keeping laptop safe

[bluesfloyd]

hi, guys

i am using windows 10, and firefox browser, avast anti virus, and malwarebytes,

what other programs/software would you guys use to keep my laptop very safe???

do you think windows 10 firewall is good to keep or would you guys recommend a change???

thanks for you time,

bluesfloyd

 

[ubuysa]

First off, if you're using Avast anti-virus and Malwarebyte's Pro (the paid for version) you're making a big mistake. You should only have one real-time anti-virus engine running. Of course, if you mean Avast! real-time and Malwarebyte's on-demand scanner, then that's perfectly fine.

What Internet security you use depends largely on what sort of a user you are. If you're a pretty safety conscious user, not opening email attachments, avoiding iffy websites, not experimenting with lots of different software, etc. then good anti-virus (which you have) and the Windows firewall is probably all you need. The Windows 10 firewall is very configurable, though personally I would set it to block ALL inbound connections (it's not by default). That's probably the safest change you can make to any firewall (unless you like remote access of course).

I have a lot of added security in my browser (a Chromium variant) including ScriptBlock (which lets me control JavaScript with a whitelist) FlashBlock (which lets me control Flash with a whitelist) Vanilla Cookie Manager (which lets me keep only those cookies in a whitelist) and HTTPS Everywhere (which ensures the added security of https when available). I also block adds and scripts with both UBlock Origin and Ghostery. There is some overlap between ScriptBlock, Ghostery and Ublock Origin but I'm quite happy with that, it causes no issues and is a sort of 'belt and braces'.

I'm not your typical user, I'm a techie. I go where sensible people shouldn't on the web, I experiment a lot with third party software, and I like to tinker and dabble - that's how I learn. Thus I need a very reliable security suite which is why I have used Comodo Internet Security free (CIS) for many, many years. CIS includes an automatic sandbox, so that all unknown programs and processes run in the sandbox where they have no access to the real computer. CIS also contains a host intrusion protection system (HIPS) which gives me complete control over what computer resources any program is allowed to access. There is also a standard signature and heuristics based anti-virus and a very configurable firewall.

All this allows me to run a 'default deny' philosophy (where no programs or processes get access to any real resources unless I have allowed them) without getting masses of security popups. The sandbox also protects me against all zero-day malware, because the automatic sandbox of unknown programs and processes traps them in the sandbox where they can do no harm. A security suite like CIS does however need setting up and configuring properly and this means you need to understand how the Internet works and how computer resources are used and allocated.

I would not recommend CIS to an average (or novice) user, frankly Windows Defender and the Windows Firewall are plenty good enough, but for techies who like to venture into the dark side CIS is unbeatable in my opinion.

 

[bluesfloyd]

hi, ubuysa
big thanks for all the help above,
i am told to keep window 10 updated, all software/programs and all drivers updated, which will help protect my laptop,

my windows 10 is set to automatic update, so that should be ok, yes/no?

i can run a feature in avast for out of date software, so i think that covers software/programs updates, yes/no?

but how do i check if all the drivers are updated? is there software that could check this for me? please explain,
thanks guys for your time to help,
bluesfloyd.

 

[keynes]

i can run a feature in avast for out of date software, so i think that covers software/programs updates, yes/no?

I wouldn't suggest using a third party software for updates.

but how do i check if all the drivers are updated?

why checking? unless there is a problem I wouldn't bother

 

[ubuysa]

I agree completely with keynes. I would stay away from all third party update software. Use the update feature within each application. Windows update will keep Windows features updated of course.

Drivers only interface the hardware with Windows and if your devices are working fine then leave them alone. The only time you really need to update a driver is if you're having problems with the device or if you need a feature that's introduced by a new version of the driver. That said, you'll probably find that Windows Update will update some drivers automatically, whilst this is not actually necessary it's not a problem either.

Don't forget to take regular backups, both of your data and your Windows system drive. I take a scheduled (automatic) daily backup image of my system drive (using Macrium Reflect free) which protects me against any malware that gets past my security system (none ever has) and against problems with program updates, Windows updates or driver updates. I also take a scheduled (automatic) daily backup of changes to my data drive (using SyncBackSE) so that all my data is secure. These go to a permanently attached (and strongly secured) external drive. In addition, I take a manual image of my system drive and a backup of all my user data to an external drive that is otherwise never attached (just in case of a ransomware infection).

You simply cannot have too many backups nor take them too often.