Securing Windows XP (paranoid security)

[Eng1neering]

What else would you recommend?

What do you do to secure your own system?

What would you add to this list?




Securing Windows XP (paranoid security):


*Only crucial system services running (less exploitable processes + performance improvement),

*Hardened Hosts files (blacklists),

*Uninstalling Telnet/Net meeting/Messenger/WMP/DCOM vulnerabilities, what else?, etc (generic Windows bloatware),

*Disabling UPnP, Administrative shares (IPC$,etc), LMHash, Null sessions, epmap (port 135), SMB (port 445), SSDP (port 1900), etc

*Disabling DCOM, paging from executives, remote desktop, remote registry, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper (NetBT), etc

*Secure file deletion (DOD 5222.20-M),

*Any server based network hosting capabilities unavailable,

*Group Policy Enforcement set in place (based on NSA checklists)

*Latest Windows Patches,

*Running small apps sand boxed or in VM

*Firewall + AV + Peerguardian (ipblock lists) + IDS app, etc

*Registry tweaks (which?),

*HDD encryption (which?),

*User without Admin privileges,

*etc etc...

 

[TegGhola]

What did I do? I gave up on Microsoft and retreated to Linux. And if I run Windows software on Linux I use a non-privileged user account to do so. Windows XP only sees the light of day if I need to run DirectX games.

But, short of abandoning your OS of choice altogether, it sounds like you've got the idea right: stay nice and paranoid. The easiest way that malware gets onto machines is if people download software from the internet, without having strong confidence that the software is not malicious. If you can avoid downloading the myriad pieces of tat that are on offer, you're off to a good start (and remember that browser add-ons are also to be suspected unless you check them out carefully).

 

[Roasted Scar]

Your absolutley right, I had a Windows Secrity Alert pop up and told me my Anti-virus was off line and could not be found, it then asked me if I wanted to install a Malware Blocker, which itself was a Trojan, luckily I never opened the Virus but the pop up kept coming and took me nearly 3 days to track it and delete it, that is of course if I have, we shall see ????????