Basic Security NihonSwede's Security Configuration 2020

[ZeroStrawberries]

Hey. Here's my system security configuration. Feel free to critique it.

 

[harlan4096]

@NihonSwede:

You may set UAC to Always Notify.

In System Backup, You may add Macrium Reflect Free or AOEMI Backupper, both are free and reliable.

Please kindly reflect Your changes editing Your config, and announcing them here, thanks for sharing

 

[stefanos]

Nice and secure setup. User Access Control set it to Always Notify and after you are perfect

 

[oldschool]

Please consider switching to a Standard User Account.

 

[harlan4096]

Also You don't need MalwareBytes Premium (with resident protection enabled) alongside EmsiSoft...

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

Also You don't need MalwareBytes Premium (with resident protection enabled) alongside EmsiSoft...

Alright. I have a lifetime license for Malwarebytes Premium, and thought that I might as well use it, even though it's not the best out there. And MBAM is apparently still able to work alongside an antivirus product(e.g Emsisoft). I also haven't noticed any major resource hogging having them both in the background.

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

2020-05-11: Uninstalled Malwarebytes Premium. It was probably conflicting with Emsisoft, and caused a BSOD. Other sources seem to hint at that.
Also removed Malwarebytes Browser Guard.

 

[LDogg]

Windows Firewall:
- can use Tinywall in conjunction, less than 2MB to install

Extension(s):
- Emsisoft Browser Security, Malwarebytes Browser Guard, either one of the other or replace both with Bitdefender Trafficlight

Backup:
- Please use some sort of backup solution whether it's cloud (MEGA) or a dedicated program such as Macrium Reflect

Rest is fine, two are optional, the backup should be mandatory.

~LDogg

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

2020-06-07: Replaced Privacy Badger with ClearURL in Firefox. Felt unnecessary to have both Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger at the same time.

 

[SeriousHoax]

2020-06-07: Replaced Privacy Badger with ClearURL in Firefox. Felt unnecessary to have both Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger at the same time.

Since you installed ClearURLs, it's better if you delete browser cache. ClearURLs can prevent Etag headers but those which are already on your cache can't be removed by it. Also you may disable the domain blocking feature on ClearURLs as you already have uBlock Origin.

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

@SeriousHoax I disabled domain blocking in ClearURLs, and deleted browser cache. Thanks for the help

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

2020-12-09: Replaced Emsisoft Anti-Malware with ESET Internet Security.

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

2020-12-20: Replaced ESET Internet Security with Kaspersky Internet Security. Even though ESET is great, it blocked access to some websites for me. Even when I added exceptions, or disabled the AV all together, it still blocked the websites. I therefore chose to try out Kaspersky instead, which allows me to visit the sites that ESET blocked.

 

[SeriousHoax]

2020-12-20: Replaced ESET Internet Security with Kaspersky Internet Security. Even though ESET is great, it blocked access to some websites for me. Even when I added exceptions, or disabled the AV all together, it still blocked the websites. I therefore chose to try out Kaspersky instead, which allows me to visit the sites that ESET blocked.

I see what you mean. ESET is quite sensitive to sites that loads third party scripts which are known to associated with malvertisement. Kaspersky and Bitdefender usually blocks that particular script only if it's not blocked by your adblocker and still let you visit the site. Actually, Bitdefender blocks such scripts even before adblocker like uBlock Origin. Bitdefender blocks things very early compared to other products.
On the other hand ESET most of the time blocks you from visiting the sites totally. This is mainly the fault of those sites as they load malvertisement but I can understand your frustration. I often had to disable web protection completely to watch football streams. Even with web protection disabled, ESET's real time protection is able to detect malicious scripts saved into browser cache (I only checked Firefox). ESET is the only AV I have seen so far is able to do this. I mean detecting infected Firefox cache by the real time protection.

 

[ZeroStrawberries]

I see what you mean. ESET is quite sensitive to sites that loads third party scripts which are known to associated with malvertisement. Kaspersky and Bitdefender usually blocks that particular script only if it's not blocked by your adblocker and still let you visit the site. Actually, Bitdefender blocks such scripts even before adblocker like uBlock Origin. Bitdefender blocks things very early compared to other products.
On the other hand ESET most of the time blocks you from visiting the sites totally. This is mainly the fault of those sites as they load malvertisement but I can understand your frustration. I often had to disable web protection completely to watch football streams. Even with web protection disabled, ESET's real time protection is able to detect malicious scripts saved into browser cache (I only checked Firefox). ESET is the only AV I have seen so far is able to do this. I mean detecting infected Firefox cache by the real time protection.

Yeah. Once I realized that it blocked one or two sites that I trusted completely, I figured that it would block more important sites in the future. I also find that they don't have a "I trust this website" button on the javascript injection a little weird, instead you have to venture into the settings, and add it manually, which didn't work for me. Even disabling the AV altogether didn't work, considering that it should have let all traffic pass through and block nothing. Contacted customer support regarding this, got a response with a different solution compared to what's said on their website. The solution didn't work, and even after I wrote that it didn't work, they were still sure that it works and that the problem lies on my end, and that they have nothing to do with it. I felt like they gave up and said that the only solution left is to disable SSL/TLS all together, but that would have left me unprotected, and I don't even know if that would have worked in the end anyways.

Otherwise, I was relatively happy with the product, but felt like trying out different alternatives that would cause less of a hindrance.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Yeah. Once I realized that it blocked one or two sites that I trusted completely, I figured that it would block more important sites in the future. I also find that they don't have a "I trust this website" button on the javascript injection a little weird, instead you have to venture into the settings, and add it manually, which didn't work for me. Even disabling the AV altogether didn't work, considering that it should have let all traffic pass through and block nothing. Contacted customer support regarding this, got a response with a different solution compared to what's said on their website. The solution didn't work, and even after I wrote that it didn't work, they were still sure that it works and that the problem lies on my end, and that they have nothing to do with it. I felt like they gave up and said that the only solution left is to disable SSL/TLS all together, but that would have left me unprotected, and I don't even know if that would have worked in the end anyways.

Otherwise, I was relatively happy with the product, but felt like trying out different alternatives that would cause less of a hindrance.

I had a similar problem too with exclusions not working but disabling web protection always worked for me so not sure why it didn't work for you.
Anyway, if Kaspersky isn't bothering you then keep it