Lots to Consider--firewalls, HIPS, anti-malware, etc.

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Brand new Avast Home user. I just spent the better part of an hour reviewing the forums reading about the best free firewall (lots of opinions) and the best add-on to Avast. It sounds like there are multiple firewall options (OA, Outpost, Comodo, PC Tools).

Then, there’s lots of information about anti-spyware, anti-malware, HIPS, plus others (SAS, MBAM, SD, ST, Boclean, threatfire, etc.)

My question is this (and it’s going to create some controversy, I think)–

What one thing (free) would you add to Avast in terms of a resident program to add-on for security protection? Let’s assume that you already have a hardware firewall and a software firewall (without HIPS) and you’re running Windows XP.

Would it be BOClean, Threatfire, Win Patrol, MBAM, SAS, Spyware Blaster, Spybot, GesWall or something else?

Oh, one more thing, let’s not answer Sandboxie or a virtual solution. While I have Sandboxie installed, I hardly ever use it.

I look forward to your responses.

2

No one as resident… or, Win Patrol and Spyware Blaster (immunization).
MBAM and SAS are good on-demand.

3

Thanks for your reply.

I do use MBAM, SAS, Spybot, and Spyware Terminator all on-demand. My question really was about resident applications.

To be honest, your answer was a little confusing. At first, I thought you were saying you’d add nothing to Avast in terms of resident protection. Then, you added Win Patrol. (Spywareblaster is not resident, as you know. It’s a lot like Spybot’s immunization.) Let’s agree that both Spybot’s immunization and Spywareblaster are good prevention tools and should be used.

So, are you saying you’d add nothing or are you saying you’d add Win Patrol as resident?

4

You can use WinPatrol but, honestly, the protection is not that much added to avast one…

5

WinPatrol is resident and can be auto started with Windows and the Scotty watchdog icon will be in the Taskbar.

6

YoKenny (BTW…love the name…same as mine)–So, does that mean that you recommend using WinPatrol along side Avast? If so, would that be your top choice? If not, what would you recommend as resident along side Avast?

7

Does avast assist with?

  • Removing and Disabling Startup Programs
  • IE Helpers - Browser Helper Objects - Toolbars
  • Scheduled Tasks
  • Services Manager
  • Removing Active Tasks
  • Expose Hidden Files
  • Cookie Management and Filtering
  • Monitoring and Restoring File Type Associations
  • Options - Host File/Start Page Monitoring
8

I do not have a top choice as I believe in Layered Defense where each application monitors a different part of the system and can monitor if something tries to modify the system behind you back.

9

This is cleaning, not protection as I’ve said. If you stay with WinPatrol only you can get a lot of infections. If you stay only with avast, much less than, imho. Of course, as I’ve said, you can use both. But protection won’t be that much added. Don’t misunderstand me, I’ve translated WinPatrol and it’s a good tool, just that I’m not pretty confident on the protection level.