Security Discussions

Sounds like an interesting proggy...

My security comprises Zone Pro and a couple of over-zealous email/virus checkers...[one a beta] which vie for domination....who can catch the nasties first.
Got a bit annoying when one of them kept deleting what was probably a clean exe....just because it could...and 'it' new best.

Never did get to try that release of Sonique...

hmmmmm......I was hoping to see more discussion

My complete security setup:

Ad-aware
BitDefender
E-Mail - All read on-line to protect against viruses
Norton Anti-Virus
Proxomitron
RegProtect
Script that deletes Cookies/Histories/Logs/Temp Files
Spider
Spybot
Zonealarm

I'm not paranoid........really

he he he.. I like am downloading... will privide more discussion once I try

kinda like gave me a big list when I installed deleted the shotrtcut keys for real player... and I guarantee they wont be back... deleted things for programs that I uninstalled and arent there anymore... kinda cool

I use Mcafee Virus Scan Professional to catch the bugs... Zone Alarm Pro to keep track of which apps are trying to connect to the internet and I use a Linksys router that has NAT technology which allows me to have a hidden ip... should someone ping or whois my routers ip they would not get any returns... basically my pc is stealth. To check your pc's security try GRC and run his sheilds up prob... also scan ports. http://grc.com

periodically I run ad aware to get rid of nosey cookies.

I just installed the Registry Protector and as soon as I ran it, it kept flashing info on the screen. It drove me nuts so I turned it off. I wasn't sure which ones to allow or which ones to delete. It was all a bunch of mumble jumble to me - so I uninstalled it. I might re-install it once I feel more comfortable.

Oil2003, that is the very reason I did not even try it.

I liked it... left it on... was confused about some registry entries... but if you don't know just keep them... obviously with out it they would be there... it help more when you are installing new software... or surfing the new and that Gator Crap pops up... I don't want gator software leave me alone before I go after you with my shotgun...

new=net

Yes, Keila, that's why I am not using it at the moment, but odds are I will re-install it and give it another shot. I understand what da_zman20 means about that gator. The first time it asked me if I wanted to install gator, I didn't know what it was so I said yes. Big mistake. I couldn't get rid of it until I replaced my hard drive - same with Xupitor (that's worse). I even had to warn my wife not to install any of these "spyware" crap that always seems to pop up.

sounds like part of a great protection plan

One thing you do want to do from time to time, maybe once a month at minimum is back up your registry to floppy, the reason is * if you have to restore from an emergency restore disk, you need the newest registry backup or you end up missing all keys associated for files and programs installed after the back was created" which can be fix, but it is extreamly time consuming and also not always sucsessful for everything on your drive(s).

DiskImage and DiskCopy respectivly are also good parts of a recovery plan, Ghost can be clunky but if you have the storage for a full image it works very well also.

recovery is the second part of a total sercure system/network...

sad to say the net as fantastic as it is, can also be a cesspool.

I use Norton's Systemworks 2003, Norton's Antivirus 2003, Norton's Personal Firewall 2003 and Ad-aware 5.8
Haven't had any serious problems in a long time. I keep System Restore turned off, I think it's worthless.

i would like to have a Registry monitor program, but i want one that logs reg change transactions instead of popping up messages.
i'm betting that d1 wears a belt with his suspenders. just kidding, i'm a bit paranoid meself when it comes to my PC.

THat is not the first time I have heard that System Restore is worthless...being new to XP, can you tell me why?

I wouldn't say it's worthless. However there have been a few times it didn't help and I had to use the install cd to do a repair install.

It uses up a lot of resources and hard drive space, and is of very limited usefulness.
Sometimes you need to reinstall certain programs after doing a System Restore.
Sometimes it bollocks up the works and you wind up having to reinstall the OS..
I don't see the point in using something so flawed.

I wouldn't use System Restore
It is useless !!!



depending on which network I am on the hardware changes.
But the system setup is the same pretty nucm:

Either a:
10/100 mbit multiport NetGear RT314 NAT gateway/Router
or
FireBOX II firewall with content, email, internet, intranet and security filters

SOftware....

NIS Pro 2003, includes NAV 2003 and productivity controls for the nusiness enviornment

SpyWatch

Spamkiller 4.0

Email-tracker-pro for trace-routes on emails sent to me or on my network from any desktop that recieves it

NeoTrace Pro for anything IP related, runs inside browsers on the tool bar or stand alone.

LANguard Network Security Scanner

Startup Orginizer

Taskinfo 2003 to monitor anything and everything loaded into memory

Bootvis is ran perodicaly to ensure opt bootup and shut down speeds, it is on MS website and is a excelant utility that is not mentioned publicly for the most part, they use it when testing MS for tweaking.

uPnP disabled without question on all systems and not enabled for any reason.

various registry and services tweaks from this list of links.

Windows XP A to Z
www.windowsxpatoz.com http://www.windowsxpatoz.com
Database, searchable, tips and fixes for XP

Windows AP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default/asp http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default/asp
Microsoft knows it better than anyone and users input is great in the news groups

TweakXP, pretty much says it all in the name
www.tweakxp.xom http://www.tweakxp.xom

Tech-Republic
www.techrepublic.com http://www.techrepublic.com
everyone should check this place out from the professional to the hobbyist..
Mailing lists are very well put together and filled with real information you can make use
of at home, on the road or at the office with your servers, desktops and laptops, heck even pocket pc's

there are a lot more, but...

mmm, more but whats the point...

nucm = much



somehow

Too many security programs will slow your system down and cause conflicts. Almost as bad as getting a virus. Isn't irony ironic?

I use Ad-Aware and NAV 2003. That's it. I took Zone Alarm off a while ago and am none the worse.

I keep Spinrite handy, just in case.

You are certainly very correct about "too many" security progs... In my case I chose to use ZoneAlarm Pro... I like to know what program is doing what. I don't like a prog communicating without me being the one to initialize it. The virus scaner can not help you with that. I actually have the firewall turned off and only use it for program control(zonealarm). I am behind a NAT router which protects me through hardware.

I wouldn't depend on any one program for anything because nothing catches everything.
But at the sametime who would load redundant applications?
Windows XP all the way back to Windows 3.0 all make use of the upper memory block as a window into higher memory. Microsoft would claim diffferent, as would many people who trust what MS says.

But the real test of that is seeing the Subsystem error telling you that you are out of resourses and can not load a 16bit application, such as when you are trying to install something.

Or the fact that system resoures hit the kitty litter box ad so does system speed as more and more TSR's are loaded into memory.

A good software firewall, virus protection and spyware remover/monitor and registry monitor are one pahse of system security and reovery which is the total package.
The second part is system recovery...

without both, your stuck with recreating everything from scratch. Which brings up another good pratice if you can do it, burn an inmage of your working system for quick recovery and you can exspell the need of spending hours if not days recovering from disaster...

but then again thats just my personal opinion for what it is worth. You can learn a lot from breaking things, or someting breaking them and fixing it.

I've used system restore in XP once...and it worked flawlessly....that's 100% success rate.
Obviously proggies installed after a restore point 'may' not work...and just as obviously they could possibly be the very reason you needed to do the restore in the first place...that's why it's there...

Older points can be deleted...so size 'shouldn't' be an issue, either...

I'm running this 'Registry Protect' proggy at the moment....if and when it 'finds' something worthwhile I'll let you know...

variety of perception and choice is part of what makes us human
otherwise we'ed all be clones

of course, God owns a Mac, just ask most any Mac owner