Trying to create a new config: What are your thoughts?

[LukeLovesSecurity]

I plan on reformatting my laptop soon so I can have a fresh start on everything. I also want to create a new config, so im thinking of different setups. What are your thoughts on this one?

Firewall: Glasswire Pro (Works along with Windows firewall)

HIPS: ReHIPS, Hitmanpro Alert

Sandboxing: Sandboxie, ReHIPS

Back up storage: 1 TB external storage & Amazon Drive

SIU: Macrium Reflect

Privacy: Spybot Anti-Beacon, NordVPN, Universal Text Encryption Tool, Veracrypt

Anti-Exploit: Hitmanpro Alert

Second Opinion Scanners: Zemana, Hitmanpro (Alert)

Real-time Scanners & Behaviour Blocker: Emsisoft Anti-Malware

Browsers: Firefox, Tor

Browser Extensions (Firefox): Ublock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, LastPass, NoScript, Avira Browser Safety, Nimbus Screenshot, Grammarly

Other tools: CCleaner, Wise Disk Cleaner

DNS: NordVPN DNS



UPDATE removed following: Bitdefender Trafficlight, Malwarebytes, and AdwCleaner.

UPDATE II removed following: Zemana and Privazer.

 

[SHvFl]

Too much stuff. Lose some.

 

[LukeLovesSecurity]

Too much stuff. Lose some.

What do you recommend I remove? I have a lot of stuff, but most off it is not real-time. The only real-time protection I have is ReHIPS, Emsisoft, Zemana, Glasswire, and Hitmanpro Alert. All of which does different things.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[SHvFl]

What do you recommend I remove? I have a lot of stuff, but most off it is not real-time. The only real-time protection I have is ReHIPS, Emsisoft, Zemana, Glasswire, and Hitmanpro Alert. All of which does different things.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Remove Zemana for sure because you don't need it and check if HMPA is buggy for you. If it is then consider removing that also.

 

[509322]

I plan on reformatting my laptop soon so I can have a fresh start on everything. I also want to create a new config, so im thinking of different setups. What are your thoughts on this one?

Firewall: Glasswire Pro (Works with Windows firewall)

HIPS & Sandboxing: ReHIPS, Sandboxie

Back up storage: 1 TB external storage & Amazon Drive

SIU: Macrium Reflect

Privacy: Spybot Anti-Beacon, NordVPN, Universal Text Encryption Tool, Veracrypt

Anti-Exploit: Hitmanpro Alert

Second Opinions: Malwarebytes (free), AdwCleaner (free), Hitmanpro (Alert)

Primary Scanners & Behaviour Blocker/Anti-Ransomware: Emsisoft Anti-Malware, Zemana Anti-Malware (Premium)

Browsers: Firefox, Tor

Browser Extensions (Firefox): Ublock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, LastPass, NoScript, Avira Browser Safety, Bitdefender Trafficlight, Nimbus Screenshot, Grammarly

Other tools: CCleaner, Privazer, Wise Disk Cleaner

DNS: NordVPN DNS

You forgot the tinfoil hat, amulets and magical potions. A dragon's tooth would do wonders.
It's a joke, dude.

 

[LukeLovesSecurity]

You forgot the tinfoil hat, amulets and magical potions. A dragon's tooth would do wonders.
It's a joke, dude.

What could I do to improve rather than insulting me? Thanks for your thoughts nonetheless.

 

[LukeLovesSecurity]

Remove Zemana for sure because you don't need it and check if HMPA is buggy for you. If it is then consider removing that also.

HMPA isn't buggy for me.

I'll consider removing Zemana, but from my experience it has blocked a lot of things Emsisoft missed.

 

[spaceoctopus]

Remove:
Glasswire, Rehips, spybot anti-beacon, adwcleaner, Malwarebytes, Tor.

In terms of add-ons remove NoScript, Avira Browser Safety, Bitdefender Trafficlight. Nimbus Screenshot, Grammarly are not security stuffs, you decide what you want to do with them.

With ublockOrigin, try to focus on ads blocking and ad blocks killers, Multipurpose and tracking, concerning the filters.

Then for your real time protection use a combination of

Emsisoft Anti-Malware+ Zemana(which really works well) OR

Emsisoft Anti-Malware + HMPA

Keep CCleaner and Wisecleaner. Remove Privazer

That is my own opinion.Others may have other ideas.

 

[LukeLovesSecurity]

Remove:
Glasswire, Rehips, spybot anti-beacon, adwcleaner, Malwarebytes, Tor.

In terms of add-ons remove NoScript, Avira Browser Safety, Bitdefender Trafficlight. Nimbus Screenshot, Grammarly are not security stuffs, you decide what you want to do with them.

With ublockOrigin, try to focus on ads blocking and ad blocks killers, Multipurpose and tracking, concerning the filters.

Then for your real time protection use a combination of

Emsisoft Anti-Malware+ Zemana(which really works well) OR

Emsisoft Anti-Malware + HMPA

Keep CCleaner and Wisecleaner. Remove Privazer

That is my own opinion.Others may have other ideas.

Thanks for your thoughts. Ill explain what I agree and disagree with.

What I agree with

I think I will remove Privazer. I haven't tested Privazer and Wisecleaner yet so I don't know which one i'm going to remove, but one of them will be going.

I had removed AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes. I don't see a point in keeping those scanners when Emsisoft, HMP, and Zemana has much better signatures.

I also removed Bitdefender Trafficlight, it doesnt compare to Avira and is just a waste of space.

What I disagree with

I don't get why I would remove Glasswire, ReHIPS, Spybot, and Tor. They are all for different things and don't interfere with eachother.

ReHIPS would be the Default-Deny for my system and would also be used for sanboxing. This doesn't interfere with anything else, it just adds Default-Deny and virtualization.

Glasswire seems like a great way for me to implement Default-Deny for my network, and it is a great visuiliazion for whats going on.

Spybot is a great program for those who have privacy concerns. I don't see any reason to get rid of this.

I only use Tor with sandboxie when I know I will be going in a potentially dangerous situation. I also use Tor if I want to ensure anonymity for whatever I need to do in addition with my VPN. Again, like the others, I don't see why I should remove this.

NoScript is used to prevent scripts that Ublock will allow. It just takes a second to allow the scripts and is great for preventing a malicious site from exploiting anything.

Avira is used for URL blocking. It blocks drive-by downloads, malicious links, and phishing links. It has one of the best detection ratios if not the best when it comes to URLs.

The rest has nothing to do with security, and as mentioned earlier Bitdefender Trafficlight was removed.

A lot of people are saying to get rid of either Zemana, but I don't see a reason why. I disabled anything in it that would interfere with HMPA, all it does is act as a second real-time scanner. From my experience Zemana has blocked many things Emsisoft has missed, so I worry about getting rid of it.

As far as getting rid of HMPA, I would rather get rid of Zemana. HMPA has a ton of extra features and is great for HIPS and Anti-Exploit.

 

[509322]

What could I do to improve rather than insulting me? Thanks for your thoughts nonetheless.

I meant I was joking about amulets, magic potions and the tinfoil hat. I didn't say your config is a joke.

Your security config is over-built. Too many softs piled on-top of each other.

 

[shmu26]

Glasswire is heavy, and besides that, it just notifies. It doesn't block and ask you, it first allows and then notifies you what just happened.

ReHIPS is a great program, but has a bit of a learning curve. Worth the investment. It does more for you than Sandboxie does, because it is also an anti-exe and application control. And it is less prone to compatibility issues.
But Sandboxie is more flexible and elegant.

Have you considered AppGuard?

 

[RoboMan]

I would say:

Keep Emsisoft Anti-Malware, REHIPS and Glasswire Firewall if you really like it as for real time protection. As for tools, keep Sandboxie, VeraCrypt and a VPN service. Macrium and CCleaner should be enough. Extensions for Firefox seem nice.
Remove Zemana and HMP.A (unnecessary to be honest). Tor is not necessary unless you want to access to onion sites. Privazer and Wise Disk Cleaner really not necessary, CCleaner can handle it.


Thanks for sharing with us your future config mate.

 

[brambedkar59]

This setup is overkill. EAM alone is pretty much all you need as realtime, maybe add ReHIPS just to be sure.

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

EIS, Zemana and Hitman is too much for your system. You should remove Zemana or Hitman or both of them. But it is only my suggestion and that' s all. It is your computer and you can do whatever you want.
I run Norton security and hitman pro ( as a scanner on demand) on my lap.

 

[RoboMan]

EDITED: i better delete this because they're gonna interprete as direct attack xD

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

Fear not on saying to somebody his configuration is garbage. Truth will set us free!

Just kidding, it's a bit overkill but it's good

We are here to help him. I also think that he should remove a Privazer. CCleaner is enough. Don't know much about a wise disk cleaner. Before I used many optimizers that finally crashed my system

 

[Andy Ful]

Keep them all.
After a month, drop one security element. Do this each month, until the moment you cannot sleep at night.
That should be your final config.

Edit.
This worked for me.

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

Keep them all.
After a month, drop one security element. Do this each month, until the moment you cannot sleep at night.
That should be your final config.

Edit.
This worked for me.

It is also good idea recommended by you. It also took me much time to configure my system for the first time. Practice makes perfect as English proverb says. One day LukeLovesSecurity will gain good skills to configure it properly and well. Never late to learn

 

[shmu26]

Keep in mind that sometimes, more is less. This is true when 2 security softs quietly conflict with one another, so they both might fail to protect at the critical moment. Try to avoid running 2 softs that both have BB/anti-exploit protection, because the result is unpredictable.

 

[ispx]

Practice makes perfect as English proverb says.

practice makes you perfect, paranoia does not