Recommendations for a Windows 7 security program?

I recently transitioned from Windows XP to 7. I invested in a new XPS 8500 desktop and run KIS 2014 as my security software. I discovered that windows 7 is a security mess and I need to harden my security before I go online. I want to prevent user access to drives and files. I am a newbie to windows 7, but it appears that even though you can reduce user access to files by reducing permissions, it doesn't stop accessing the files and permissions in other ways (command line execution, etc.).

I went through the security category on MG's and picked out all of the "5" rated programs dealing with file and drive locking security I could find. For instance:
1. WinGuard Pro 2014 8.9.2.3
2. WinLock 6.1.2

I selected these out of the listing because they either allow me to encrypt the data on a drive (Winguard Pro) or they allow me to deny access to the drive (Winlock).

I see that Winguard Pro has 107 votes and Winlock has 30. That is not quite enough votes from users to make me comfortable.

I was hoping the MajorGeeks tech team would have recommendations for a program that they have found to be most effective to help lock down the security for Windows 7.

 

I take it you are looking for something more advanced than an antivirus then?

Unless you are visiting dodgy sites, frequently download from torrent sites or are the target of hackers not much is needed to keep yourself secure. I personally turn off firewalls, AV or any programs that interfere with my connection when I play online games & recommend such measures to my friends since it's not necessary. I do however understand the importance of keeping bank details, security data or precious data safe.

I let BitDefender Total Security handle my needs & have done for a while now, there are tools to keep passwords safe, social media protection, file encryption, a password keeper, the list goes on & I find allot of it surplus to my requirements. I initially decided to go for it because it has a game mode (i.e off) & a great detection rate. I also use Advanced System Care to take care of the registry & other menial cleaning tasks (it also has a huge list of handy tools).

I find the best way to deal with viruses & other nasties is to avoid them, prevention is way easier than the cure. Just take a look at the malware section if you don't believe me :-D

:major2-BIT-GEEK:major

 

Hi 2-bit,

Yeah, I am looking for something more advanced than anti-virus.

I don't know what your experience is, but you can easily get a virus/malware/spyware on sites that don't appear "dodgy". I am not actually a gamer, and so am not concerned with getting something unpleasant from a gaming site.

As I said in my original post, "I was hoping the MajorGeeks tech team would have recommendations for a program that they have found to be most effective to help lock down the security for Windows 7."

It doesn't sound like you have any experience with software that locks down the systems on window 7 to resist penetration by an attacker? I Googled this topic and IT professionals around the world consider the window 7 overlapping security confusing and difficult to configure for real security.

IT professionals responsible for managing large networks used a program called "steady state" to lock down their systems and prevent attack. Now Microsoft says that Server 8 needs to be used with Windows 7 to make it "Bullet Proof" (Microsoft's term). The individual user won't have access to Server 8 and Microsoft in their security whitepaper admits that there is no way for the individual to replicate the secure computing environment created by steady state.

This can all be Googled if you want to verify it.

I am interested in getting this done now, not weeping about it later after my system has been damaged or my money stolen.

But if MajorGeeks doesn't really have any experience with these software tools, then I guess they don't! I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for getting reliable reviews on these products. Finding out how good (or not) these products are by trial and error is painful and expensive.

I appreciate the MajorGeeks website! I tell my friends about it and it is the first place I go to when I am looking for software tools.

Thanks!

 

Hi my friend , welcome to MG's :major

The most important think is the safe search than the antivirus programme , antivirus is weak if you don't be careful about the sites you visit , but you have to create a useful cd , avira rescue for instance checking your machine , you could create this cd

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php...threadID=82163

burning with ( from clean computer )

http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html

inspecting your computer once in a while :wave

 

I used Windows 7 from Beta through Release Candidate, to release & I have never had any kind of serious problem. A simple combo of good virus protection & not visiting sites covered in adds that throw popups in your face.

Maybe if you explain why you need such OTT protection it might make sense, but the worst thing you'd encounter online is a hacker & even the likes of AOL have been hacked so good luck stopping that.

My data is as precious to me as the next guy, the usual photo's, videos, handy programs etc. They all live on a backup HDD which is scanned by Bitdefender while it's idle, and if the worst should happen I have the full set of drivers & utilities backed up (or just run from that HDD). My eggs are split between 2 secure baskets :-D

All you'll do with file encryption, paranoid security levels & impenetrable firewalls is slow your system down allot. Encryption isn't enough anyway, there are usually back doors for file recovery & when you delete an encrypted file there will be a cleartext backup somewhere, take a look at this article.

:major2-BIT-GEEK:major

 

Very bad advice, IMO. I would never recommend anyone turn off their firewall. If you find a firewall negatively affects your gaming, then that's a decision you can make for yourself, but advising Internet users to not run a firewall as a general policy is simply bad advise.

I'm not a gamer so I don't know whether your assertion that a firewall affects your gaming is valid. However, I believe the notion that a firewall noticeably slows the typical non-gamers computing experience is simply not true.

 

I would never advise people to turn off their firewall. I simply suggest to my friends (who have similarly slow internet speeds to myself) they should close their browser & turn off firewalls. You are not going to pick up viruses from MMORPGS or FPS (other than insomnia :-D), but having an active firewall can slow down or even prevent programs from running. I would also never suggest anyone outside of my friends do that anyway as it's not worth the backlash if they leave chrome open & blame me for the outcome. I guess if you take it out of context it's going to look like bad advise.

Back on topic though, high security is a barrier that just gets in the way, unless you need it that is. I've turned up my security a few times to see the difference & it scans everything before you open it, flags every .exe file as a potential threat (there is a .exe in everything these days) which is known as a false positive & just blocks allot of things I know to be safe including websites.

:major2-BIT-GEEK:major

 

SpokaneTim...if you do come across a full security package or something that meets your criteria, please post the name of the program here.

Been using Private Firewall for about 3 months, but I don't think that's what you are looking for. PF is a typical firewall, and it takes months to configure. My confidence level is a little bit higher with it there, but I'm not sure how confident I should be.

For me, the ideal would be a full firewall with file/folder lock features and also a backup utility capable of backing up files while they are under lock and key and then of making sure the backup itself is locked and uncopyable. As for the firewall, I would prefer if the focus of the program designers would be on the main threats when it comes to the design of firewalls. For example, if I could easily see what is not being blocked from key logging or what is not being blocked from internet access, it would be easier for me to gauge the security of the PC. Then it would be nice to know when something is trying to record keys or write to a secure area. Private Firewall handles the latter...not sure about the former, which also happens to be the primary concern for me. Honestly, it would be nice to see what (what information from what file) is being passed over the net too along with to or from whom...

Long term I really hope we get accountability from net/IP providers too. If I could open my list of connections and quickly identify each connection, that would be a big plus. It should be a requirement of domain holders to register their uses of their internet domain(s)...

 

Err, really?

Methinks it's time to look at W7 afresh