What is your security setup?

Here's mine:

Anti-Virus: Malwarebytes Premium (lifetime license)
Ad-Blocker: uBlock Origin
SUPERAntiSpyware, I don't use it for scanning for malware but only for the sake of getting rid of tracking cookies.
VPN: hide.me

 

AV: NOD32
Browser: uBlock origin, Privacy Badger

Most importantly: OOSU10, WPD, Sledgehammer

 

Main browser Firefox (anti-tracking) + uBlock Origin & NoScript.
MS Defender. Malwarebytes (periodical full scans).
+ hosts & firewall entries. w10 O&O su10. CCleaner daily.
& just as important imo, regular (Reflect) images on external media.

So far so good.

 

What's the cost of the lifetime license?
Also, where do people stand regarding UnHackMe nowadays? Is it good to run it side-by-side with NOD32 AV?

I currently run these:
Anti-Virus: ESET NOD32 (annoyingly, random people have used my license keys possibly through generators or whatever)
Ad-Blocker: uBlock Origin
VPN: NordVPN, Mudfish
Other Security Measures: OOSU10, WPD, Windows Update Blocker, and other W10 tweaks (mostly Windows Update blockers)

 

They don't sell lifetime licenses anymore. Those were sold long back before they turned into a subscription-based model.

I have 3, I can sell you one for 100 USD if you wish.

 

AV: Windows Defender. I have Malwarebytes free as an on-demand scanner but seldom use it.
Ad blocker: AdGuard
VPN: Surfshark

 

Ah, right. I still have a few years on my NOD32 license, so maybe next time.

Anything re: UHM? I'm tempted to get it as it's a lifetime license as well (but not really an AV).

 

re: UHM? What do you mean?

 

IIRC, it used to be one of the tools used to check stuff on your computer. I was wondering if it's still a good tool, or if it was just hyped back then.

 

Evaluate your content blocker with Ad Block Tester ghacks.net | April 26, 2021

Ad Block Tester is a free service on the Internet to evaluate content blocking solutions. It is not designed to be a benchmark, but it reveals the level of blocking against a set of hosts that are very popular.

Just visit the Ad Block Tester website to get started. The test runs for a couple of seconds before the results are displayed. You get a percentage score, e.g. 84% of hosts blocked, and a list of blocked and allowed hosts afterwards.

Anti-Virus: ESET NOD32
Ad-Blocker: uBlock Origin
WUB - O&O Shutup - WPD - Privatezilla

 

So, what do I need to do in order to get better blocking protection?

[edit]I added some Firefox extensions to block ads, and it's a much better score/percentile. But to be honest, (and maybe it's because I don't use websites with ads), but I've never noticed a problem with them in the first place.

 

This is my adblocking score:

 

Fun to try out and test different adblockers etc :O)

Firefox + nothing = 68% (why 68?)
FF + nothing + hosts\firewall disabled = 66%
FF + noscript = 95%
FF + ublock origin = 100%
FF + noscript + ublock origin = 100%
FF + adguard = 85%
FF + adguard + noscript = 100%
FF + adblocker ultimate = 100%
FF + privacy badger = 82%
FF + privacy badger + noscript = 95%
FF + adaware = 74%
FF + adaware + noscript = 97%

Vivaldi + nothing = 68% (why 68?)
Vivaldi + nothing + hosts\firewall disabled = 66%
Vivaldi + ublock origin = 100%

 

From Deskmodder... "Addendum: I have to revise the Opera test. I simply forgot to activate Block Tracker. Value afterwards = 77%."

Perform the Adblock Test quickly once - How well does the browser block advertising

 

Spoiler: PC

PC:

Spoiler: Phone

Phone:

 

If you have to disable Tap to pay NFC feature when its locked. How does rooting benefit modern android phone?

 

I am not sure what you mean. I have that disabled anyway because I don't want it as a feature and do not use it.

I would want the phone rooted even if there were no benefits because it's my property and I want to do things my way. Same reason I find value and derive satisfaction from having an unlocked computer BIOS and all features accessible. I get to do what I want, how I want, and not have someone else deciding everything for me. That said, I do use a few apps that require root access for full functionality though. But, I would want it rooted even if that were not the case. I resent having my access to anything restricted if I own it. The owner should always have god mode access to everything.

 

So Oneplus are fine with rooting and honoring warranty?
Knox gets tripped on samung galaxy devices upon rooting, similarly on Nokia/HMD phone they refuse to honor warranty that's why I stopped rooting. Usually Xiaomi, Oppo does allow users to restore their device before submitting phone for repair and they do honor warranty even after rooting, so I went with a pixel phone.

 

Precision 3520:
IOBit Malware Fighter Pro
Malwarebytes Free
Windows Defender Periodic.

MS Edge Chromium w/ AdGuard
Blocking: 100%

Spoiler

===========EDIT==============

Incrementals Forever backup plan w/ Macrium Reflect Home Edition on to a 4TB WD Elements external.

===========EDIT 2============
Bah, I keep forgetting to add things.

VPN: AVG Secure VPN.

 

It certainly seems like it. Google Pixel and One Plus phones are famous for being root-friendly devices. There is no reason for the warranty to be affected by rooting the OS unless the company is dishonest and looking for lame excuses to not stand behind products they sell. (Which seems to be a very common bad business behavior in the world we live in.) That would be like saying the warranty on your car is voided because you put in an aftermarket stereo or different wheels.

Edit: Seems that my assumption was correct It's not a problem for OnePlus, even though it may be for some of their dishonest competitors. If it was an issue for them, they wouldn't likely leave everything unlocked for their customers to enjoy.

https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/does-rooting-void-warranty.857243/

 

In India I think 90% of the phones warranty gets voided due to BL unlock or rooting. I have heard Redmi service center ask users to reset to factory settings via their phone recovery software on windows or linux. On samsung BL unlock kills the Samsung knox security feature and only option is to swap mobo.
Here Changing stereo or hud (Carplay/Android auto thing) kills your warranty. I've not seen the voided warranty on using aftermarket tyres. There is also FW locks that prevents reverse park cameras from working or even entire firmware, I don't even know what its called.

 

We certainly live in a time where technology giants assume liberties as self-anointed control freaks. They venture into areas that are simply none of their business and outside the scope of where they should, can, and do exercise control. The manufacturer should not do anything to interfere with or block end-user autonomy to do as they wish with a product that has been purchased. If the action taken by an end-user does not cause physical damage or failure of the hardware it should be none of their business and have no effect on the warranty. They should otherwise remain liable for any hardware failures and workmanship for the full duration of the warranty.

If something is done by an end-user that results in a situation requiring replacement or repair of damaged hardware, the need for re-flashing of firmware, or reinstalling the OS, the manufacturer should charge for the work they do and any parts they use to fix it. They are entitled to be paid for their work. That work should not be provided for free or expected to be covered under warranty, but the warranty itself should not be voided simply because someone did something they don't approve of or did not authorize. Their approval should never be viewed as necessary, nor should anyone seek their authorization for anything.

 

The bloat madness in Antivirus software bundles continue and reach a new low. Yep, we are in June and not 1. April

Antivirus Provider NortonLifelock Gets Into Cryptocurrency Mining pcmag.com

NortonLifeLock adds an Ethereum mining function to its paid antivirus product, Norton 360.
The upcoming feature may seem out of place, but according to NortonLifeLock, it serves a security purpose. The company says that many users will download “unvetted” crypto-mining programs to their PCs in their quest to cash in on the virtual currencies. However, the same programs can contain malware, or be rigged to secretly skim earnings.

Ethereum community is working to phase out GPU-intensive mining in the coming months. So the feature may be short-lived, although Norton could migrate the mining to another cryptocurrency.

 

Perfect so Norton, which was once called an AntiVirus, now has a built in firewall, system optimizer, registry cleaner, disk defragmenter that will defragment and destroy your SSD because it doesn't know the difference between an SSD and an HDD like the Windows built in Optimize and Defrag tool which only runs a TRIM command on an SSD, and now Cryptocurrency! Next step, it will order your McDonald's Egg McMuffins the moment you open your eyes

 

That's what the kiddos want for their anemic/anorexic turdbooks. They thrive when they are spoon-fed.

 

Did you get rid of it? I won't change AV before eset do something equal stupid. And I won't touch Microsoft's. Better be without than support madness.

 

Stock Windows, Stock Security FTW!

 

I use Windows Defender along with Configure Defender.

 

It seems Avast have done a good work with their Antivirus software Maybe spend less time on ads and spyware in CCLEANER and instead put the work on their core products? Or maybe I'm wrong... Spyware and ads for resale is now their new core product for the future.

Crackonosh Malware Bypasses Antivirus Software And Enslaves PCs To Mine Cryptocurrency hothardware.com

As it goes, crime never pays, and neither does pirating software, as some people on the internet have come to find out. In the last year, there have been reports that popular antivirus programs, like Avast, disappeared from users’ computers. Researchers at the Czech company found that this activity was tied to a new malware called “Crackonosh,” which comes bundled with illegally downloaded copies of popular software.

Among many other people, Reddit user /u/Well-oh-well reported that a new Windows 10 laptop booted with an error, restarted, and then came back as normal. After that, however, the “Avast Antivirus shortcut icon was blank and sure enough the avast folder in my programs folder was totally empty.”

 

Windows Defender is damn effective. You don't need to delete files yourself anymore. M$ own home brewed antivirus software fix it automatically for you.

• Windows 10 users are not at all pleased with the actions triggered by the latest Windows Defender update.
• Apparently. following the July 2021 update, Microsoft's built-in security tool starts deleting certain source code and exe files.
• Windows Defender flagged a copy of the popular DeCSS DVD encryption software as a Trojanquarantined it, deleting it after another 60 seconds.
• Other antivirus software such as Kaspersky finds absolutely nono threat, while on VirusTotal, 32 out of 72 engines also misidentify this as malicious.

https://windowsreport.com/windows-defender-deletes-programming-files/

 

I exclude everything except C:\ from detection regardless of what antivirus is installed. Anything I put on a drive that is not the OS drive is something I intend to keep and use again later, and I don't care what the antivirus software might think about those files. They are none of its business.

 

I wonder when Win Defender will start delete important system files for the OS so everything goes black

 

Folks, it looks like this deal is going to end in a day or less. I just snagged it.

AdGuard lifetime subscription for 9 devices for $29.99 USD and BitDuJour will issue a $10 store credit later. So, in effect, $20 USD. I use AdGuard on everything. It's like AdblockPlus on steroids.

https://bitsdujour.stacksocial.com/sales/adguard-family-plan-lifetime-subscription

It says "this plan is available only to new users" - I have registered it to my existing AdGuard account without issue. It is in the list with my other lifetime licenses.

@Papusan @Spartan@HIDevolution @saturnotaku - if I remember correctly, all of you are using it as well and may need more licenses for family members.

 

If you have a spare PC laying around you could do ALL devices with pihole for free. Just need to ad the lists and point your DHCP to that IP you assign for DNS.

 

I don't have a spare device, but does pihole allow you to selectively point and click to choose what elements to block on a web page?

For example... normal visitors see this...

I hide that crap...

Then I see this (nothing). And, I can hide any elements on a page that I don't want to see.

Here's another common site that has ads plastered all over it that I have selectively removed from view. Even the placeholders where ads would normally appear are removed.

Or this... ad blocked... in first screenshot

Place for blocked ad to exist is totally nuked...

 

You don't have to select elements as the curated adlists you import to it cover the majority of domains in which they're injected from. You can go through query log and select individual hits and one click add. If you want to block them by keyword you can add a regex that covers a domain or keyword.

https://firebog.net/
https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts
https://github.com/JavanXD/ya-pihole-list/blob/master/adlists.list.updater
https://github.com/mmotti/pihole-regex/blob/master/regex.list




Some Regex entries


Some wildcard entries using regex for wildcard


Using:
((^)|(.))whatevert0block((.)|($))
blocks by what's in the text portion there's a match in the URL before the / following the .com /.net./ .org

Using the keyword method is a bit lazier than adding the whole domain but, it's more efficient than looking for the match if you have a long list of domains.


Apples to Apples / Speedtest.net


The ad elements being blocked / not spawned per the HTML injections are noted in red.


There are common offenders across multiple sites that are used like pubmatic / scorecard. Since SPT.net is hosted by Ziff the biggest target would be the cdn.ziffstatic.net as the source for most of the ads being displayed on the page.

If you wanted to banket block CDN domains you could do a keyword entry in the blacklist and then whitelist sites you visit as needed. I've taken this approach before but it's a bit overkill if you visit a ton of different sites you would need to whitelist them as you go to new sites to get them to load / format correctly. You could also take the adlists from the links above and put them into your /etc/hosts file on Windows and get the same functionality minus the regex catch all options. For that kind of setup I'd use Notepad++ to sort and delete duplicates to minimize things a bit.

 

Seems like a truly fantastic option if you have a spare computer to use for that purpose and the time and knowledge/patience to set it up and maintain it, and an unused place to put it. Probably more of a solution for people that enjoy doing PC nerd things like some of us do.

AdGuard is not free, but neither is the hardware option. AdGuard is going to be easier for most people. The cost of a lifetime license (less than $4.00 USD per unit based on the sale price) will be less expensive than the extra electricity cost over time.

AdGuard also works on mobile data networks on both Android and iOS.

 

https://privacyinternational.org/guide-step/4341/raspberry-pi-setup-and-run-pi-hole

https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/ $35 for the board
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/17376?src=raspberrypi - $70 for a completed build / Just add an SD card w/ PIos on it

Completing a build for under $100 is possible rather than repurposing an old PC and lower energy consumption using USB-C to power it.

If you want to get nerdy and solder stuff together there's an option for that but, there's take it out of the box and configure it options as well. It depends on how much effort you want to put into it or how much you're willing to spend on it.

As for maintenance though once you upload the lists to the pihole it can automatically check / update them daily and apply changes automatically to block additional domains. Changing the DNS assignment on your router to the IP you assign to the PI is easy and takes 2 seconds to change. Once the PI is setup you manage it through a webpage just like your router.

Since PI is working on the network level and not dependent on the device IOS / Android / Windows / Linux / MacOS it doesn't matter because it's not installed on each of those. If you're mobile you could send your DNS to your home network using your public IP or just use the free options to block ads.

 

Yup, I know all that is possible, and it is awesome that you have the knowledge and skill to tackle it. Most people are not going to want to get that involved with things though, when there is a nearly free option available that requires little effort and almost no special knowledge or skill. Unless it is something you are passionate about and enjoy doing, that is probably not gonna happen.

 

I'll give you that!

Chances are though if they're working with adblockers / hosts files it's not a far fetched idea that they might take the next leap beyond a simple app install. I've tried countless apps over the years and they're all disappointing in how they perform for me at least. Watching some of the news postings there's a bit of lack of trust with using some of them as well. The companies gobbling each other up through mergers makes it harder to track who's behind the curtain pulling the strings. The other consideration is the app's data collection policies and whether you can block their own data collection DNS for more privacy.

 

My security setup is as follows:

Antivirus: Kaspersky Security Cloud (free) + VirusTotal Uploader
Hardening: Standard user, GPO configured mostly according to the Australian Center for Cybersecurity guidelines) + NextDNS blocking/filtering + disabled services + AppLocker rules including DLL rules
Privacy configuration: NextDNS block/filter + W10Privacy paired with disabled services
Browser: Brave Beta with uBlock Origin, NoScript, HTTPS Everywhere, Bitdefender Trafficlight, SkipRedirect etc
VPN: NordVPN with OpenVPN (I think the NordVPN app is pretty terrible while OpenVPN does exactly what I want without being intrusive in any way)

For Android: AdAway together with MinMinGuard. Kiwi Browser with uBlock Origin (Chrome eliminated). Disabled services.

For iOS: Brave Browser with its built-in adblock and a strict "no ad-apps installed" policy (I use smartphones as little as possible and actively avoid apps that show ads unless I can use system wide adblocking). My experience with "no root adblocking" on smartphones isn't good so I rather avoid ad-infested apps.

I don't believe in the idea of paying for something like AdGuard. If the system is so restricted that DNS or hosts blocking can't be used, it's not a system for me and I rather use it with as few apps as possible and rather uninstall an app if I see ads.

 

Just a simple and humble question: Does AdGuard offer anything that NextDNS and/or hosts blocking (not to say uBlock Origin et al) doesn't provide?

The reason I ask is simply because I have seen AdGuard being mentioned in different forums as a "recommended purchase" while I mostly see their blocklists as commonly available (uBlock Origin offer them, NextDNS provide them and so on). So I am just trying to understand what kind of service they really offer in comparison with other solutions including PiHole and router DNS configurations et al.

 

Yes, I used UBlock Origin for years and it was decent. It has a lot of features that UBlock Origin does not. AdGuard is an actual installed application, not a browser extension/plug-in.

 

Emphasis mine.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I see, is this application something that essentially change the DNS to the AdGuard ditto or is there a VPN involved? I got the impression that it sometimes try to circumvent restricted operating systems by routing the traffic over a VPN.

I am mostly into the DNS/hosts blocking way (including configuring DNS block on the router).

 

You can use their VPN, your own or none at all. I use none at all. It is highly configurable and does a lot of things. I am sure you can read more about it on their web site.

 

I will check it out and see for myself.

I got the impression (from smartphone forums that is) that the most common reason to buy AdGuard is in order to use their VPN in order to filter out the ads as a way of compensating for the lack of user access to the hosts file and DNS settings.

 

Yes, I use the VPN on my Android phone, but not my home computers. It works well on both platforms and the price makes it a no-brainer when you can get a lifetime license for less than $5 per device. You can unregister and re-register devices, so the "lifetime" means forever. It is not tied to a single device. If you get a new phone or computer, you just de-register the old one and register the new one.

 

AdGuard VPN is a separate service that requires an additional purchase over and above the software. The software on iOS acts like a VPN in order to get the most comprehensive ad blocking, which I think may be where your confusion is coming in - it's not a "real" VPN in the sense of Nord or similar service. The company has its own DNS servers that anyone can use for free. I've tried them, but they're not entirely compatible with some websites and services I use frequently.

 

I have been reading a bit on their home page. It looks like a kind of vertically integrated content blocker including browser addons with its own network driver for multiple layers of blocking. As a "security suite" it certainly does look better than such "classics" as Norton.

I think I understand its value proposition better now and can see specific use cases where it could come in handy.

Smartphones is a mess when it comes to content blocking, which is the reason I keep using Android 7.1.2 with AdAway and MinMinGuard and then try to keep the amount of apps to an absolute minimum when those tools aren't available.

It would be interesting if AdGuard would make a router with all their blocks in place in order to filter on a network wide level.