Weee! We don’t have work today. And it is my big sister’s birthday Happy birthday! Kumander and I just hang out today, but I think she’s like uber busy, and not to mention uber stressed for her big event tomorrow.

Take care B, kaya mo yan! I love you!

I am now trialling KAV 2009, it seems to be very stable, very light on resources and, more importantly, I feel pretty secure.

I tried Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, but there’s too many features in it that I wouldn’t use. The Virtual Keyboard is really one of the really cool additions to the suite, a user may use the virtual keyboard to type in passwords and stuff without using the “real-life” keyboard. Pretty neat, huh? It is supposed to protect the user from keyloggers and other nasties. I don’t like the implementation of the firewall/anti-hacker feature though, as it doesn’t stealth some ports on initial scan (from GRC ShieldsUp!), it just closes them. And I think an ICMP Echo also goes through. That’s good news for hackers/crackers really, if they know a Computer Device exists on the Internet, though seemingly well-protected, I still think it is possible to punch through certain “defenses”. The application activity analyzer, called something like that, was too strict for me, it even stops my Folding@Home application from using too much resource, prevents downloading of Cores or Work Units, and to send/receive stuff from the Stanford website. But overall, it seems to be a pretty good package; however too “powerful” for my own tastes.

The Anti-Virus is pretty nice. Both KIS and KAV feature a security analyzer tool (much much more favorable than MS Security Baseline Analyzer). The tool scans for outdated software or known software vulnerabilities on the applications installed on the user’s PC. It would give suggestions and resolutions to the user to install fixes or patches for the current vulnerable application. It also scans/fixes system-wide settings, like harddrive/cd-rom/flashdrive autoruns, probably to prevent the “auto” installation of viruses on those devices. It also tries to fix the IE browser settings for more secure browsing. This AV detected a couple more viruses on my PC after I used the full computer scan, and my NOD32 v3.xx didn’t. I don’t know what’s the deal there, but it seems I have a trojan somewhere in my system, that thankfully my KAV dealt with.

This piece of software is ZOMGFTW!!!111

My current security configuration: Windows Firewall with IPsec rules to block external ICMPs and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 (8.0.0.357ab). CCleaner (2.09.600) to clean stuff on my Windows XP Professional SP3.

I have been bored for the past few days/weeks, so I have been experimenting with our family’s PCs. Since the computers here in our house are idle for most of the time (usually downloading or seeding stuff); I installed an F@H client on both computers, at the very least, while our PCs’ not using their computational power, these contribute to something good. Actually, I chose between numerous of distributed computing software and Folding@Home seem to be one of the most worthwhile.

I’m on the TipidPC team (46447), using Theron_TPC username.

If you don’t know Folding@Home, you could Google it. [because I’m too lazy to place links here]

I miss going to school

Aran’s taking up M.I.S., booo!! I remember during my college days, there’s a rift between the MIS and CS students, prolly because of programming skills, bragging rights, being an honors course or what have you. But anyways, I do hope my younger brother would do well in college, and not follow my (and Karl’s) footsteps.

Enjoy college man! (Faura steps ftw)

Taasan pa ng lebel ang mga malulupet hirit.

Babae: “Uy! Miss ka na namin!”

Lalake: “Ay, ako ren!” [na may tonong malambing habang nakangiti, sabay duktungan ng…]

Lalake: “…miss ko na ren sarili ko.”

Mother’s Day, our family dinner didn’t push through, and I really don’t know what the reasons were, it’s prolly because of “aswang”. Anyways, I went to April’s mini-dinner celebration for her mother (or something else). The food was ok, but for some reason, most of us felt a bit full, yeah, it’s a miracle I didn’t pig out. lol.

Also today, April and I bought the stone, a diamond for her engagement ring, or wedding ring, I dunno, I don’t know those kind of stuff, but it’s for her. Basically, I’m like half-engaged now. Sorry girls, I’m kinda tied now. LOL!

Thanks for everything B, labyoo

[Updated May 12, 2008]

Yes, I am still going to propose to her when I get the ring. As I don’t want to deprive her of “being a girl”. I didn’t court her before right? So, probably it’s time for me to do the pursuing LOL. I must think of something new and creative, it’s time once again to set the bar even higher.

Recently, I removed all third-party software firewalls on our PCs, and since we don’t have a NAT router to protect our machines (and share our DSL), I am now using ICS and Windows Firewall and I configured some IPsec rules on our PCs for added security. Yay for me, no more software firewall resource usage overhead.

*** DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any of these security companies, I just tried out their software out, out of curiosity actually, and I was semi-bored. I also tested (though not thoroughly) some leak-testing, effectiveness, look and feel, the responsiveness of my old PC (P4 2.0ghz 1GB PC100 SD-RAM, 250GB HDD, 9600Pro, DVD-RAM, Creative Audigy Sound Card… etc etc), and a little of here and there. I know some of my reviews might be biased (well, all of us are, at one point or another), or non-intelligable, and I’m pretty sure, if some techy person would read this, that person might dispute everything I say here; I will listen, but hey, I’m just posting my opinions here, and this is a case-to-case basis due to some weird compatibility issues with software, hardware and Microsoft Windows. Well, here it goes. ***

Antivirus Software Used in the Last Six Months:

1. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition v7 (dunno which build)
2. Kaspersky AV 7 (dunno which build)
3. Kaspersky AV for Workstations v6 (latest build)
4. ESET NOD32 v3.0.650

Antivirus 1: AVG Antivirus, my long standing antivirus, been “serving” me for free for quite a while now, I had problems with this antivirus unfortunately, but it’s free, so I can’t really complain much, at least it does a decent job of detecting viruses. It’s quite light on computer resources.

Antivirus 2, 3: Kaspersky Antivirus 7, a more powerful antivirus than it’s predecessor, well actually, from that I read online, everything is the same except the heuristics and other “add-ins” are more powerful now. It is quite extensive, it found lots of other viruses that my AVG didn’t even detect. So I have no complaints, except probably its cost, which is more expensive than its competitors, but it’s ok, I guess, since they’re one of the best AVs out there. Kaspersky 6: this is our antivirus at the office, with almost all of the features open, (though I set some to optimal/performance), I could feel the slow down from a Core 2 Duo machine! I wonder what would that do to my PC. It’s a very solid AV solution to anyone’s computer, whether you’re a techy or person-next-door-type. But unfortunately, it taxed my PC to a crawl [probably due to Application Integrity Control].

4. I didn’t use the older versions of NOD32 because it’s really confusing, but NOD32 3.x GUI is a lot better now, so it’s cool. One thing I noticed then I tried the software, that I almost don’t notice it running at the background, which is very very good. Scanning is really fast, it’s a breath of fresh air compared to KAV7 (I used to be a Kaspersky Fanboy FYI).

Conclusion: NOD32 FTW. KAV7 a very very close second. Both are powerful AVs, that’s all that I can say.

*** DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any of these security companies, I just tried out their software out, out of curiosity actually, and I was semi-bored. I also tested (though not thoroughly) some leak-testing, effectiveness, look and feel, the responsiveness of my old PC (P4 2.0ghz 1GB PC100 SD-RAM, 250GB HDD, 9600Pro, DVD-RAM, Creative Audigy Sound Card… etc etc), and a little of here and there. I know some of my reviews might be biased (well, all of us are, at one point or another), or non-intelligable, and I’m pretty sure, if some techy person would read this, that person might dispute everything I say here; I will listen, but hey, I’m just posting my opinions here, and this is a case-to-case basis due to some weird compatibility issues with software, hardware and Microsoft Windows. Well, here it goes. ***

Firewalls I’ve tried within the past year:

1. Sygate Personal Firewall v5.6.2808 free
2. Outpost Firewall Free v1.0 free
3. Windows SP2 Firewall free
4. Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall v4.5.916 free
5. Jetico Personal Firewall v.1.0 free
6. Online Armor v2.1.0.130 free
7. Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0 (forgot which build) free
8. ZoneAlarm Pro 7.0.462.000
9. Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 v6.0.2284.253.0485

My experiences for each firewall are varied. I liked some, for whatever reason, indifferent to others, got annoyed with quite a few.

Firewall 1, Sygate, even though it’s already unsupported, it’s quite a lightweight firewall, except maybe if you’re into P2P, it kinda raises CPU utilization quite a bit, but other than that, it’s still a solid free solution and a nice replacement for Firewall 3; I had a couple of problems with Sygate, somehow leak-testing broke through, so I’m not sure if it’s might fault, but I had open ports like 139, and 445, but anyways, I reconfigured it, and closed them manually, worked like a charm. It’s quite easy to configure, because I opened the UDP and TCP ports of Warcraft III, and it worked just like that. Anyways, I’m quite happy with Sygate Personal Firewall, it is currently the firewall of the computer with ICS enabled (the gateway), since that’s the only free solution I found that’s compatible with Windows XP ICS.

Firewall 2, Outpost Firewall Free v1.0, it was nice, clean interface, but it’s kinda incompatible with Windows Security Center, it doesn’t report I’m using a firewall. And for that, I didn’t like it much, tried it for half a day, and uninstalled it. Yeah, I’m unfair, sorry for that, but it’s a pet-peeve of mine. But it’s lightweight.

Firewall 3, nothing to see here, move along. kidding! This was my first firewall on my Windows XP ICS Gateway, I configured it to port-forward to my other PC, for my P2P softwares. Really basic stuff, no extras, system responsiveness didn’t even change; because it’s preinstalled. It’s probably enough for most users.

Firewall 4, 5: Free firewall solutions, which I didn’t like much, it’s supposed to be solid free solutions, but I wasn’t enamored by their interface, I don’t know if I found them clunky or something, but I just didn’t like them. I am being unfair for not giving those programs a chance to prove themselves, but then again, they’re free, so I don’t care. Both are somewhat light on computer resource, but I find Sygate lighter for some reason. Tried both for about 1-2 hours.

Firewall 6, 7: Supposedly the best of breed on paid and unpaid software firewalls, passes all kinds of leaktesting based on Matousec; my verdict? They’re both taxing on my system. Online Armor really slowed down my system, I was using WinAmp, using P2Ps, running a real-time virus scanner at the background (NOD32 3.0 at that time), but my system went to a crawl. Even the mouse was like at 4 FPS or something. Uninstalled it in 15 mins, after the “getting to know the system” process at the start. Comodo gives me the impression it’s really powerful, and I believe it really is. But the proactive protection thing really got me annoyed. I closed some of the protection options, to speed up the system, but it was still kinda slow for me, a bit unfair because Kaspersky AV 7 was running, but I also closed some of of its protection levels, anyways, it’s slow, a bit taxing on my system, so I removed it after about 3 hours.

Firewall 8, ZAP, one of my favorite firewalls around, the stats thing on the main tab of the firewall interface really gives a user some sense of security, gazillions of whatever blocked intrusions, I’m pretty sure 90% of those are false positives, but hey, numbers are cool, I’m like OMFG this firewall has saved my ass too many times. The OS firewall, program control and some of it’s features are nice, it’s really useful for me, and it’s quite easy to understand, unfortunately, I dunno if I’m being a bit n00bish for saying this, but sometimes the firewall doesn’t save the program permissions, I’ve checked the box, and allowed the program, but it sometimes comes back, prolly because that specific program got updated or something, but hey, shouldn’t a paid firewall recognize those legit programs on the fly? It’s not like those programs are obscure ones. But I still like ZoneAlarm Pro, it’s just slow. Makes my games slow. Makes my PC a bit slow. Eats too much RAM, I dunno why, but VSMON always eats RAM, even if I turn off the virus monitoring. I suppose it’s a ‘feature’ of Zonealarm to be a memory hog. Good protection if you know how to use it, taxing on a computer if you have entry-level specs. This is also compatible with ICS, but, sometimes it breaks, dunno why.

Firewall 9, Outpost Firewall Pro 2008, all I can say right now is *whoa*, it’s quite nice, sleek interface, probably better than all, if not most of the firewalls mentioned here. It’s currently my firewall of choice, and would recommend it to ANYONE, as long as they have the pocket to pay for it (if not, I’ll recommend Sygate). It hasn’t given my any trouble, I just don’t like it’s default icon, a blue shield with question mark, I thought it was just learning the computer, that’s why it’s like that, but after a while, it’s just like that. It’s my WTH moment with this firewall, I was thinking it’s like a green or gray shield, or something with a CHECK, not with a question mark, it’s like it doesn’t know what’s it doing. But overall, feature wise, protection wise, it’s a sound and solid firewall. It’s a good investment. It’s simplicity and clean design really attracts me, I thought Agnitum sucked before, but heck, I was very wrong. It’s probably the best firewall on retail right now.

RANKING (best to good, top 3): Outpost Firewall Pro 2008, Sygate Personal Firewall, ZoneAlarm Pro

*** a hardware router/firewall would be the most effective solution though, or an old PC turned hardware firewall, but I think I’m speaking for the less techy people out there, who has a computer (or two/three via ICS) online with a connection. Anyways, any comment is welcome, and I’ll apologize in advance because I’ll be a little late on approving comments or replying to them, but thanks also in advance for commenting and especially reading this geeky entry. ***

I think I’m part of Google now E-mail me!

** DoubleClick is part of the Google group of companies