Advanced Security oldschool's surfing laptop configuration

[Kiss]

Maybe a better name would be... "The MT Living Legend's Optimized Security Masterpiece."

As a Level 66 MalwareTips Living Legend that we all look up to... we seek your wisdom and guidance.

I don't make a single security move without checking in to see what ole' Oldschool recommends.

So when you are out vacationing the world... some of us are stuck in security decision paralysis.

That is all.

Are you his boyfriend?

 

[oldschool]

As a Level 66 MalwareTips Living Legend that we all look up to... we seek your wisdom and guidance.

Oh, but you flatter me. I'm vacationing at home.

 

[blackice]

I don't make a single security move without checking in to see what ole' Oldschool recommends.

This! For real, I may not copy but I’ve got to know!

 

[Thales]

Interesting, I’ve been considering running at just default and enabling PUA stuff in the GUI. It’s probably plenty for me, and if it improves performance then what the heck. I do have OSA to cover some extras, and it has zero impact, other than false positives.

With this combo I would do the same.
OSA is amazing even at the default level.

Yeah, default at the moment. Might raise it to high a few days later to try to notice the difference in impact. I think setting cloud level to Highest aka High+ causes the most impact. MS's official documents clearly states that this will impact performance and may increase false positives. But have to say even MS at default is not as light as ESET followed closely by Norton and Kaspersky on my system excluding web page loading speed. MD's caching isn't as good (Probably intentionally due to its high cloud reliance).

Interesting. I have never experienced any system impact with High+
Not even on my old laptop which is not strong.

 

[oldschool]

Updated config to Startpage as default search engine. I've been using it often as my fallback option to Brave Search which gets average results, so I decided to replace it.

Added some real-time protection details. Excellent built-in protection with no usability drawbacks.

 

[LDogg]

Good additions to your setup, especially Startpage, very good search engine. What were the real-time protection details?

~LDogg

 

[oldschool]

What were the real-time protection details?

Updated config to show ASR rules and CFA added folders.

 

[oldschool]

I'm now using Brave and Firefox as my primary browsers since Edge is too buggy, e.g. intermittent crashing, stalling on close, etc. I've been using Edge because I like its design and have reported bugs regularly but I won't go back until I know it's fixed. I'm finding the Brave Sidebar feature serves me much like Edge's Favorites flyout, it just takes getting used to it on the left.

Updated config to show µBo with Kees1958 suggested lists in Firefox and Edge. I let the browsers do most of the blocking with some help from NextDNS.

 

[Trooper]

I'm now using Brave and Firefox as my primary browsers since Edge is too buggy, e.g. intermittent crashing, stalling on close, etc. I've been using Edge because I like its design and have reported bugs regularly but I won't go back until I know it's fixed. I'm finding the Brave Sidebar feature serves me much like Edge's Favorites flyout, it just takes getting used to it on the left.

Updated config to show µBo with Kees1958 suggested lists in Firefox and Edge. I let the browsers do most of the blocking with some help from NextDNS.

That's cool. I have not had any issues with Edge myself.

 

[blackice]

I haven’t had any serious Edge bugs either. I just don’t like that Hulu blocks Picture in Picture on Chromium. But that tab closing crash sounds super annoying.

 

[Sorrento]

Updated config to Startpage as default search engine. I've been using it often as my fallback option to Brave Search which gets average results, so I decided to replace it.

Added some real-time protection details. Excellent built-in protection with no usability drawbacks.

When I've used StartPage on a few occasions it reacts like Google Search when using a VPN & feels I'm a robot or similar. I'm pretty sure I'm not though?

 

[Kongo]

I'm now using Brave and Firefox as my primary browsers since Edge is too buggy, e.g. intermittent crashing, stalling on close, etc. I've been using Edge because I like its design and have reported bugs regularly but I won't go back until I know it's fixed. I'm finding the Brave Sidebar feature serves me much like Edge's Favorites flyout, it just takes getting used to it on the left.

Updated config to show µBo with Kees1958 suggested lists in Firefox and Edge. I let the browsers do most of the blocking with some help from NextDNS.

So you are using Quad9 syste-wide and NextDNS in your browsers?

 

[oldschool]

So you are using Quad9 syste-wide and NextDNS in your browsers?

Yes, for FF and Edge. Brave uses the system DNS Quad9.

 

[oldschool]

I'm liking Brave again and I'm finding the sidebar feature really useful, much better than on initial use. It's good to be enjoying the built-in goodness again. Highly recommend it if you haven't tried it yet.

 

[brambedkar59]

I'm liking Brave again and I'm finding the sidebar feature really useful, much better than on initial use. It's good to be enjoying the built-in goodness again. Highly recommend it if you haven't tried it yet.

Haven't used Brave for a while on desktop, might give it another shot. On Android it's still my default browser since 2020.

 

[oldschool]

Switched to Bitdefender Free. So far, so good.

 

[blackice]

Switched to Bitdefender Free. So far, so good.

Why

 

[oldschool]

Why

It's MalwareTips!

 

[Trooper]

It's MalwareTips!

This is the correct answer.

 

[blackice]

It's MalwareTips!

It’s a group problem!