What is your current defensive strategy?

For a long time, Ad-Aware and SpyBot Search&Destroy, and SpywareBlaster were highly recommended, along with a good firewall and a good anti-virus...a 'layered defense' strategy.
Recently. Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D seems not to have kept up with the times and and programs such as Superantispyware, Malwarebites...etc..., have replaced the once highly recommended programs.
I had Ad-Aware and Spyboy S&D on my machines for many years but I have gotten rid of them both and now just have Superantispyware and SpywareBlaster, along with my choice of firewall and an anti-virus.
I had a question about the comparison of Superantispyware and SpywareBlaster but jmtjet just beat me to it here:

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...SpywareBlaster

What are your thoughts on Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, and the current recommended 'defenses'?

Down to router, no third party cookies, firewall both windows and Sygate, which is no more and my AV program.

OH, I use Jason's cookie jar to contol them.
Etrusr AV program.

Stay clean.

Don't use adaware or spybot any longer. A/V is NOD32, firewall is Comodo aand I use spywareblaster.

Practice safe surfing habits... Don't use IEX, turn off javascript/activex for sites I'm not familiar with and keep my system updated with patches and hotfixes not only for the OS but for all applications using a handy little program called Secunia PSI

https://psi.secunia.com/ (free/personal edition)

I use text only email (no html) and never open any unsolicited attachments.

Perhaps most importantly, and I consider this my failsafe protection, I use Acronis trueimage to make an image of my complete drive(s) every week so if something does get through or I encounter any sort of software problem I can easily go back to a known state in about 10 minutes with no fuss. Also, the latest version, 11, has a "sandbox" feature that allows you to install new programs in an isolated mounted image to see what happens.. mainly meant for performance/quality issues but equally effective for malware.

As mentioned, IMO, AdAware and Spybot are gone from my PCs. IMO, they bark but just don't have enough bite anymore.

My current security setup (for XP), in no particular order...

Key items include doing 99.9% of my surfing as a Limited User, NOD32, Superantispyware Pro (with real-time scanner active), WinPatrol Plus, ThreatFire, MJ Registry Watcher and free ZoneAlarm.

Behind the scenes are a managed HOSTS file (hphosts), SpywareBlaster, all Windows scripting deactivated, active content turned off in IE (and only use IE for Windows Updates), running NoScript in Firefox (my default browser), running Tiny Watcher periodically to see what has changed and a few more I'm probably forgetting.

The only other thing that I don't run that I feel most should use is McAfee's SiteAdvisor. Since I surf with active content killed, it's unlikely I will be infected by most common methods. But since most users do keep active content running in their browsers, they need help deciding how trustworthy pages on the web are. SiteAdvisor helps by showing safety results in both popular search engines and on the actual web page itself. IMO, SiteAdvisor is more powerful than the filters built into IE or FF (and it seems quicker too.) It may not be perfect (nothing ever is) but it IS a great tool. If one pays attention to it and avoids the yellow and red sites, your chances are MUCH improved that you'll stay in the clear...

Real-time:
Avast AV
Comodo
ThreatFire
WinPatrol
McAfee Site Advisor (so I won't advice any dangerous site to someone else)

Occasionally:
CCleaner
Superantispyware
Malwarebytes

It's interesting to read the different ways that ya'll go about securing & protecting your system. Some go very minimum and some go rather elaborate.

There were a couple of mentions of McAfee site advisor. AVG 8 also has what seems to be the same kind of site advisor.

McAfee and Norton had a bad reputation for clogging up systems and almost causing more harm than good. Have they changed and are they now getting their act together?

What about the e-mail filters built into some of the anti-viruses and other programs...do you think that they do a good job? As careful as I try and be with e-mail, it seems to be a real snaky area where you can get burned...even when you know where the e-mail comes from...a friend or even a reputable web site. So I try and be as safe as I can without getting paranoid about everything.

Fink mentioned his back-up regimen. Boy, I sure need to improve in that area!

steve: AVG 8 is very different than SiteAdvisor. One biggie is that SA won't slow down your surfing. The same can't be said for AVG's Linkscanner. Plus, SA is active on Yahoo Search, Google Search and MSN Search. You can learn a page's rating before even considering going there. Not so with AVG.

Also worth knowing that SA is not McAfee AV. Very different thing. I'm not advocating McAfee AV in any sense.

Email is still dangerous, even with the best of AV's. The best thing is to NEVER open any attachments unless they are expected. Never fall for "look at these crazy photos" and the like. If you think someone you know has sent something like that, email them back and check before opening the questionable mail. Also, make sure email AV scanning is turned on at your email provider. This will give more than one AV scanner a turn at checking it. The more the merrier!

And yes, backups are critical. There are many ways to accomplish it. The key is to do it!

Email scanning is an overkill, IMHO. I never had those enabled.
If anything is malicious in your mail, regular AV engine will pick it up anyway.

If possible, first check your email on line and use the spam filter there.

Sure cuts down on the possibility of garbage {for lack of a better word} getting into your computer.

HAN....Do I assume, then, that it is McAfee's AV stuff that has the bad reputation but their Site Advisor is a good product? I will take a look...

Yes...the AVG linkscanner takes a bit to scan the links and since I'm not usually in a big hurry I guess that I can put up with it.

Site Advisor is a free add-on to your browser. It is unrelated to McAfee's A/V. Versions are available for IE and Firefox. The following site will download the version for the browser you are using. (Or you can select the other version near the center, bottom of the page).

http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/iemedia.html

I no longer use Adaware or Spybot and only use IE under duress :).

My strategy:

• System:
  
  • automatic Windows update on every Patch Tuesday (2nd Tuesday of each month, when Microsoft publishes updates);
  • no software firewall; I'm behind a router which blocks incoming connections, and I don't have any dodgy software to create outgoing connections;
  • monthly immunization with SpyBot Search&Destroy, monthly protection update with SpywareBlaster, both delivered well so far and I have no reason to change;
  • no antivirus running in background, other than the trimestrial online scan with TrendMicro's Housecall.
• User:
  
  • no piracy;
  • no downloads from untrusted sources (never venture out of download.com, tucows.com, snapfiles.com, SourceForge and the website of software development company - Microsoft, Corel, Adobe, and such);
  • no unsolicited e-mail attachments are opened;
  • no dodgy websites (p0rn, warez, pirated materials), and definitely no surfing with Internet Explorer.

There are 3 ways I could get infected with something:

• without my intervention: worm that exploits a vulnerability in the operating system - covered with regular updates and firewall in router;
• as a direct result of my action: opening an e-mail attachment, accepting and opening a file sent via IM, opening files from untrusted sources on CD/DVD/stick - covered with the "act smart" policy;
• as an indirect result of my action: accessing a website which installs malware on my system - covered through periodic third party immunization, not using Internet Explorer, and not accessing the grey/black undergrounds of the Internet.

All covered with a fairly low maintenance effort for an excellent security track over the years.

I have cable broadband and have both computers connected thru the cable modem. I have been thinking about getting a router... and having the router as a hardware firewall would be a good advantage.

I currently use IE6 but have had FF and Opera that I used for a while. I guess that I just got used to IE6....have my favorites lined up on the toolbar like I want them...real simple. I guess that I didn't use FF or Opera long enough to get accustomed to how they have the tabbed browsing set up so I drifted back to just IE6. I don't use IE7...never had any problems with IE6.

I have never ( to my knowledge..:) ) been infected by any worm, malware, virus, etc...My anti-virus and firewall and other defenses have occasionally stopped some nasties from trying to get to me... so I hope that my defenses and surfing habits continue to keep me safe.

I keep Spyware Blaster updated...have the latest Microsoft updates...run my Comodo scanner occasionally, even when I have it set to auto scan daily. I also run Superantispyware occasionally and it usually catches lots of cookies and a few things that SpywareBlaster misses.

Malwarebytes and Superantispy, Free for both, looks like the new combination.

They worked GREAT on a clients rig today.