Windows 10: Ransomware Protection?

Nobody has mentioned the best protection - make regular image backups. Get a ransom attack - who cares, wipe pc and restore backup image.

 

Hi:

Good advice.*Smile

Just a word of caution -- MBARW-BETA is still pretty unstable BETA software with a lot of false positives and bugs.
As mentioned HERE:

(The technology will eventually be merged into Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. But, for now, it's a standalone BETA application.)

Cheers,
MM

 

Yep, the only real protection against ransomware are backups. I've got images of all my partitions (system partition included). So I'm not afraid of ransomware.

 

As cereberus mentioned, making a backup/system image can be a lifesaver when ransomware strikes. Preparation for a worst case scenario is the best defense measure.

Make the system image on a external HDD/FD, one that is not constantly connected to the PC. Keep 3 or 4 earlier system images on it also in addition to the current one. This way if you inadvertently make one with malware, you have a copy from earlier.

System Image - Create in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

I totally agree. A restorable system image is the best defense. Takes 15 minutes or less, and about the same to restore. I do one at least once a week and then rotate out the oldest one. I also have a separate backup of just data files (photos, music, videos, etc.).

 

I agree with the backup solutions. Unless your gran regularly makes silly mistakes, the average person won't need this software.

 

I agree completely with this. However, I also have CryptoPrevent (Free) installed as added protection. So far no problems with it and I "feel" a little safer. This is a reliable app and I've had it a couple years.

 

My extra layer of protection is Linux. All my online activities like web browsing, emails, downloading... are done in a virtual machine running either Linux Mint 18 or Fedora 24. So it's pretty much impossible for my system to catch some ransomware. And if somehow my system gets infected nonetheless I've got backups.

Ransomware is only a threat to careless people who are too lazy to make backups or to people who don't have the knowledge to deal with this kind of threat. But that's in fact the case with all kind of malware. *Wink

 

*Ditto A great little program! *Thumbs

 

Is there any use for HitmanPro.Alert AND MBAM MBAE?

 

"reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows Script Host\Settings" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows Script Host\Settings" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
Take ownership and delete folders
C:\Program Files (x86)\WindowsPowerShell
C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell"

Great advice for advanced computer people, however, is there a way to disable WSH and PowerShell through Services and/or msconfig -- rather than editing the registry?

 

Anti-ransomware tools such as Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware should be considered for Win10, too. However, I'm not sure if they are Win10 compatible? Does anyone have info?

Windows 10 is definitely not safe from malware and crypto viruses. A friend that works in the field of infosec stuff told me there is a new ransomware that targets Windows 10 specifically and Win10 users like me (damn me for upgrading to Win10...willingly *Mad) should be extra careful..I've already been through one ransomware infection while I was running Windows 8.1, and it's a total nightmare.. It's like I lost my PC to physical damage... same thing as my PC being stolen!

I found the following about this Win10 ransomware: it splits files into different parts in addition to locking them, making the decryption job even more impossible than previous ransomware variants. More info here: Latest In Ransomware: .PLC Virus Splits Files In Encrypted Parts

 

HitmanPro.Alert says it will prevent encryption if you get hit; it's a paid program, but I believe it offers a 30-day trial. MBAE is free, and protects your browsers. I put MBAE and CryptoPrevent on every system I own or work on. Depends on how vulnerable you feel.

 

I know it's a paid product and I'm willing to spend money on a good protection for PC. Right now I'm using Windows Defender + MBAM Free + MBAE + MBAR. But people keep claiming that MBAR is not stable. So I thought that that instead of it I should use Hitman. But hitman is also a antimalware software.

Should I keep MBAE + WD + MBAM free + cryptoprevent?

 

So which is the best anti-ransomware tool for Win10?

Also I have another question: Has anyone considered using a second generation security program parallel to a normal AV? I read such programs are better at protecting from financial viruses.. But don't know which one to consider..