Ask HN: security for new Win7 desktop?

[petervandijck]

I got a new Win7 desktop, promptly removed the mcaffee stuff and got M$ security essentials installed.

At times I know there are thumbdrives/cd's with viruses coming into contact with my computer. What else should I do to customize & protect it?

Thanks!

[petervandijck]

Also welcome: any other suggestions for customizing a new Win7 install.

So far I'm very pleased, the desktop is superfast, 6Gigs of ram, much faster than any laptop I've had and only 600$. I do want to avoid it slowing down over time, and definitely want to avoid it getting infected with malware. I live in Colombia and a lot of CDs etc. here are full of viruses.

[fname]

Disable Autorun

[petervandijck → fname]

Good one, doing that now. Other suggestions? Is M$ security essentials enough?

[uptown → petervandijck]

I highly recommend MalwareBytes Anti-Malware: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

The free version is really good, but it's also worth the $25 investment for the real-time protection of the full version.

[petervandijck → uptown]

Downloaded and scanning now.

One of the problems is that my backup drives (pics and stuff) are obviously old, have been around the world (literally), and who knows what old malware may be lurking on there.

[petervandijck → uptown]

In other words, M$ security essentials isn't enough protection?

[fname → petervandijck]

Security Essentials is actually pretty good and catches the majority of things lurking out there on the web. It's lightweight and takes little resources. Much better than a Norton or McAfee install -- good god.