Advanced Plus Security Moonhorse 2026 Windows gaming desktop

[Moonhorse]

27.5.2026

+ Added cloudflare zero trust

I have bunch of http rules to bypass things to make apps work correctly on grapheneos


also here is picture of hardening wih ClamUI

Also installed zero trust to my graphene os + linux chromebook running pop os.

 

[Moonhorse]

Had fun with linux, but windows gaming just feels better, performance wise and is more simple

8.6.2026

- Removed Pop OS!

Current windows setup:

- Sophos home free as antivirus
- Firefox as browser with osprey & bitwarden
- Adguard with cloudflare malware blocking dns

Enabled sophos https website decryption, wich is alot more effective blocking risky websites than without

I dont know but sophos is probably my favorite antivirus, probably i add some more protection later as sophos is free version

 

[brambedkar59]

Enabled sophos https website decryption, wich is alot more effective blocking risky websites than without

Is it not enabled by default?

 

[Moonhorse]

Is it not enabled by default?

No its not. It slow downs sites a littlebit, like year ago i did see it inpacting on youtube hard, but you can exclude domains so sites will run faster. Now running it a day, i have no problems running it enabled on youtube and other sites, cant see any difference whether its on or off

 

[TuxTalk]

So bad, if I were you stick with PopOS! Lesser hassle and safer,

 

[Moonhorse]

So bad, if I were you stick with PopOS! Lesser hassle and safer,

I still run pop os on chromebook, probably give some other distro a spin.

I think im pretty much safe wichever i choose to go with....

Main reason for switch was my nephew that spends most of summer ( 2months holiday ) mostly on my house, and he likes to play different games and some of them dont run on linux. So what im thinking is buying probably mini pc from minisforum or mac-mini and set-up it as linux as i play retro/old games myself, and later selling this gaming pc, since ram prices/gpu prices are still high and i could get good amount of money back, 2 years used but still sells for price i bought it at...

 

[Moonhorse]

So sophos pretty much interfered with war thunder ( war game ) and i had to do re-install anyways cuz of my nephew installing something ridiculous

- Removed sophos free

+ Added Zonealarm Next GEN
+ Firefox with ublock origin, script stop, and harmony web protection
+ Cloudflare malware blocking dns

edit: thinking about adding browser lockdown from novirusthanks, to avoid nephew downloading items on my pc

 

[TuxTalk]

So sophos pretty much interfered with war thunder ( war game ) and i had to do re-install anyways cuz of my nephew installing something ridiculous

- Removed sophos free

+ Added Zonealarm Next GEN
+ Firefox with ublock origin, script stop, and harmony web protection
+ Cloudflare malware blocking dns

edit: thinking about adding browser lockdown from novirusthanks, to avoid nephew downloading items on my pc
View attachment 298068

ZoneAlarm is very very heavy... you will uninstall asap, trust me.

 

[oldschool]

ZoneAlarm is very very heavy... you will uninstall asap, trust me.

You're probably right. I wouldn't use it for technical and political reasons.

 

[ErzCrz]

So sophos pretty much interfered with war thunder ( war game ) and i had to do re-install anyways cuz of my nephew installing something ridiculous

- Removed sophos free

+ Added Zonealarm Next GEN
+ Firefox with ublock origin, script stop, and harmony web protection
+ Cloudflare malware blocking dns

edit: thinking about adding browser lockdown from novirusthanks, to avoid nephew downloading items on my pc

Sophos had caused some game stuttering for me as well when I tried it some years back. ESET working pretty well for me though expensive. Been trying to stick with Firefox with uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and Osprey though some pages just better rendered with chromium based. I use Edge when I'm using windows defender / cyberlock stack.

Anyway, look forward to see how you get on with ZA.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

I can get free ZoneAlarm software from my ISP, hard pass.

 

[Moonhorse]

ZoneAlarm is very very heavy... you will uninstall asap, trust me.

Ive tried it many times and always got rid of it during same day, now i have been running it whole 2 days! i had to exclude some games from antivirus as they would hang without. What i mainly did is install clean install of windows, install all apps and lastly installed zonealarm, then ran full scan > excluded few games + set up web filter. No issues even with threat emulation on.

You're probably right. I wouldn't use it for technical and political reasons.

I do follow politics, but im pretty unsure wich is good and wich is bad country, cuz those changes constantly it seems
but in mt we dont talk about politics so i wont go deeper into that

Sophos had caused some game stuttering for me as well when I tried it some years back. ESET working pretty well for me though expensive. Been trying to stick with Firefox with uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and Osprey though some pages just better rendered with chromium based. I use Edge when I'm using windows defender / cyberlock stack.

Anyway, look forward to see how you get on with ZA.

Currently i have licenses from:
- ESET
- Bitdefender
- Mcafee
- Norton
- Trend micro
- Sophos free ( accessed by having it before 2021)

Maybe i return to defender in few days , no idea yet..lets see how ZAM does.

I can get free ZoneAlarm software from my ISP, hard pass.

I only get malicious website blocking from my isp and scam call detection thats, not any anvirus suite

 

[Moonhorse]

If im using my pc whole day, it pretty much in some point becomes unresponsive because of zonealarm, only reboot fixes it.

The problem causes apps to not open, also firefox wont open, you cant close it from task manager and only way to solve issue is reboot.
Also having many false positives, but that was expected
Zonealarm has huge potential, but sadly it doesnt perform as intended and doesnt get love from checkpoint it deserves.

So i ended up doing clean install, because zonealarm will left alot leftovers and i was bored anyways.

New setup is the og one:
- Microsoft defender as antivirus, hardened with defenderui recommended profile, except cloud block rule is set to zero tolerannce.
- Smart app control enabled
- Enabled , the disabled by default core isolation rule, so everything in core isolation is enabled now, it says it prevents malicious codes from running
- Edge as browser, bitwarden as extension, osprey as blocking websites with malicious content, ublock origin lite, APIVOID script stop.
- Cloudflare malware blocking filter dns

Atleast i dont have to pay for anything, and its worry free to go. I have given pretty much every antivirus a go, and thats why i went for linux. And as im always back to windows defender i will run it now for loong time.

btw @TuxTalk was right about ditching zonealarm

 

[TuxTalk]

If im using my pc whole day, it pretty much in some point becomes unresponsive because of zonealarm, only reboot fixes it.

The problem causes apps to not open, also firefox wont open, you cant close it from task manager and only way to solve issue is reboot.
Also having many false positives, but that was expected
Zonealarm has huge potential, but sadly it doesnt perform as intended and doesnt get love from checkpoint it deserves.

So i ended up doing clean install, because zonealarm will left alot leftovers and i was bored anyways.

New setup is the og one:
- Microsoft defender as antivirus, hardened with defenderui recommended profile, except cloud block rule is set to zero tolerannce.
- Smart app control enabled
- Enabled , the disabled by default core isolation rule, so everything in core isolation is enabled now, it says it prevents malicious codes from running
- Edge as browser, bitwarden as extension, osprey as blocking websites with malicious content, ublock origin lite, APIVOID script stop.
- Cloudflare malware blocking filter dns

Atleast i dont have to pay for anything, and its worry free to go. I have given pretty much every antivirus a go, and thats why i went for linux. And as im always back to windows defender i will run it now for loong time.

btw @TuxTalk was right about ditching zonealarm

Hate it when i'm right , just kidding , i tested most AV thats why i know you will remove ZA.

 

[Sorrento]

ZA in my humble opinion is the worst AV by far I've used as regards its seemingly half finished & buggy beyond words, it didn't improve & I will not using it again even if they paid me to use it

 

[Moonhorse]

I had to change my isp for cheaper + better plans because currennt one was expiring. They said its branded suite by f-secure, 100% identical. Might install them to mobile and maybe later to pc if i want to change my current setup.

 

[ErzCrz]

New setup is the og one:
- Microsoft defender as antivirus, hardened with defenderui recommended profile, except cloud block rule is set to zero tolerannce.
- Smart app control enabled
- Enabled , the disabled by default core isolation rule, so everything in core isolation is enabled now, it says it prevents malicious codes from running
- Edge as browser, bitwarden as extension, osprey as blocking websites with malicious content, ublock origin lite, APIVOID script stop.
- Cloudflare malware blocking filter dns

Atleast i dont have to pay for anything, and its worry free to go. I have given pretty much every antivirus a go, and thats why i went for linux. And as im always back to windows defender i will run it now for loong time.

I often revert back to Microsoft Defender security stack. Just everything runs smooth with less issues. I don't have SAC enabled as not prepared to reset my laptop but DefenderUI and CyberLock cover things well for me. I might look at APIVoid or noscript again but Osprey covers multiple DNSs for me. I had changed OS DNS but not sure I need to and I'll get less latency using my ISPs. /shrug.

Anyway, glad you found a stack that works for you. Check out @Shadowra 's review of F-Secure if your considering using it.