It is a statement about the security of Windows that I have a series of apps I install on any personal Windows XP build that I perform, just to secure it more. I won’t leave home naked, and a Windows box by default being naked exemplifies what is wrong. I was going to post them for my own edification, but have decided to expand this to a listing of some of my favorite tools that I pretty much have on any XP system I build.
First, the initial security, after patches. I use ClamWin Antivirus because it is free. I use a cracked version of Sygate Personal Firewall instead of the XP firewall. I have also recently started trying out an app called WinPooch for digital integrity, ala Tripwire only free (I expect this to be bought up). I also install Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird (with Enigma for PGP), not so much for esoteric purposes as for security purposes anymore. While investigating a friend’s hijacked AIM account two years ago, I discovered a version of the HTA exploit in IE (still unpatched, I think), and thusly conversed with the hijacker directly about it before getting my friends AIM acocunt back. Since then, I’ve never trusted IE at all. That was the breaking point. The only way to notice of stop that web-based attack against IE was to be running a personal firewall, at the time Zone-Alarm. Otherwise IE was rootable with no user intervention or notification.
In other apps, I have moved from my purchased version of Trillian over to Gaim, due mostly to having used Jabber in my last job and Trillian was slow to adopt. I use a pirated copy of Microsoft Office 2003 (includes everything, Visio, Word, etc). I always move over a bunch of Sysinternals tools as well (pstools, process explorer, tcpview, regmon, and filemon). A cracked version of WinZip 9 gets slapped in pretty quick, as does a free copy of WinAmp (classic mode please). WinDump, WinPcap 3.1, and Wireshark also get installed.
If this is a wireless laptop, I always throw in Netstumbler and Cain. If I am at a wireless hotspot, you can bet I am running Cain in the background (and for this reason, I am very aware of what I myself do at hotspots because I’m not a special hacker or something, I’m a regular guy and if regular guys play with gleaned myspace and email accounts…).
After that, my toolbox gets a bit more murky depending on the uses for the particular box, but pretty much all of the above are part of the ‘settling in’ process of a new system. Of my few cracked products, someday once I am out of the ‘cash-strapped college boy’ phase and into a solid, fair-paying job that keeps me happy, all of those may be replaced with legit copies.