Antimalware, firewall, and other security programs for Windows XP working in 2023 and hopefully beyond

[NotHereToPlayGames]

9 minutes ago, AstroSkipper said:

Here is a quotation from Process Hacker's homepage: 

I'd call that "marketing" moreso than an actual "review" of what Process Hacker does.

I mean, look at it this way, who labels "Task Manager" as an anti-malware security layer?

But, having said that, I myself use Task Manager and Process Hacker with every software I run on a trial basis and don't use ANY of the other programs/programmes listed in this thread.

So we all have our own tactics to keep our computers top-notch and running for MUCH longer than the average consumer.

[Cocodile]

3 hours ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

I mean, look at it this way, who labels "Task Manager" as an anti-malware security layer?

You just answered yourself, not sure what you don't like or not happy with, malware hides itself under multiple layers, or disguises itself under normal software names, I remember my ex-girlfriend installed a keylogger on my laptop, when I was cheating on her, and it was running under the name "nerohelper.exe", which of course had nothing to do with the real German Nero software. I found it with the help of Process Hacker.

[Monroe]

1 hour ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

But then again, to me, VirtualBox is my biggest and most-used "security program".

A simple question ... what version are you using for Windows XP?

Thanks ...

[AstroSkipper]

Yep! We all have our tactics. But Process Hacker is not a normal Task Manager. It provides additional security features I already described sufficiently. And here is your System Information window taken from my installation of the version 2.39:



Hitting Ctrl-I and bam, there it is.  One additional click on CPU or I/O, you see all further information. Of course, it is not three-in-one but the version 2.39 is much more recent. Always important in terms of fixing old bugs. But as I already said, to each their own!

[Cocodile]

It was simple, yet ok and clever for that times, Nero indeed had several legit services running, if you installed the full package, like with the search bot for winXP. Called "Nero scout".

So seemed fine, even for the crappy NOD32 or AVAST, they both completely ignored it. I'm sure you can find similar stories, many people had the combination of AVAST+NERO during that era.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

9 minutes ago, Monroe said:

A simple question ... what version are you using for Windows XP?

[NotHereToPlayGames]

11 minutes ago, AstroSkipper said:

Always important in terms of fixing old bugs.

To each their own.  If we were really that concerned, we would have to admit that we should not be running XP.  So again, "to each their own".

[AstroSkipper]

11 minutes ago, Cocodile said:

it was running under the name "nerohelper.exe", which of course had nothing to do with the real German Nero software. I found it with the help of Process Hacker.

Thanks for posting such a typical case! That's a very good example what I  meant in terms of security programmes. Finding strange processes is the best everyone can do first. You can't seriously hand over all security tasks blindly to an anti-malware programme or whatever. You have to take a look at what's going on inside a computer yourself.

[AstroSkipper]

15 minutes ago, Cocodile said:

So seemed fine, even for the crappy NOD32 or AVAST, they both completely ignored it.

Right! There are many cases where AV programmes don't warn the user about such strange threats.

[Monroe]

11 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

NotHereToPlayGames ... thanks again ... found it at FileHippo.

[mina7601]

21 minutes ago, Monroe said:

NotHereToPlayGames ... thanks again ... found it at FileHippo.

You can also find it here: https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/

Personally, I would only download old versions from FileHippo (or other similar websites) if I can't find it from the original website, but as long as it exists on the original website, I download it normally.

Edited July 5, 2023 by mina7601

[Cocodile]

3 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

Right! There are many cases where AV programmes don't warn the user about such strange threats.

Yes, they don't! I kinda think the German WinHex could also be more than good for someone who is somewhat tech savvy to find the threats hiding deep inside of the RAM hidden areas. 

It has a function to open any RAM area, even the protected areas, where malware oftenly resides. One would still need to know how to analyse them though.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Cocodile
addon

[NotHereToPlayGames]

One of my pet peeves and I view it as a security threat but probably more of a privacy rights issue - installers that launch a web page!  Hate that!  My system doesn't have any default web browser for that reason alone.  Installers can't launch a web site!

[Cocodile]

3 hours ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

One of my pet peeves and I view it as a security threat but probably more of a privacy rights issue - installers that launch a web page!  Hate that!  My system doesn't have any default web browser for that reason alone.  Installers can't launch a web site!

Yep! It is a very annoying thing, also was trendy in the XP era, when they simply added even startup entries! Was "polular" in 2007-2011.

[Monroe]

11 minutes ago, mina7601 said:

You can also find it here: https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/

Personally, I would only download old versions from FileHippo (or others) if I can't find it from the original website, but as long as it exists on the original website, I download it normally.

Thanks for this ... I wasn't sure what to download, many things there with that version number. The download I got at FileHippo is only 1.68 MB. Does that sound about right? It's not a very big program or download.