 (paid - latest stable - lifetime license)
• Upgraded to the latest release of AOMEI Parition Assistant Pro Edition which is v8.8 (paid - latest stable - lifetime license)
• Upgraded to the latest release of Glary Utilities PRO which is v5.146.0.172 (paid and latest release)
• Upgraded to the latest release of GlassWire Elite which is v2.2.210 (paid - latest release/stable)
• Upgraded to the latest release of Hard Disk Sentinel Pro which is v5.61 (paid - latest release - lifetime license)
• Revo Uninstaller v4 which is on the release of 4.3.3 (Pro Portable - Paid - Paid for 2 years of updates!)
• viBoot from Macrium Reflect to release of v7.2.4971 (free - latest stable)
• Upgraded to the latest release of VMware Workstation Pro 15 to release v15.5 (paid - latest release - perpetual license for v15)
• Upgraded to the latest release of VoodooShield Premium which is v5.7x
• Upgraded to the latest release of Sticky Password which is v8.2.3.43
• Upgraded to the latest release of RoboForm for Business which is v8.9.0.0

Currently looking at the following (may discontinue using):

• SecureMyBit DHScan – Is this still being developed or is it discontinued?
• Zemana AntiMalware (Portable & Free) – Any development from the latest release which was from a while back?
• Upgraded to the latest release of Sandboxie (latest release) – not liking how development is going…or lack thereof. Seems like it is getting shut down in a way. Thoughts?

Discontinued use of the following:

• Malwarebytes JRT (Portable & Free & Discontinued [still good for finding nasty stuff, but the end of life was April 26, 2018])
• AdwCleaner by Malwarebytes – will revisit at a later date...maybe..??
• Zemana Antilogger Premium (paid - latest release - using as needed) – Is this still being developed or is it discontinued?

@JM Safe do you know what development may be going on for Zemana? Also, are you still developing your own tools such as DHScan bro?

Thoughts, questions, or what you'd like to know more of let me know!
~Brian

 

[harlan4096]

I guess SecureMyBit DHScan and all Zemana products are discontinued... also I think @JM Safe stopped working for Zemana long ago...

 

[jerzy601]

tremendous overkill with system protection tools
and also with copying programs, it is strange that there are no problems with compatibility.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

You have as periodic scanners: Norton Power Eraser, Emsisoft Emergency Kit and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
According to @cruelsister and AV Test Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool would be a better option.

Here Are the Best Helpers After a Malware Attack

No matter how devastating an attack on a Windows PC: the initial response is to attempt a repair. But which software package is capable of reliably doing so? AV-TEST tested 7 security solutions and 4 special tools.

www.av-test.org

Does NPE make sense with Norton Security Premium as real time protection?
I would ask the same question for Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool if you were running a Kaspersky solution real time.
Which are the most efficient second option scanners?
Can the HUB testers, @cruelsister and other members give their opinion on that?

 

[silversurfer]

You have as periodic scanners: Norton Power Eraser, Emsisoft Emergency Kit and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
According to @cruelsister and AV Test Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool would be a better option.

Here Are the Best Helpers After a Malware Attack

No matter how devastating an attack on a Windows PC: the initial response is to attempt a repair. But which software package is capable of reliably doing so? AV-TEST tested 7 security solutions and 4 special tools.

www.av-test.org

Does NPE make sense with Norton Security Premium as real time protection?
I would ask the same question for Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool if you were running a Kaspersky solution real time.
Which are the most efficient second option scanners?
Can the HUB testers, @cruelsister and other members give their opinion on that?

You are right, using the same vendor as AV and as "periodic scanner" doesn't makes sense, just performing a quick-scan by your AV!

NPE, EKK, both are able to detect suspicious/malicious scripts, but HitmanPro is unable to scan files like that...

 

[HarborFront]

tremendous overkill with system protection tools
and also with copying programs, it is strange that there are no problems with compatibility.

I retracted my above post #10 in some other thread posted elsewhere because I'm also using Shadow Defender/Sandboxie/VirtualBox. BTW, he is also into testing malware so having the aforementioned software could be a necessity in his case.

As for me I'm not into mlaware testing. However, I use

Shadow Defender to protect my entire system
Sandboxie to sandbox applications like browsers, MS Office, SumatraPDF Reader, SMPlayer etc when I'm using my Windows host machine
VirtualBox when I run Linux OSes like Linux Mint Mate, Linux Manjaro etc

Not too much I would say

 

[fabiobr]

Hi @harlan4096 ! Please note as I have said above VDS will remain in the "active" department, but I don't always have it "activated" in the since of real time - more or less we are looking at Norton being activated 60% or more of the time. Now if both are on at the same time I would say it is overkill. haha With VoodooShield on I have Norton in "off"/disabled mode.



Thanks @Moonhorse ! Indeed I have quite a few utilities for sure. All have their purpose in my technology tool chest I would say. I have paid some serious $$$$$ for the tools that are paid which is quite a few.

Norton and BD are really tight as far as security. I would go with BD if the control center didn't give others in the family the capabilities to delete other computers. Therefore, Norton it is - for now at least. Would be nice if BD had a control center similar to GravityZone for licensing - that way other family members cannot play around with licensing of computers.

~Brian

You give access to BD Central to others family members?