mjgh06 Security Config

mjgh06

New Member
Thread author
Sep 4, 2012
1
Okay so I've never used a virus scanner because I've only used trusted sites I visit most often. Somehow, I got ran over by the File Recovery Virus last night. Thankfully I new it was a virus and didn't click or accept any of their little boxes. I found the malware tip for regrouping and Today, I have gone through the following to remove virus and restore system:
RKill
Hitman Pro
RogueKiller
Unhide
Kaspersky Virus Removal (still running for 5hours so far)
Next will be Eset online scanner

I was using IE8 as my main browser, but after this fiasco I have gone to Firefox with the WOT, LastPass, and Adblock Plus add-ons. My questions are what free real time protection is best to use from now on, and what else can I do to further protect my online security?
 

Jack

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 24, 2011
9,378
RE: Need info for Security Config

Hello mjgh,
Let me guess what antivirus you were running ..... McAfee?? :)
Lets build for you a solid security configuration:
Real-time protection
If you are looking for a free and good security product than in my opinion,you have two good choices:
1.Comodo Internet Security this is a fully featured suite which will bring a new level of security on your computer - http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/free-internet-security.php
You can find a good review here : http://malwaretips.com/Thread-Review-Comodo-Internet-Security-Premium-5-10 .
OR
2.Avast Antivirus 7 Free - A very solid with multiple layers of protection antivirus. - http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
You can find a good review here : http://malwaretips.com/Thread-Review-avast-Free-Antivirus
You can search our Reviews Section and you'll find more reviews and video test on this two products.
Also there are some good paid suites like Norton Internet Security,Kaspersky Internet Security or ESET Smart Security which you can give it a try as all have free and extended trails. - http://malwaretips.com/Thread-Promo-antivirus-promo-still-working-mix-of-antivirus-choose-one

No matter what security products are you using,if you practice a smart online behavior then you should really decrees your chances of getting infected. You can read some tips on how to avoid infections here: http://malwaretips.com/Thread-5-easy-tips-to-avoid-infections

Browser protection

Internet Explorer is a very target browser by the cyber criminals so my suggestion here would be to use either Firefox or Google Chrome because both are very often updated and have very strong protection layers.
My option here would be Google Chrome, mainly because it uses sandboxes to protect your sessions.


I would suggest also that you add the following addons to your browser:
Web of trust - site advisor,which can help you a lot when you're browsing the Internet.
Long story short...If it's red or yellow just avoid that website...
WOT (Free) - link
To help you avoid malicious sites you can use Web of Trust (WOT) a website rating browser plugin. After you add it to your browser make sure you only visit websites rated "Green" by WOT

Adblocker - an adblocker
For Firefox
Adblock Plus (Free) - link
Adblock is a content-filtering extension for Mozilla Firefox- and Mozilla Application Suite-based web browsers. Adblock allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed.
For Chrome
Adblock Plus for Google Chrome (Free) - link
Adblock Plus for Google Chrome is a content-filtering extension for Google Chrome. Adblock allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed.

On demand scanners

You should always upload all your downloads on virustotal.com and perform a scan with your on-demand to be checked for malware!

VTUploader (Free) - link
To upload a file to VirusTotal, you can visit the main analysis site, click the Browse button to select a file from your hard drive, and then click the Send file button. You can make this process even easier with the free VirusTotal Uploader utility. After installing it, you can simply right-click any file under 20MB and choose "VirusTotal" from the Send To Windows menu. The scan results will display in your browser as usual.

Hitman Pro (Trial ) - link
An on-demand scanner using multiple anti-malware engines and cloud technology. It offers unlimited free scanning but once you use it to remove detected malware it switches to a 30-day trial version. I recommend using it after you've scanned your hard-drive with the other products you have installed

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free (Free)- link
This product utilizes Malwarebytes powerful technology to detect and remove all traces of malware including worms, trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware and more.




Virtualization:
Even if you submitted a file to virustotal.com and it said that it's clean , you'll need to run it in virtual environment because sometimes infection can be so new that security vendors don't have signs for it.

Virtualization software will allow you to browse the web or run another application in a completely safe environment. This is especially useful when visiting high-risk web sites, whether accidentally or deliberately, as the Web browser will be completely contained within the virtual enviroment, preventing any damage to your computer.
A sandbox can also be used to run any other applications which you think may be suspect - you can run the program inside the sandbox to determine whether or not it is safe while remaining completely protected against any malicious actions that it may try to carry out.
I strongly advise you to install Sandboxie and use it for when you're browsing the Internet or running shady/unknown programs.
Alternately you can try BufferZone PRO (Free) , another great virtualization software.
Sandboxie (Free/Paid) - link
Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer.




Always run suspicious of freshly downloaded files in a Sandboxie to verify that he download isn't compromised!Sandboxie will replicate perfectly your operating system so all the files should run without any problems in it.



PS. WELCOME TO malwaretips.com
 
Last edited:
P

Plexx

RE: Need info for Security Config

Jack pretty much covered it all.

Only think I would add is:
On demand scanner: Emsisoft Emergency Kit
Backup solution: Personally I would recommend Paragon Backup and Recovery free 2012. Do remember to create a media disk/boot disk before backing up your system. You still have EaseUS and Macrium Reflect. All of the backup solutions offer a free version.

Hope this helps and welcome to the forums!
 

madyrocksin

New Member
Jul 30, 2012
510
Hey welcome to MT :)

for a user who has never used a virus scanner, jack's post can make him fell of his chair :D
btw nice cover Jack :)

@mjgh06 if you are think the above is too much to handle for you straight away then start one by one
1. Look to secure you browsing experience with better browsers and add-on, you can look in http://malwaretips.com/Forum-Safe-Online-Practices under important threads, chiron's guides are just great!!
2. Look around the forum for Real time protections with firewall and antivirus,
3. adding extra layer of security depending upon how far you system can take them.
 

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