An interesting article & comments...

[smallhagrid]

I meant to post this sometime back, so it's not a new article - but it has some useful info in it, especially from the really detailed visitor comment about what he uses and the funny one by a Linux user.

I used PrintWhatYouLike to get what I wanted to keep from the page, and have removed what is excess and/or not useful in my opinion (like mention of Macafee stuff...just useless & nasty.).

Hopefully it is helpful to someone here, somehow.

(I especially enjoyed the commenter's info on how he manages his hosts file...)

Free Internet Security Suite Software
Comodo Internet Security

Comodo Internet Security is arguably the most popular free security suite available, offering a multi-layered security for your Windows computer. It promise to keep hackers and malware out, and your personal information in and safe.

It includes and antivirus module, anti-bot, anti-rootkit, an award-winning firewall, host intrusion prevention, a sandbox for untrusted software, anti-malware and buffer overflow protection to deliver comprehensive protection against today’s diverse range of threats. It is has nice UI and is quite easy to use and configure.

Outpost Security Suite

Outpost Security Suite is one fine security suite for your Windows computer. It has the distinction of being the first full-functional free Internet Security Suite for Windows and includes a second anti-malware engine, this one specifically focused on spyware, adware and Trojan horses. This unique combination of two modules as an integral part of Agnitum’s comprehensive anti-malware, along with its award-winning firewall, brings more targeted security to Windows users.

Outpost Security Suite FREE includes antivirus, firewall and proactive protection technologies. The free solution employs the latest techniques to prevent infections, data corruption and PC intrusions. It offers free virus curing, free spam protection and ImproveNet- a free cloud-based services. It is a lightweight solution, fully compatibility with Windows, 32-bit and 64-bit.

FortiClient Lite

FortiClient Lite is a free endpoint protection suite that includes malware/virus detection, parental web control, and VPN. It may not be comparatively that well-known, but it packs in some great features. Its antivirus has achieved more than 20 VB100 awards and is capable of detecting threats on both a reactive and proactive basis.

The free version includes, Antivirus/Antispyware engine, Parental Control, SSL and IPSec VPN clients, Personal Firewall protection, Intrusion Prevention, Web Filtering, Endpoint Application Detection, Endpoint Monitoring and Control, WAN Optimization, Anti-Rootkit Protection, Pre- and Post-Execution Behavioral Analysis, Real-Time Poisoned Webpage Protection, FortiGuard update services Web Filter, Application Detection and Antispam.

Roboscan Internet Security

Roboscan Internet Security is yet another integrated security program for protecting your computers from outside online threats. The free version includes antivirus and anti-spyware protection, a personal firewall, a System Protectant module and Privacy protection. Roboscan Internet Security uses a Dual Engine security system – the BitDefender engine and its own Tera engine- that provides Multi-Layer filtration for more thorough detection and deletion of online threats. This free version of the security suite is ad-supported, so if you dont like the ads (who does!), you might want to consider the first three options instead. Thanks for the heads-up about this one, Samit Tandukar.

ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall

ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall combines the power of ZoneAlarm Firewall and Kaspersky AntiVirus engine. ZoneAlarm’s own powerful Firewall along with the Kaspersky antivirus makes it a potent combination. ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall is full of features and is great to keep your Windows computer fully protected.

Reader Comments

• I’m so happy to see, here, that Comodo Internet Security (CIS) has been mentioned. It really is best-of-breed (though that was not always so) among the freeware security suites. Its learning curve remains a little steep, which it has always been, though less so now than ever in the past. It’s still not great, though. I wish Comodo would finally improve that. But sometimes tools which do a lot are necessarily less-than-easy-to-understand. Maybe that’s inescapble. I dunno.

  CIS’s firewall isn’t just good. It’s actually on-par, in independent testing, with top-of-the-line paid/commercial firewalls, such as the really excellent one that Kaspersky makes. Seriously. CIS need make no apologies to anyone for its firewall. If you don’t set it right, though, it will alarm too much, and so some tweaking may be required… and that’s part of where the learning curve comes in. There’s no question that CIS, in the hands of someone who’s completely clueless about how all this stuff works, may well not be the right tool. It all just depends on the user and the situation.

  CIS’s Hosts Intrusion Protection System (HIPS) is called “Defense+”. A HIPS’s job is to notice that a given piece of software has started to launch, and then stop it, dead in its tracks, before it can get far enough in the launch process to do any damage to the machine if it’s malware. Certain software program executable files are known to the HIPS component, and so it allows them to launch without a problem, and others the HIPS must be “taught” whether or not they’re safe. Defense+ was, in its early days, a little too over-protective; and it also wasn’t working from a very large database of known software out there. All that’s changed, however, and so Defense+ doesn’t alert quite as much as it used to; and it’s now easier to “train” it. And, boy-oh-boy does it ever work. Nothing gets past it. It, too, is best-of-breed.

  CIS’s anti-virus was one of its weakest parts for a long time, in part because it was still learning the best way to detect and alert, and also because its database of known malware hadn’t been sufficiently built-up yet. Comodo has done a great job of figuring all that out, and so the anti-virus compondent of CIS finally need make no (or at least few) apologies to anyone for how well it works. It can hold its own with, certainly, any of the freeware anti-virus tools; and probably most of the paid/commercial ones, too, truth be known. I now trust it completely.

  CIS’s anti-rootkit, anti-spyware, and anti-botnet are just a little bit too new to be quite that trustworthy. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they work. But I, for one, don’t let them carry the full load. I also use such as Malware Bytes and SuperAntiSpyware to augment; and also TrendMicro’s RUBotted (though I use that less and less, anymore); and also manual whole-system rootkit scanners like the one from TrendMicro and also the one from Kaspersky. I also use SysInternal’s Rootkit Revealer, but I don’t recommend that to anyone but a techie/geeky person like me ’cause ya’ kinda’ gotta’ know how to figure out what it’s telling you. In time, though (and if history is any indicator, it won’t be too awfully much longer), CIS’s anti-rootkit, anti-spyware and anti-botnet will be pretty close to fully up to the task. I doubt that I’ll ever stop using the above-named tools, though… just for grins.

  CIS’s sandbox is just so-so. It’s functional… I mean, it works, and everything… but it’s not really as capable as a specialst virtualizer like Sandboxie, or Virtual Box or VMWare. But it’s definitely useful if you need to isolate something in a pinch (which is really all it was ever intended to do, so I don’t actually know why I’m complaining). It works fine. But if you want a REAL sandbox, look elsewhere. I, frankly, just turn it off… but that’s just me.

  In case anyone’s interested, as long as we’re talking about all this, I augment CIS not only with the tools I’ve already herein mentioned, but also with…

  “Spyware Blaster” by Javacool Software. It’s important to understand what this does so you don’t have unreal expectations (and so get disappointed), or use it wrongly. Think of Spyware Blaster is an innoculation tool, not as a malware scanner or cleaner or anything like that. Yes, the pro (paid) version can be made to sit in the system tray and stuff, but even then it doesn’t so much as watch for things and then alarm about them, like a true piece of anti-malware software. Rather, all the pro version does, mostly, is keep itself constantly and automatically up-to-date, and then automatically re-innoculate the system. And by “innoculate,” all I mean is that Spyware Blaster has this list of known malware and how it affects certain system settings… particularly the registry. And so all it does, really, is do things to the registry that will render useless the malware it knows about, and against which it sort of “innoculated” the system. Simple as that. And, of course, its database is periodically updated however often Javacool does it… at least monthly, usually more often. So I always prescribe that a person just download and install the freeware version, and manually “innoculate” the machine at least monthly. And by “innoculate,” I just mean launching Spyware Blaster, then updating its database, then applying its database to all your browsers (Spyware Blaster senses which ones you have), and then closing Spyware Blaster.

  That’s it. Nothing more. It’s a cool and very useful tool, but people sometimes have trouble figuring out exactly what it does. Again, just think of it as like going to the doctor and getting a shot to protect you from whatever bad stuff is out there. That’s all it really does. Er… well…actually it does some other stuff, but don’t use any of it. It’ll just confuse things. Use only the anti-malware “innoculation” capability, at least monthly, and that’s it.

  Of course I use the expected Ad-Block-Plus. Who doesn’t. But I’m careful what database I let it use. I, personally, prefer EasyList… both the general one, and, because I chiefly use a Chromium-based browser, I also let Ad-Blocker-Plus use the EasyList database expressly for Chrome users.

  I also use Abine.com’s DO-NOT-TRACK-PLUS! Yikes! What a cool tool. It’s really excellent… and, like everything else I’ve herein listed, it’s free, of course. I could not more highly recommend it… though, that said, I notice that when installed into Internet Explorer 9, it kinda’ goofed with the browser’s ability to login to certain web sites… DELL’s site, specifically. However, since I’ve now moved nearly exclusively to the use of SRWare’s IRON portable browser (the best-of-breed Chrome alternative out there), IE9 is moot. I use IE9, now, only when I absolutely have to… which is darned rarely.

  I also use a HOSTS file… and I gotta’ tell ya’: You would not believe how useful it is, and how well it protects. Yikes, yet again! The trick, though, is to use only certain of the available pre-configure, freely-downloadable HOSTS files out there; and to also use the proper freeware utility to manage them. I’ve tried them all and, trust me, the freeware “HostsMan” by AbelhaDigital has no rival. Seriously: Trust me. Look no further. It not only sits in the system tray and helps you manage the HOSTS file, and keeps up-to-date whichever ones out there that you choose to use; but it also — and this is just way cool — has a little companion web server (just a tiny little thing… uses almost no memory) sitting in the system tray (or “Notification Area,” as Microsoft now wants us to call it… oy) and serves-up a little 2×2-pixel transparent .GIF in place of any ad server (or other) web page which would have shown-up (probably as advertising) on whatever page you’re visiting, had you not been using HostsMan. Is that cool, or what? Until you see it, though, you may not appreciate it. If the web page is properly designed, with DIVS and CSS as its means of creating the little boxed areas where advertising normally appears, then said little boxed areas will just close down around the little 2×2-pixel transparent .GIF and so almost literally disappears off the page. It’s incredible! I just love it. I recommend using, as your HOSTS file, “Peter Lowes AdServers List” plus only the “Ad and tracking servers” list from “hpHOSTS,” and then, lastly the full HOSTS file from “MVPS Hosts”… and just letting HostsMan keep ‘em constantly up-to-date. Beyond that all you have to learn how to do is use HostsMan to either add blocked sites to the exclusion list if you really want to be able to get at ‘em; and add sites to the HOSTS file if you want to block ‘em… both manual processes. After so doing, you also need to remember to manually flush the DNS cache (through HostsMan), too. You should also never allow HostsMan to “optimize” the HOSTS file, because it just puts like five to eight web sites on a line in the file, which makes it very difficult to findand edit stuff if you ever need to. And, finally, you should configure HostsMan to only merge updated HOSTS files into the existing one, rather than overwrite it; else any additions or exclusions you make between updates will just be lost.

  These all-freeware tools that I’ve herein listed combine, on my machine, to become a sort of pseudo-suite of defenses which, I kid you not, so works that, honestly, nothing bad has gotten through to my machine in literally years. And I mean NOTHING.

  And not just any other tools will do, by the way. My not including such as, for example, the venerable “Spybot Search & Destroy” or Lavasoft’s “Ad-Aware.” Both of those were king-of-the-hill once… but no longer. SuperAntiSpyware is better than either of them, especially of augmented by Malware Bytes. Malware Bytes, in fact, now has the best “zero day” detection — in other words, the best ability to detect malware that’s so new that it’s not even in any of the big anti-malware companies’ databases yet — among even paid/commercial apps of its type. Its database of malware is smaller than SuperAntiSpyware’s, but it can actually sometimes detect ever bit as much stuff as SuperAntiSpyware because it’s so capable of determining that something’s probably malware, even if it’s not quite sure exactly what kind. That used to be Norton AntiVirus’s big parlor trick, but other anti-malware has since caught-up.

  So don’t assume you can substitute anything. My list is what it is. Change any of it, or don’t use it like you should, and all bets are off.

  Let CIS, HostMan, SiteAdvisor, Ad-Block-Plus, and Do-Not-Track-Plus just sit there and do their thing. Then use Spyware Blaster to manually update and then “innoculate” at least monthly.

  Then do weekly, manual whole-system scans for malware using both Malware Bytes and then SuperAntiSpyware… probably in that order.

  …but at some point this should all be EASY, forgodsake… right?

  I’d love to tell you that there’s just one really cool freeware product out there that does it all, and does it well…

  …but then I’d be lying.

  Sorry. Computers are what they are; and they’re chiefly a pain in the rear to properly (and that’s the operative word) maintain.

  Such is life.

  Hope that helps!

  (username withheld)

  Napa, California USA
  

  jasray

• Glad I use Linux–never have had a problem for years, and never have had to deal with the long lists of programs to keep Windows safe. Linux was sort of a pain earlier in my life, but now that Windows Live is out along with Google Docs and Zoho, I’m not missing anything that I, personally, need. Wow! Good luck Windows users–sound like more time is spent protecting the dang thing than running it.

• Damo

  I have tried comodo and roboscan and I got to say roboscan is very good light and quick on picking up viruses and to be honest the only ad that you get from them is to upgrade to the pro and I really dont minde it at all. The differents between the free and pro are only 2 things reg scanner and a temp file cleaner anf for those things you can get free easy. so for me I would go with roboscan

[Roger D]

Do you really think that someone has that much time to read this line by line just for having fun..? :doh: :doh: :doh:

[smallhagrid]

It took me less than 5 minutes to read that & to get some good info from it:

Do you really think that someone has that much time to read this line by line just for having fun..? :doh: :doh: :doh:

And using that (less than) 5 minutes for that did not harm anyone in any manner - least of all myself.

The response of '...that much time...' reminds me of someone I had the (dis)pleasure to work for (for a short while, nights) doing some interior repair work.

He was well educated, well employed, had a huge house, new car and spent every minute after work & before bedtime either watching TV, playing video games, or harshly criticizing FB 'friends' at any opportunity, calling them stupid all the time, right out loud for me to hear as I worked.

This same person was also always 'JUST TOO BUSY' to change the wiper blades on his car, and so had the mechanic put on blades that would cost under $20 to buy - and for this he paid over $100 a few times a year, while bitterly complaining of being broke and having no savings to retire on soon.

I may be one of those stupid ones he was always hollering about, but it seems to me that anybody who is THAT smart and who has 8-9 hours daily to drop on stuff like that could also easily have managed the 5 minutes it takes to change a set of wiper blades without even needing any tools to do it - and kept that cash in his pocket instead.

But I guess being as dumb as I am, I just cannot comprehend enough about somebody as special and important as that guy...?!

(And besides I can't complain=> he paid me to do work that any monkey could have done - so I made out OK on the deal.)

Edited August 1, 2013 by smallhagrid

[STEEL]

:lol:

[smallhagrid]

If interested (and not too busy for a few minutes of reading) here is another LOOOONG :unsure: :lol: opinion article about free security s/w.

(Once again, I find the reader comments to be very interesting...)

This article just came out.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/best-free-antivirus-for-windows

[bgood]

in reference to hosts file..

http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

not sure who provided the link probably from here..site links for versions 127.0.01 or 0.0.0.0

Cheers!

[Alanon]

I agree with most of the things the guy has mentioned, I also apply the basic principle he mentioned. HostsMan is a terrific app which will update and manage the hosts in a jiffy. AdMuncher is system wide, and thus better than ABP, Sandboxie is always there, the add-ons too, but Comodo stops my PC dead, so anything is better than that. xD