Samanda Rawando <
[email protected]> wrote:
Do I gather from this newsthread that the TOP-FIVE recommended freeware
programs for both spyware and privacy protection are the following?
==================================================================
TOP-5 ANTISPYWARE FREEWARE:
==================================================================
- Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.05
...
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware
- Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta 1
...
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
...
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads
==================================================================
TOP-5 PRIVACY FREEWARE:
==================================================================
- CCleaner 1.19.108 (Crap Cleaner)
...
http://www.ccleaner.com
- EasyCleaner 2.0
...
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
==================================================================
These are all good programs that provide a certain degree of privacy
from the inside. There are other tools, such as encryption tools that
protect files or can make encrypted volumns that are even more secure.
One other approack to enhance internal security is to buy a gig of ram
(the quality stuff is very affordable) and totally disabling the swap
file. With a gig of ram you won't need a swapfile in most cases and it
can be easily enabled when image processing or something like that is
being done. In this case sensitive data is enclosed within the temp
files the programs above will clean, rather than scattered all over
the hard disk. A new disk with a large cache is another purchase
worthy, as the cache works to enhance machine speed to make up for the
swap file.
But, until a machine is hardened as much as possible from outside
attacks I'm not certain that the above tools will render the degree of
true success they are capable of providing. This is a cat and mouse
game. The attackers are sophisticated and develop another way to
exploit Windows after previous holes are plugged.
While Microsoft has provided "nominal" resources to help protect
machines and users (and they better than anyone have the dedicated
resources to apply) the offerings are pretty slim. They recommend
Spybot and Adaware... free of charge... to make their OS and browser
safer. Strange, eh?
I haven't seen much from the AntiSpyware beta yet. I don't even know
it's there. I did just do a fresh image reinstall and I have already
found a trojan that made its way in somehow. These hide in the
inaccessible folders in XP, so Antivir could not scan it. I found it
using a Boot CD, which makes all files available for a scan to detect
and remove it.
One MS program that does impress me is the MS Baseline Security
Analyzer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.mspx
I'd recommend grabbing this, double clicking the .msi file to install
and scanning the PC. I found several updates that I skipped that allow
exploits, mostly Office updates. There are Messenger, MSN and Media
Player exploits I had not patched, as I use none of these and I used
Gibsons program to kill the messenger. Even unused, the vulnerable
programs are still present and I guess need to be patched. The above
tool will show a list and makes it pretty easy to grab the required
patches.
I also found that after all of my tinkering I had a telnet service
running to the outside world. It was a quick configuration change that
the program. This is a thumbs up program free from MS! I have no idea
how I made this oversight, but the Baseline Security program was quick
to point it out and guide me to fix it.
I also installed and recommend Ewido Security Suite to add better
protection from exploits:
http://www.ewido.net/en/download/
Very solid!
And I got Adaware. I wasn't really concerned until I saw how many
tracking cookies and such my kids accumulated. I generally don't
venture to such sites myself, but this is another very useful tool. I
thought that spyware and exploits were my main concern. I think it
best to cover all of the bases now.
Spyware Guard is another small program that I just added:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html
All JavaSoft Downloads: (great programs!)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/downloads.html
A good firewall and anti-virus progran are very necessary. Here are
the PL 2005 offerings:
http://pricelesswarehome.org/2005/PL2005SECURITY.php
A boot CD is a very valuable tool to free all disk files for a scan.
There is no where for malware to hide when booting from a CD and
running scans. It's a fairly complicated process, but it is well worth
the effort. This will give a slim, but full XP boot with a GUI and
many tools. I use AntiVir and find that I can update the definitions
before CD booting and use that version, rather than the version on the
CD with outdated files to scan.
Create an XP boot CD:
http://www.ubcd4win.com/
I'm "trying" to make a page describing the steps more concisely. That
is a rather difficult task though. I've made so many coasters that I
need to play more before I try and list the steps...
Print the directions and have a go at it though. I rate this as my
number one tool to ensure integrity, remove malware, and to image and
restore my XP partition. Data recovery from NTFS for damaged
partitions is also possible with this CD.
