Advanced Plus Security Minimalist's Security Configuration 2025

[Minimalist]

This my security configuration for 2024. I most likely won't change it much as I didn't in 2023.

 

[Kongo]

This my security configuration for 2024. I most likely won't change it much as I didn't in 2023.

Love the simplicity, but I just don't feel ready to do the same yet.
Just one thing you might want to change. HitmanPro's developement stagnated in the last few years, and it really isn't effective against all kinds of malicious scripts.
You might want to try X-Sec as the developer @xywcloud is a MalwareTips member, and as the product is quite effective: X-Sec Antivirus

 

[ForgottenSeer 100397]

Ah!... Behold the rare breed of individuals who avoid—the dreaded butt-crack exposure, hairstyles that could double as lethal weapons, clothes that resemble patchwork quilts, and blinding yellow socks and orange shoes—"The Beauty of Minimalism in Configurations!"

I appreciate the Minimalist vibe of your configuration!

 

[Minimalist]

Love the simplicity, but I just don't feel ready to do the same yet.
Just one thing you might want to change. HitmanPro's developement stagnated in the last few years, and it really isn't effective against all kinds of malicious scripts.
You might want to try X-Sec as the developer @xywcloud is a MalwareTips member, and as the product is quite effective: X-Sec Antivirus

Thank you for your suggestion. I will give it a try.

 

[Minimalist]

I updated info about my configuration for beginning of 2025. I did not make much changes in 2024 and I also don't have a plan to change much in 2025.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

I updated info about my configuration for beginning of 2025. I did not make much changes in 2024 and I also don't have a plan to change much in 2025.

Eset Nod32 Antivirus is great and should have lower performance impact then defender while having better detection , prevention
Your machine has great specs too so I'm certain you have a great experience

 

[Minimalist]

Eset Nod32 Antivirus is great and should have lower performance impact then defender while having better detection , prevention
Your machine has great specs too so I'm certain you have a great experience

I haven't tested how my system performs while using Defender for a long time now, but the last time I compared them Eset had lower impact on performance. Especially when performing file related operations Defender had quite an impact on performance. Yes, performance wise experience with Eset is excellent and I also like how I rarely get any false positive.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

I haven't tested how my system performs while using Defender for a long time now, but the last time I compared them Eset had lower impact on performance. Especially when performing file related operations Defender had quite an impact on performance. Yes, performance wise experience with Eset is excellent and I also like how I rarely get any false positive.

Yes it has lower false positive rate as well
Only thing I dislike is that the liveguard version is too expansive and that one feature I use on eset endpoint advanced called ransomware remediation is still only available for business clients

You can still tweak some stuff in defender to reduce it's performance usage and defender is lighter then some av software anyway and in most machines should be alright
And with your specs defender will be light

 

[Minimalist]

Yes it has lower false positive rate as well
Only thing I dislike is that the liveguard version is too expansive and that one feature I use on eset endpoint advanced called ransomware remediation is still only available for business clients

Personally I don't miss those options very much. I prefer to use just basic anti-malware features. That's why I use AV instead of IS even though I bought license for IS.
*** I know that IS doesn't include Liveguard and Ransomware remediation.

You can still tweak some stuff in defender to reduce it's performance usage and defender is lighter then some av software anyway and in most machines should be alright
And with your specs defender will be light

It was light most of the time. For me problems with slow performance were only with file related operations - backup speed and similar. At the time it seemed that Defender didn't have good "whitelisting" system and it would scan same data each time it was accessed, making the process of copying data slower. Maybe they improved that part of protection in past few years...

Either way I'm more than happy with Eset and will stay with them till 2027 (current expiration date of my license) unless they drop a ball in some future update.

 

[oldschool]

For me problems with slow performance were only with file related operations - backup speed and similar. At the time it seemed that Defender didn't have good "whitelisting" system and it would scan same data each time it was accessed, making the process of copying data slower.

Indeed, copying volumes of files has always been an issue for Defender. If they were going to change things, they would have done it by now. Oh well ....

 

[brambedkar59]

I like this config, simple and effective. Thanks for sharing

Indeed, copying volumes of files has always been an issue for Defender. If they were going to change things, they would have done it by now. Oh well ....

It's not even copying/moving, just browsing folders with lots of file will slow down system with defender.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

It's not even copying/moving, just browsing folders with lots of file will slow down system with defender.

Seeing that I rarely do this its not an issue for me.

 

[oldschool]

Seeing that I rarely do this its not an issue for me.

Same here.

 

[Minimalist]

I changed DNS servers that I use from Cloudflare to dns0.eu.

 

[Minimalist]

In last few months I:
- started using UCheck to check for applications updates,
- replaced HitmanPro with Sophos Scan & Clean,
- started using SiriusLLM as additional on demand scanner.

 

[Minimalist]

I replaced Eset Nod32 Antivirus with McAfee Internet Security. I like it so far

 

[Szellem]

I replaced Eset Nod32 Antivirus with McAfee Internet Security. I like it so far

You could describe your personal experience with it. I think it would be useful for others.

 

[Minimalist]

You could describe your personal experience with it. I think it would be useful for others.

Yes, no problems.

Here are few findings from last couple of days using it:

Positives:
- quick and simple install
- minimal uncomplicated interface
- overall small impact on system performance (opening files, applications and webpages). First time startup of specific app can be slower (probably because of analysis) but all further application startups are quick.

Neutrals:
- almost nothing to configure. Totally opposite of Eset. For instance: for real time scanning you can only disable it or add individual files to exclusion.
- detection rate: can't comment on this since I don't do malware testing and hardly ever encounter malware in day-to-day computing.

Negatives:
- full scan. It will scan ALL data on your system. For me scan took more than 8 hours (compared to Eset's 20 minutes). It was thoroughly scanning everything: Macrium backup files, video files, VHD files from virtual machines... It would be nice if full scan would be content aware and scan only potentially dangerous files.
- trial license. You need to provide payment data if you want to test their software.
- it seems a little more prone to false positives than Eset

Missing options:
- scan without cleaning. Full scan will automatically clean any infection it finds. For me it found something suspicious in my 80 GB VHD file and moved the whole file to quarantine. Luckily, I had enough free space on C partition otherwise I don't know how that would end. Restore from quarantine solved the problem and VHD file was still usable.
- option to configure how to react on malware detection and let user choose what to do.
- option to add folders to exclusion list.

This is my experience of using McAfee.

 

[Minimalist]

OK, and this

 

[Szellem]

Yes, no problems.

Here are few findings from last couple of days using it:

Positives:
- quick and simple install
- minimal uncomplicated interface
- overall small impact on system performance (opening files, applications and webpages). First time startup of specific app can be slower (probably because of analysis) but all further application startups are quick.

Neutrals:
- almost nothing to configure. Totally opposite of Eset. For instance: for real time scanning you can only disable it or add individual files to exclusion.
- detection rate: can't comment on this since I don't do malware testing and hardly ever encounter malware in day-to-day computing.

Negatives:
- full scan. It will scan ALL data on your system. For me scan took more than 8 hours (compared to Eset's 20 minutes). It was thoroughly scanning everything: Macrium backup files, video files, VHD files from virtual machines... It would be nice if full scan would be content aware and scan only potentially dangerous data files.
- trial license. You need to provide payment data if you want to test their software.
- it seems a little more prone to false positives than Eset

Missing options:
- scan without cleaning. Full scan will automatically clean any infection it finds. For me it found something suspicious in my 80 GB VHD file and moved the whole file to quarantine. Luckily, I had enough free space on C partition otherwise I don't know how that would end. Restore from quarantine solved the problem and VHD file was still usable.
- option to configure how to react on malware detection and let user choose what to do.
- option to add folders to exclusion list.

This is my experience of using McAfee.

Thank you very much for your reply. That was very detailed.
Could you show me a screenshot of what is available to you under the Scam Protection menu?