Windows 10: Sr. Citizen On Protecting Against Crypto, etc. On New PC ?

Hello,

Will be getting new desktop PC with W10 in a few days.
Sr. Citizen now, and not ver sharp with PC's anymore, frankly.

My old PC with W7 was clobbered by that CryptoLocker and I think it was called CBT Locker or something similar trojan.

Really terrified that it will happen again on new PC.
Willing to spend some $ on a good program.

I read that W10 has "Windows Defender"
How good is it in protecting against it ?
How good in general ?

If I purchase a program, is MalwareBytes the one to get specifically for the Crypto like trojan protection ?

Would also, probably want to run MS Windows Defender, if you advise to do so.
And, AVG which I am using now on my W7 PC; it seems to do a good job with the conventional
problems. But, again, it is really the CryptoLocker stuff that concerns me primarily.

What is your advice on which to get and run, please ?

*Any problems with their interacting with each other.

Thanks for help, much appreciated,
Bob

:)

 

Crypto jacking and data mining

I recently read an article about data mining. I use Avast internet security s/w so I asked them if their software protects against crypto jacking. They said it does detect and block data miners. But it does not work with IE and Edge because they do not support
add-ons from Avast or other. How can I protect myself from crypto jacking or data mining when using IE or Edge?

Moved from: Windows / Apps on Windows 10 / Microsoft Edge

 

Windows 10 Nov. update error code: 0xc1900208

tHE CURRENT UPDATE 1709 KEEPS FAILING, iT SEEMS TO BE RELATED TO SOMETHING HEWLETT PACKARD INSTALLED ON MY LAPTOP. AM TECH CHALLENGED SR CITIZEN FIXED INCOME. NEED SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE. ERROR NUMBER

Please provide the support representative with this error code: 0xc1900208

COMPLETE NUMBER NOTHING AFTER 1900208

 

Defender is really meh and only good against old threats. It's constantly the worst solution for years now i.e. a little better than nothing.
Go for proven, reliable solutions from Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, Bitdefender.
MalwareBytes is far from the holly grail of AV. It's only the best in marketing.

 

HitmanPro has something called CryptoGuard. It's not free & I have not heard of it's effectiveness. New variants of Crypto Locker are being released every day.

Your best defense against this threat is to make a System Image on a regular basis. There is a tutorial on 7, 8 & 10 forums on how to do this. Make the image on a external HDD/USB that you don't keep plugged into the system all the time. Keep several images archived in case you inadvertently make one with a virus.

This way, if your system gets severely compromised, you can revert back to the state your OS was in before the infection.

System Image - Create in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

Don't even bother about having windows defender. It's the base line for security tests. Much like the lowest standard for a system. You can go with avast! free or if willing then go for Avast! premier or Bitdefender. Bit defender have a crypto decrypter tools available, along side kaspersky having the same as well. Get a Full fetched product. Avast! or Bitdefender the rest are not up to the level.

Avast | Download Free Antivirus for PC, Mac Android
Utilities

Free Virus Removal Tools - Bitdefender

 

Windows Defender will be fine - throw MalwareBytes into the mix and you'll be even better.

And, safe browsing - use that sponge in your skull and think before you click

 

Layered protection is the best using several different types of protection, each one covering a different aspect of any type of malware you may encounter.

For an anti-virus you could use:
Free - Windows Defender, Panda or Avast.
Paid- Eset, Kaspersky or Emsisoft ( Yes it is works as an anti-virus.)

Anti Malware:
Paid- Malwarebytes or Zemana. Malwarebytes has a free version but it is an on demand scanner and does not protect in real time.

Anti-exploit:
Paid- Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit or Hitman Pro Alert. Both have free version but if you can swing it get the paid, free versions do not protect as many programs.

Ransomware Protection:
Free- Cryptoprevent, CryptoMonitor ( has a paid version also)
Paid- Hitman Pro Alert, ( using the paid version of Malwarebytes and Malwarebytes Anti Expoit together should also stop ransomware.)

I recommend what I use, Emsisoft Anti Malware, MBAM, MBAE and Appguard, all work well together, just substitute Cryptoprevent for Appguard.

So to summarize, an antivirus, anti exploit, antimalware and ransomware protections should cover all your bases. And of course use the Windows firewall.

 

For Windows 10, here's what I would recommend, and I echo much of what has already been said here.

Contrary to popular belief, MSE/Defender is getting quite good now. And, considering that alot of these 3rd party anti-virus programs can cause problems with W10, especially during major updates, I wouldn't discount Defender as much anymore. Of course, multi-level protection is a must:

Defender (or Avast or Avira)
Malwarebytes Pro (paid version)
Malwarebytes Anti-exploit free
CryptoPrevent (the free version you update yourself, the paid version auto-updates)

Common sense when browsing
Common sense when opening email attachments
A browser that supports add-ons/extensions (i.e. Firefox with AdBlockPlus; Edge does not have extension support yet.)
Periodic system images

I would not yet use Edge for everyday browsing. Too many people are getting infected while using it. Malicious ads are serving up malware even if you don't click on them now. Drive-by downloads are happening in the background at an alarming rate. Edge is still in its infancy and not ready for prime-time web surfing.

Just my two-cents worth.

 

Simply put, no security tool will be 100% effective, because by their nature they are reactive. Many have "heuristic" detection which tries to identify malware based on how it behaves, but even that isn't a guarantee.

It's like getting a flu vaccine. You're only protected by what's known, not what it might mutate into.

Your best, and only defense is regular backups. And having those backups be "offline" where a virus can't destroy them.

 

Crypto locker and stuff simply don't show up by itself. Don't answer to strange e-mail or to unsolicited help. in short, don't let anything or anybody you wouldn't open the door to anywhere near your computer and system.

 

If you have 10 Pro you could also block exe's from running from %appdata% etc as described here CryptoLocker Ransomware Information Guide and FAQ

Best (as other have said) is to make sure you disconnect your backup drive after making backup so it can't get encrypted if the worst does happen.

 

CryptoPrevent will stop unknown applications from running from within your AppData folder.
Backup programs which use file versioning, such as CrashPlan, will help you successfully recover from an encryption attack.

 

Yes, CryptoPrevent is definitely part of the solution. It will block malware from running in a number of locations in addition to AppData.

@OP

The free version is fully functional; you only need to run the updater manually. In addition HitmanPro.Alert has the ability to block the encryption process itself. Use both since one is static and the active. See here:

CryptoWall 3 and CTB-Locker defeated by HitmanPro.Alert - YouTube

As others have already stated a regular data backup is the only 100% guarantee that your data is safe, but using these utilities that are specifically designed to block crypto-ransomware will potentially save you a lot of grief and hassle.

I would absolutely not trust Windows defender to protect against crypto-ransomware.