Advanced Security oldschool's cheapo laptop configuration

Last updated
Feb 4, 2026
How it's used?
For home and private use
Operating system
Windows 11
Other operating system
Windows Pro
On-device encryption
N/A
Log-in security
    • Biometrics (Windows Hello PIN, TouchID, Face, Iris, Fingerprint)
Security updates
Allow security updates
Update channels
Allow stable updates only
User Access Control
Always notify
Smart App Control
On
Network firewall
Enabled
About WiFi router
Provided by ISP
Real-time security
Windows Security
Firewall security
Microsoft Defender Firewall
About custom security
MS Defender | Platform & Engine Beta channel updates
Cloud Protection Level - Block
ASR rules
Exploit Protection Settings
Firewall Hardening Tool
Controlled Folder Access - Added Start Menu, Start Menu > Programs, and Quick Launch folders.
RunBySmartscreen

Windows Security - A Github page by a former MT member with links to relevant MS documentation.
Periodic malware scanners
NPE, Sophos Scan & Clean, Eset Online Scanner
Malware sample testing
I do not participate in malware testing
Environment for malware testing
N/A
Browser(s) and extensions
Ungoogled Chromium | Privacy Badger | UBOL* | McAfee Web Advsior | Brave Search | Chrome Web Store
* I use Privacy Badger on all websites and UBOL "On click" via browser's menu access control.
Ungoogled Chromium flags

Firefox | µBO | Brave Search

Edge | µBO | GPC Enabler | Brave Search
Edge flags
Secure DNS
Quad9 DNS
Desktop VPN
None
Password manager
Little black book + brain.exe + GRC's Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?
Maintenance tools
Windows built-in
File and Photo backup
Copy/Paste
Subscriptions
    • None
System recovery
Aomei Backupper Pro Lifetime - Primary
Wiindows Backup & Restore- Secondary image backup
Risk factors
    • Browsing to popular websites
    • Opening email attachments
    • Buying from online stores, entering banks card details
    • Downloading software and files from reputable sites
    • Streaming audio/video content from trusted sites or paid subscriptions
Computer specs
Lenovo L340 Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8145U CPU @ 2.10GHz 2.30 GHz 16GB RAM 500GB SSD 1TB HDD
Notable changes
22-12-5 Reverted to MS Defender.
23-1-21 Refreshed Windows with SAC in evaluation mode.
23-2-2 Clean Windows installation
23-2-18 SAC user-enabled on
27-2-23 Added Chrome for the lack of 'feature' bloat.
28-2-23 Changed default browser to Chrome
24.2.24 Refreshed Windows and re-enabled Smart App Control
26.2.2 Replaced Chrome with Ungoogled Chromium
26.2.2
9.25 Updated to 25H2 via Enablement package.
5.7.24 Performed a repair installation via Windows Update. Nice & easy!
6.10.24 Updated to 24H2 OS build 26100.1882
10.10.24 Rolled back to 23H2 due to bugs & performance
16.10.24 Added Chrome browser with Privacy Badger
5.1.25 Reset PC and enabled Smart App Control
2.4.26 Ungoogled Chromium as default browser
What I'm looking for?

Looking for minimum feedback.

oldschool said:
Installed Panda Free AV just for kicks. Tell me your thoughts.
Click to expand...
And they lived happily ever after 😁
oldschool-panda.png
 
  • HaHa
  • Hundred Points
Reactions: Parkinsond, Zartarra, silversurfer and 14 others
SeriousHoax said:
And they lived happily ever after 😁
View attachment 286753
Click to expand...
you installed Panda because you have this photo or you generated it with AI? Are Panda bears that large compared humans. I thought they were smaller...? So how is Panda AV

EDIT: many corrections today, @SeriousHoax has the photo (or generated it)...
 
  • Like
Reactions: SeriousHoax, brambedkar59, lokamoka820 and 2 others
oldschool said:
Added VoodooShield to watch over Panda Free.
Click to expand...
how much ram does panda use ?
currently using hitmanpro.alert on one of my low ram pcs as it takes very little ram and comodo instead of VoodooShield (voodoshield has more false positives due to not having as large whitelist else i would use VoodooShield as its probably more secure )
 
  • Like
Reactions: SeriousHoax and simmerskool
Vitali Ortzi said:
how much ram does panda use ?
currently using hitmanpro.alert on one of my low ram pcs as it takes very little ram and comodo instead of VoodooShield (voodoshield has more false positives due to not having as large whitelist else i would use VoodooShield as its probably more secure )
Click to expand...
well I dunno... for me voodooshield aka cyberlock has very few false positives, I probably see more in CF when I look at its blocked & unrecognized files.
PS Panda Dome Advanced ($41.99US) recently got 100% at AV Lab.pl...!
PS2 I'd rather hear @oldschool 's thoughts about panda. "just for kicks" not enough info. what led you to panda free? I tried panda a long time ago, IIRC buggy.
 
  • Like
  • +Reputation
Reactions: SeriousHoax, ErzCrz, Captain Awesome and 2 others
simmerskool said:
you installed Panda because you have this photo or you generated it with AI? Are Panda bears that large compared humans. I thought they were smaller...? So how is Panda AV

EDIT: many corrections today, @SeriousHoax has the photo (or generated it)...
Click to expand...
A photo like that doesn't exist in reality 😂 It was generated using Grok AI of Twitter/X.
Talking about Panda AV, it's definitely light as a feather. It could sometimes cause a slight delay in app launching due to its high cloud reliance but won't be noticed in most cases.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zartarra, oldschool, lokamoka820 and 3 others
simmerskool said:
I'd rather hear @oldschool 's thoughts about panda. "just for kicks" not enough info.
Click to expand...
Really just for a change out of boredom with my setup. I'll go back to Defender sooner or later. It's definitely light. The GUI is funky and not easy to read. Navigation has to be done with keyboard arrows. Already flagged as "suspicious" one FP (startallbackcfg.exe), and when I clicked on the notification to follow instructions, nothing happened. Somehow it was allowed, but not manually by me.
 
  • Hundred Points
  • Wow
  • Like
Reactions: Sorrento, simmerskool and Jonny Quest
Vitali Ortzi said:
eh too much for my system XD but lower then most av software
hitman takes less then 6mb and comodo around that
anyway nowadays opening a news site will take 50MB so panda is very light
Click to expand...
Check that. Panda uses 9MB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sorrento, TairikuOkami, simmerskool and 1 other person
oldschool said:
Check that. Panda uses 9MB.
Click to expand...
That's insane basically only hit man pro alert and panda has that little ram usage as they are both full cloud based and wow to get panda free Wich has similar results to the paid version and can work on very very low end machines is incredible and panda seems to actually improve as or example bitdefender and ESET missed a sample that panda didn't in the most recent test panda was part of


Didn't see it's use before but now I can recommend panda for those who can't use windows defender due to having a very low end machine as only for machines with 4gb of ram I can recommend having a full av like defender , bitdefender , ESET , Kaspersky etc (8+ for zone alarm because of the huge signatures)

But for those with 2gb of ram panda is perfect
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sorrento, simmerskool and oldschool
oldschool said:
Installed Panda Free AV just for kicks. Tell me your thoughts.
Click to expand...
As long as you are using a secure DNS, AV does not really matter. Still Panda Free always gets about 99% in AV comparatives tests, miraculously beating even paid AVs, so I see no problem.
 
  • Like
  • +Reputation
Reactions: Sorrento, simmerskool, oldschool and 1 other person
TairikuOkami said:
As long as you are using a secure DNS, AV does not really matter. Still Panda Free always gets about 99% in AV comparatives tests, miraculously beating even paid AVs, so I see no problem.
Click to expand...
Actually DNS , extensions etc
Aren't enough but yeah they can help stop a lot of malicious sites but not enough having an av is definitely useful ( with the registry tweaks TairikuOkami uses malware will have a hard time in his system so he is a different case )


Using a light security product (comodo , panda , voodooshield) , a light extension, good DNS is really good advice for those that have a system that has 2gb ram or less and can't run defender because it eats too much ram (as well as too many IO as these systems usually have emcc , hard drives)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sorrento, simmerskool and oldschool

You may also like...