Advanced Plus Security oldschool's laptop setup 2020

[Digmor Crusher]

Thanks Greg, Gibiru is a new one for me, will have to do a bit of research.

 

[Thales]

Changed search engine from StartPage -> Qwant due to privacy questions re: new ownership. Gibiru as another alternative.

Qwant - The search engine that values you as a user, not as a product

Fast, reliable answers and still in trust: Qwant does not store your search data, does not sell your personal data and is hosted in Europe.

www.qwant.com

Gibiru – Protecting your privacy since 2009

gibiru.com

I will try them. Thanks.
It seems DDG gives the same results as Google which is a good thing. I hope they work as DDG.

 

[oldschool]

Installed Sophos 2.1.9 to check it out and my laptop slo-o-o-w-e-d down like I can't believe. Restarted several times to see if that helped, followed by uninstall. I used to like the old Sophos Free and was hoping for improvement. Windows Defender is just faster overall.

Cleaned up the leftovers with BleachBit and when I opened it was surprised to find new cleaners which you can read about here
https://github.com/bleachbit/winapp2.ini/blob/master/Winapp2-BleachBit.ini

and here Q&A - BleachBit winapp2.ini cleaners for Edge, Edge Insider, Windows, Chrome/Brave, etc.

(Edits in italics)

 

[brambedkar59]

Installed Sophos 2.1.9 to check it out and my laptop slo-o-o-w-e-d down like I can't believe. Restarted several times to see if that helped, followed by uninstall. I used to like the old Sophos Free and was hoping for improvement. Windows Defender is just faster overall.

I have always had the same experience with Sophos, very slow boot, laggy app launches (worse even than the old McAfee). I thought they hated me personally.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

When slowing down, it was Installed alongside VS or something else?

 

[oldschool]

When slowing down, it was Installed alongside VS or something else?

All by itself.

 

[oldschool]

Replaced Cloudfare with Adguard DNS.

Replaced Edge built-in tracking protection with µBlock Origin @ medium mode.

(Edits in italics)

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Replaced Cloudfare with Adguard DNS.

Replaced Edge built-in tracking protection with µBlock Origin @ medium mode.

(Edits in italics)

Let us know how Adguard DNS works out for you.
Why don't you use Edge built-in tracking protection together with uBlock Origin?
Don't see the need for turning it off.

 

[oldschool]

Why don't you use Edge built-in tracking protection together with uBlock Origin?

OP should have read "Added to ..."

 

[oldschool]

Added: VoodooShield Pro 5.54H Beta

Upgraded HitmanPro to paid with the Black Friday deal.

Removed: Emsisoft Emergency Kit --> It suddenly would not update and the driver continues running after closing app. I tried everything I can think of, including using TCPView but could not diagnose ( maybe above my pay grade? ) I contacted Emsi support and they helped me to get rid of the stuck driver and delete the app. They could not help with the updating issue. I don't know if it's related to using DOH or some OS hardening, etc.. I give up for now, but it bugs me due to OCDC.

Maybe a clean install is in my future when the next W10 feature update is released?

 

[oldschool]

Re-added: Emsisoft Emergency Kit

Emsi support was fantastic helping me find and fix the "unable to connect to update server problem"! Definitely top-notch customer service!

My New Year resolution: keep the system lean and clean, and quit experimenting with different software.

@Evjl's Rain you were correct about the nature of the problem being the firewall. The trouble was pinpointing it.

 

[blackice]

Re-added: Emsisoft Emergency Kit

Emsi support was fantastic helping me find and fix the "unable to connect to update server problem"! Definitely top-notch customer service!

My New Year resolution: keep the system lean and clean, and quit experimenting with different software.

@Evjl's Rain you were correct about the nature of the problem being the firewall. The trouble was pinpointing it.

Lean and clean! Love it! Our daughter is getting out of the blob phase, so I think I’m planning the same. No time for tooling around with random security software. Just good CLEAN fun.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

Once you found out the type of security strategy that fits you, it is basically the end of your "software hoping" behavior.
More skill/knowledge you get, less apps you depend on.

 

[DDE_Server]

Once you found out the type of security strategy that fits you, it is basically the end of your "software hoping" behavior.
More skill/knowledge you get, less apps you depend on.

this is a fact

 

[oldschool]

Based on further reading about canvas fingerprinting, high vs. low entropy, etc., I decided on replacing Privacy Possum with Privacy Badger.

 

[Protomartyr]

Could you expand on that? I'm interested in hearing about your research.

 

[oldschool]

Could you expand on that? I'm interested in hearing about your research.

In a nutshell: blend in with the herd. Privacy Possum creates a lot of noise doing what it does, which makes the browser stand out more. There is significant disagreement between those who consider high-entropy extensions less favorably and those who believe the opposite. This is precisely the difference in philosophy between devs of PP and PB. There are trade-offs with each of them.

Brave and Firefox offer options to block/reduce fingerprinting where most Chromium browsers don't (thus requiring extensions). The argument comes down to which built-in options and which extensions do best. The jury is still out and the battle between Trackers and Users is a never-ending seesaw.

You could start by searching canvas fingerprinting and Firefox privacy for more info.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Interesting, from the little I've read it seemed like Privacy Possum was the better option, but in the never ending discourse of what is best I'm sure we will never know, just go with what you like best.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Based on further reading about canvas fingerprinting, high vs. low entropy, etc., I decided on replacing Privacy Possum with Privacy Badger.

Hi5! Actually I did the same too 2 days ago after reading about this.

 

[oldschool]

Updated configuration to show:

Firefox - hardened + µBO + Privacy Badger + Malwarebytes Browser Guard.

Now that I've spent some time with it, I'm liking Firefox a lot more. Lots of good resources for tweaking it. I'll keep it to use for certain tasks.

All three browsers I use have their place, each capable in its own way!