Topic: Best "all round" bitcoin/computer protection? (Read 2778 times)

Just use a good firewall. Then you'll see when your PC tries to send stuff.

Free AVG

Basically by just visiting a site (not by actually downloading any malicious stuff) you can accidentally download malware. It's a broad term as the attack vectors can vary but in the past there have JS attacks and even attacks on reputable sites (ie Microsoft and newspapers) as an ad-network got hacked and had its ads replaced with malicious code.

Yeah, if you're on Linux I wouldn't be too worried, the system is locked down enough (you don't spend all day on root do you?) that it's nearly impossible for malware to do anything to the system. Not to mention, Linux only makes up 1% on all OSes used so if you're going to attack something go for the one everyone uses and people have permanent admin power even when they don't need it.

I'm not sure of the implications of Chrome upon drive bys, so I can't really help you there.

Would you(or anyone else for that matter) mind expanding on this point a little? What sort of attacks are we talking about here?

I don't use Noscript at the moment. Are there really many javascript exploits out there in the wild that we should be worried about standard web browsing? Also, I'm assuming these exploits are going to be targeting windows, not Linux.

Does the fact that Chrome sandboxes everything make a difference at all? Or is that just an illusion of protection? What about running Chrome in Sandboxie?

load up your fav linux (or something easy like ubuntu workstation) in virtualbox (or vm player)
install wallet.. and your set.. no need for any fancy scammers etc etc.
even if you have a key logger they still need to get into the vm to get your wallet.

btw squall dude - how u been long time !

What I do is use kaspersky, some like it others hate it but the important thing for me is it isn't american. No offence but they'd spy on there own mothers.
Cold storage is on a Linux virtual machine, virtual machines are the best because you can boot any os on any is so boot Linux inside windows, keep everything on the VM encrypted for safty , so now all that can mess you up is a keyloggers on the host which kaspersky normally find fast.

This reply is mostly copy and paste from another one of my posts but here is goes.

As other have said, if you have lots of btc use cold storage.

The other thing to keep in mind though, is your personal choices. Since one of the strongest features of bitcoin is the avoidance of charge backs, you need to make sure you handle your newly acquired bitcoin seriously. This often makes users take a hard look at computing safety and computer security in general.

You need to learn about phishing,scams,malware,viruses,etc. This may seem like a lot but, at this point in time its important for users to educate themselves at even the most basic levels. You do not need to become a security researcher, just try to learn how to protect yourself. Also, these are the things that the average internet user should be doing to help protect themselves.

This post is not meant to scare you, just to touch on some of the all too common mistakes that happen with users new and old.

• Do not use the same password in more than 1 location
• Use long secure passwords. Generally make the password as long as your willing to deal with. Over 20 characters is probably a decent baseline(secure means many different things to people at this point, you can take the password generator approach or the xkcd approach and string together words,numbers,& symbols
• Use 2 Factor authentication on anything you possible can
• Do not use Email for 2 Factor Authentication (Its often regarded as a bad idea,since it is not as secure)
• Make sure you find a way to backup 2 factor authentication and make sure it works
• Be careful when opening links within emails(phishing emails are getting better.)
• Make sure the site you are going to is typed in correctly (bookmarks would help)
• Do not access any important sites over unencrypted connections such as free wifi at a coffee shops(you really shouldn't be doing any type of browsing on an unencrypted connection. Using a VPN in these situations is suggested)
• Pay attention to ssl certs (click on the lock that shows up when visiting a site with https to make sure the cert is valid and the site is spelled correctly
• Don't just open random donwloaded applications because YOLO (You may only live once but with this attitude so will your bitcoin  )
• Within Blockchain require 2FA to do anything (this would help protect you by needing your code to send
• Within Blockchain enable notifications for everything to do with your account and routinely monitor your email (this is not fool proof of course but will give you more info)

A few other things to keep in mind. Your email account can be compromised without your knowledge. Having notifications setup can help mitigate that risk. With this in mind email as 2 factor authentication is often regarded as not a real level of security. Something like Authy or Google authenticator is a better idea as they work independent of an internet connection. Authy might be a better choice as you can back up your tokens much easier than with google authenticator (use what you like best).

Always use a long password when setting up a block chain wallet and it is in your best interest to not have the backups emailed to you. If you have the block chain wallet emailed to you someone can either intercept the backup as it was sent or compromise your account and have access to it. Now just having access to the file is not enough luckily as it is encrypted and hopefully secured by a very long password but we want to reduce risk not increase it.


A password manager like keepass http://keepass.info , lastpass https://lastpass.com , 1password https://agilebits.com/onepassword is also a great idea. With these you can easily create long unique passwords for each site and still easily manage them. Each of the listed password managers have their pros and cons.

For a comparison of antivirus check out av-test.org http://www.av-test.org/en/home/ & av-comparatives.org http://www.av-comparatives.org/. Comparing the real world test results is often a good place to start when deciding between different antivirus software. Do your best to avoid ones with consistent false positives too, as they can become bothersome.

If you already know all these things disregard this information.

In short you are the determining factor to how effective your security and precautions are(most of the time).
Also, Don't use Microsoft security essentials. Check the antivirus comparisons for much better free protection. MSE consistently underperforms against other free alternatives.

With all that being said. Enjoy being able to send money freely from all around the word within seconds with barely any fees.   

Coincase Bewark of a phishing attack http://blog.coinbase.com/post/47145265173/beware-of-a-phishing-attack
xkcd password strengthhttp://xkcd.com/936/
xkcd password reuse http://xkcd.com/792/

Yeah, I was thinking about leaving Avast. And I love MWB, it always finds stuff avast does not.

I use Avast for file protection, and malwarebytes for cleanup.

If you have a lot: more than 100 = cold storage (wallet on multiple USB's and HDD's but offline stored), if you just want to have a secured wallet you should use like the QT client and encrypt the folder and make it read only.

From experience, I would say if you have a lot of common sense you can generally avoid getting malware without having to have an antivirus. Simply have something like noscript running (to avoid random drivebys which are half the problem) and try not to download dodgy stuff (generally illegal/warez stuff has a higher chance of giving you a virus). If you're a fanatic of the latter, then you may want to consider an AV. Just go with the cheapest one that is in the top 3 of the AV's from here: www.av-test.org/en/home/

And please don't try to run multiple live AV's at the same time - they have been known to give conflicts and random errors as they may detect the other as malware and try to remove it and so fourth. Just stick to one suite and some common sense and you should be right.

Cold storage for large quantities. Look at doing a paper wallet of sorts to store your coins long term.

Honestly, the way I see it, keep the same amount of cash on your computer as you would in your actual real life wallet when you were walking through the ghetto.

Just keep the most valueable stuff to your Linux system. Use Windows for entertainment, non critical uses.


No, Anti Virus software is dead. No matter what they tell you, they can only react to what is allready known. Most modern attacks use 0-days and thus no software can protect you against it. Keep the number of tool you use low and maintain them well. I personally use a simple free anti virus kit for windows. Its enough to catch the old stuff, but I rely on beeing carefull not on some "magical tool" that cant help me in most cases anyway.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/06/antivirus-software-fails-catch-attacks-security-expert-symantec


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmy1Skg3wdE - speech about Zeus, one of things youd want to protect against. The maintainers of Zeus probably have better support than most "premium" anti virus software.

Hiya guys, Just after a point of view really.

With bitcoin wallet.dat being increasingly more important to protect, Does any of the "internet security" packages have any protection for out world?

What I mean is, In this review http://www.top10antivirussoftware.co.uk/InternetSecuritySuites-Comparison?kw=best%20internet%20security%20software&c=42815835745&t=search&p=&m=e&adpos=1t1&dev=c&devmod=&mobval=0&ts=c&a=670&gclid=CKmci-fWv74CFdLHtAodUDMAoA

They all boast Great security, Offering realtime virus/malware/trojan protection, But how do I know which one is good for a bitcoin user?

I have been trying trial versions of just about everything, They almost all have the same UI? Are they all made by the same person? LOL

I want to try and avoid buying a program for each aspect, Looking for an all in one.

Just so you know, I currently cold store my BTC under a linux system, I have several of them, Problem is, I am quite the gamer, So I would like something I can put on my windows system That I would like to use for my every day activities to protect against Passwords/keyloggers/malware/trojans/virus/rootkit etc...

Is there such a thing? What do you guys use?

NOTE TO MODS - I have no idea where to post this, I was going to post on a computer tech site, But I need to know the implications for a bitcoin user, Not a gamer, Feel free to move to it's best place.