Setup Tutorial: aka Blackspear's from Wilders

[LowWater 1]

I'm ISO a setup tutorial akin to the work of art by one of Wilders Security Forums' Global Moderators from 6+ years ago:  Blackspear.  He posted tutorials, the last being EAV 3.0 Tutorial from January 15, 2008.  Is there anyone aboard doing something similar for eset NOD32 or eset SMART SECURITY?

 

Thanks for reading.

[Marcos 5,070]

Hi LowWater,

current ESET products are well balanced and default settings are best for most users. From top of my head I, for one, cannot think of anything else that would need to be configured for better protection providing a user agrees to participate in LiveGrid and enables detection of potentially unwanted applications (PUA). However, PUA detection is optional and one may find that using certain applications outweighs potential risks. In such case, it's possible to exclude them though.

[SweX 871]

I agree with Marcos.

 

And don't worry about using V7 on old(er) systems it works great on "pensioner" systems too. 

Edited June 5, 2014 by SweX

[LowWater 1]

Marcos, thanks for the swift attention.  Kudos on your customer service.  I'm relying on Windows 7 mono-directional firewall and wondering in that's leaving me susceptible to malicious software.  In addition to 64 bit OS Win7, I run Malwarebytes Premium and NOD32 24/7 and HitmanPro electively.  The computer, i7 CPU, 950 @ 3.07GHz w/ 12GB Corsair, it was built in January 2010 and was pretty snappy 4 1/2 years ago.

 

SweX, likewise, thanks for your attention.  If I understand you, it's time to upgrade to v7.  Yes?  Given the firewall issue, do you think I'm OK, or is it time to protect my outgoing data w/ SMART SECURITY or compatible firewall?

 

Oh, for anyone, I use my ISP's SMPT & POP mail-server (T.W. RoadRunner) via MS Outlook.  Compared to a webmail acct, say Gmail via my browser (Firefox Thunderbird), which is more secure?  I've never gotten a clear answer to that question.

[SweX 871]

Oh well that is far from what I would call a pensioner system so V7 will work like a charm without a doubt. 

 

If you like your current setup using NOD32 and the inbuilt Win OS firewall then I think you can continue to do that with V7. The in-built OS firewall in Vista and later is OK. 

 

You can also continue to use MBAM Prem with V7, several members on here use them together in realtime, but it's good or even recommended I think to add exclusions for ESET in MBAM and vice versa to be on the safeside, to minimize the risk of arguments.(I don't use MBAM in real-time myself)

 

I don't really know what's more secure web-mail or email clients, but IMO same here as with the firewall, if you enjoy using email clients then you should continue to use them. Personally I do consider to switch over to email clients myself for various reasons that I don't like with web-based email services.

 

FWIW,

Which email clients are compatible with Windows ESET products?:

hxxp://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2138

 

Cheers. 

Edited June 5, 2014 by SweX

[Marcos 5,070]

We are going to introduce a new protection mechanism in ESET Smart Security which should be unique on the market. Currently ESS in v7 already protects users from exploits in communication protocols which is not something that standard firewalls do. That said, we advice users to consider upgrading to ESET Smart Security as it provides additional layers of protection compared to standard firewalls.

[User 13]

current ESET products are well balanced and default settings are best for most users. From top of my head I, for one, cannot think of anything else that would need to be configured for better protection providing a user agrees to participate in LiveGrid and enables detection of potentially unwanted applications (PUA).

 

I think SSL scanning should be enabled at least for E-Mail.

My E-Mail providers for example only support SMTPS, IMAPS und POP3S, so if I wouldn't activate SSL-scanning manually, incoming Mails wouldn't be scanned at all.

 

I also think SSL-scanning for http should be enabled, because more ands more "standard" websites use https,

although there may still be some problems with https-scanning with some sites.

[LowWater 1]

SweX, thanks for expanding on your answer.  I don't so much enjoy email clients as I'm used to them and hence comfortable after an uneventful decade.  But I'd hate to have my happy-go-lucky complacency shattered in retrospect by a one-way firewall I was fully aware of.  It's like that Steve Martin routine:  "I forgot that armed robbery was against the law".  Here's my problem.  How much added risk am I exposing myself to by not monitoring outbound traffic?

 

Marcos, again thank you for your valuable time as well as the inside track on upcoming protection mechanisms in ESET Smart Security.  A gentleman who posted immediately below you suggested enabling SSL-scanning for email and http.  Would you agree?

 

User, thanks for jumping in with a concrete idea.  I appreciate your suggestion and am researching it as we speak (type?).

[Marcos 5,070]

I also think SSL-scanning for http should be enabled, because more ands more "standard" websites use https,

although there may still be some problems with https-scanning with some sites.

 

 

Not only websites but also some applications may refuse to communicate if they don't honor certificates from the trusted root CA certificate store.

[LowWater 1]

Marcos, thanks once again.

[SweX 871]

We are going to introduce a new protection mechanism in ESET Smart Security which should be unique on the market. 

Oh sounds nice, in a V7 build, or later on for V8 ?

 

Considering you have just released a new build of V7 my bet is that it will be in V8 Beta 1. 

[LowWater 1]

SweX, don't tease the man!  He's saved my butt more than once and might even be nice, although I bet they all make fun of our stupidity during their water-cooler moments.  I'm a compulsive self-help lurker, albeit new to this new interface.  Oh, re:

 

Which email clients are compatible with Windows ESET products -

  hxxp://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2138

 

What's up with Mozilla Thunderbird?  Is that getting fixed?  That's slightly disconcerting - is Mozilla taking care of itself, or will they truly be incompatible?  You can't be planning on losing all your T-Bird users!

Edited June 7, 2014 by LowWater

[Arakasi 549]

Its only the GUI for Thunderbird, if mail is coming in on the ports ESET detects, it will still get scanned.

[LowWater 1]

Arakasi, thanks for the clarification (and your time).  I'm confused by one thing.  I get that it's still being scanned, but how can I see it if Thunderbird's GUI is incompatible?

[Arakasi 549]

If its a threat. Eset will delete the mail and you can see it in quarantine logs. You will still get an eset notification too.

[SweX 871]

SweX, don't tease the man!  He's saved my butt more than once and might even be nice, although I bet they all make fun of our stupidity during their water-cooler moments.  I'm a compulsive self-help lurker, albeit new to this new interface. 

Sorry I don't follow?

 

 

Which email clients are compatible with Windows ESET products -

  hxxp://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2138

 

What's up with Mozilla Thunderbird?  Is that getting fixed?  That's slightly disconcerting - is Mozilla taking care of itself, or will they truly be incompatible?  You can't be planning on losing all your T-Bird users!

 

 

 

If I remember correctly it is due to the rapid release schedule from Mozilla that ESET is lacking some compatibility. AFAIK if they only released security fixes etc..and not new version as often as they do then staying compatible wouldn't be a big problem I think.

Edited June 20, 2014 by SweX