Security on broadband

Along with the 'getting on board' theme, i recently got on board with broadband. Yes, I know.

I'm one of the last people in the world to do it, but I'm a slow learner.

And I have to say it's great. We had a broadband connection at my previous job, and that was one of the reasons i wasn't in a hurry to move. It was marginally faster than my dial up for surfing.

Granted, when you wanted to download large files it was quite a bit faster. But how often do you download 800mb files?

But I'm very impressed with the speed of my connection at home. I can now watch stuff on YouTube etc and it actually works!!


One of my big concerns now that I'm 'always on' is security. I don't want my PC to become a bot to send out spam from some guy named Boris promoting willy enhancing apparatus.

So I did a bit of research and the consensus seems to be that since the hackers use blended strategies to get in, it makes sens to use blended strategies to keep them out.

So what am I using?

Well lets start with the firewall:

I've got the free version of Zone Alarm running and I've locked out pretty much anything that should not have access to the Internet. i.e. my browser (Firefox) and email client (Outlook). The only other stuff that has access by default (i.e. I don't get a popup every time they go and access the Internet) are my other security programs.

Anti-virus - I'm running NOD32. This came pre-installed so I left it there. It had good reviews, so no worries. This looks for viruses etc the traditional way, using signature files that it updates regularly.

That is backed up with ThreatFire, which also scans for suspect activity based on what programs should be doing. It's a different approach to the same problem.

I've also got Spybot Search and Destroy - because it's good.

And to make the mix just slightly more interesting I also run my web browser in Sandboxie. So anything downloaded, installed etc by the broswer only plays in the sandbox and does no alter settings in my OS. It seems to work fine.

All the programs work together without much hassle, and they were all pretty easy to download, install and configure.

I don't think in this day and age that you can be 100% secure, but at least you can make a determined effort.

This blended defense has worked well so far, with no infections or problems reported.

If anyone has any other strategies, feel free to post them in the comments. I'm always interested to find better ways of keeping my PC safe.