Security Software for Non-Profit Use

Hello All,

I work for a non-profit school for developmentally disabled adults. We are in our infancy when it comes to technology, mosty running donated old computers that nobody else wanted/needed, with a few thrown in up-to-date pc's (the one I built for image editing). We have finally got an internet connection after several years of lobbying our board of directors, and now I need to secure our systems. I had discovered Tech-Soup and they have Norton at a reduced rate, however, upon trying it out for a year I've decided that I don't want to run Norton any longer. It just uses up too much system resources, and on these old systems, that's no good!

Anyways, I thought I would try you experts out here for some suggestions on where I might be able to get a descent price on a descent security suite.

I have been in contact with both CA and AVG. The people at CA were of no help at all, and after trying several attempts to find non-profit pricing for their eTrust, I gave up on them.

I also contacted AVG and there is a reseller that can give us a 30% discount. I just wanted to make sure that AVG was a good way to go, and to see if anyone recommends otherwise!

Thanks for reading this long-winded post!

peace,

TJ Baker
Instructor
The Creative Center

It's "kinda awkward" recommending a specific product, due to potential proprietary conflicts of interest.
I have no interest in, and have not been contacted by any commercial interest. So to the best of my knowledge, the following recommendations is based on my own personal experience.

Here's my "Personal" experience, and it in no way should reflect upon this Forum.

I use AVG from www.grisoft.com on my own and many other machines.
I have never been disappointed.
I use the free peronal use version.

I use the Free personal use edition of Zone Alarm.
I have never been disappointed.

I use Spybot Search and Destroy version 1.4 (free)
I have never been disappointed.

I use the free Ewido on Win2000 and WinXP machines.
I have never been disappointed.

I use the free CleanUp! 4.50 from http://www.stevengould.org
I have never been disappointed.

I use the free MVPS HostsFile
I have never been disappointed.

I use the free SpywareBlaster.
I have never been disappointed.

The Above Mentioned (FREE) versions are not for commercial or agency use and you may be in violation of the EULA (license and terms of service) if you adopt those versions for your agency.

However, I have found that most AntiVirus, Firewall and AntiSpyware companies are quite open to providing serious discounts to community service non-profit establishments.

Here's the note from Grisoft:

GRISOFT supports discounts for:
Schools
Charities
Churches
Municipal and government organizations
To see if your organization is eligible for a discount, contact us to receive a discount application form.

Of the AntiVirus Tools, I also like:
Kaspersky
TrendMicro

Of the fee-base AntiSpyware, I like:
SpySweeper
CounterSpy

Of the Firewalls, I have stayed with Zone Alarm, but others swear by:
Sygate
Kerio
OutPost

I do not use any of these paid products listed above.
I have at one time or another used them with great satisfaction and am confident recommending their quality.
It's just that the previously liste (free) products do the job quite well, so I don't spend the extra money.

For Primary Firewall protection put all of your machines behind a Router that has a built in Hardware Firewall!

If I were you, I'd contact the various companies that you are interested in. Tell them your agencies mission. Give them the Tax ID identification that proves you are Non-Profit, and ask for a quote.

What to avoid:
Avoid complete "Protection Suites"
There just isn't a company out there who has the best of every feature. So when you buy a Suite, you may get general protection, and very good protection in some areas, but some areas might also be weak.

Instead, buy individual products from each catagory, and use "free" utilities whenever possible.

Not sure if a "free" utility is trustworthy? Ask here in this forum and you'll get good recommendations.
But ask first before you download. Lots of the stuff available on the internet for "free" is either junk or comes bundled with malware. Not good.

Disclaimer: There are many other reputable and excellent products available that I did not list.
My listing is based solely on "personal" experience and in no way should reflect on products not listed.

***Special Note: Even if you developed a Security Baseline for your systems and Network, it will only be as good and safe, as the least careful user!

Therefore, On EVERY machine…. Create "Limited User Account" logins for everybody…. Including your own supervisor or board of director member. Bosses "hate" to have "limited user accounts" and belly-ache to high heaven…….. until something goes wrong…… then they blame the IT guy, and not their own sloppy browsing/surfing/email/clicking habits. The only "Administrator Account" on the whole system, should belong to one person—–You. And You should never use it for daily activities, only use it when installing/uninstalling/updating/deploying. Make your own "limited user account" for your daily activity.

There is no way to adequately express how much heart-ache and down time you will avoid, if you only follow this one simple rule about "limited user accounts".

If you don't understand the importance of "limited user accounts", reply in this Thread and I will paste some useful information.

Next, How about those users, who will be the weakest link in your security baseline?
Educate them. Many won't like it that they are required to get training, but most will be amazed at the abundance of good solid information that they will gain about using their machine and the internet!

This Educational CD from PCPitstop is the best $14.99 that an IT manager can spend for his team.
http://pcpitstop.com/store/safesurfing.asp


Best Regards

WOW… thanks for all thre GREAT info! That was a fantastic read. I had never thought about the limited user accounts….. LOL….. how silly of me! If you have readings on why to do that, I would like to see those. Not for me mind you, but to show the boss who I'm sure is going to "LOVE his limited user account" hehe, and is going to want to know WHY (and he always requires a very complete answer, you know, one that he likes ) Thanks again, peace tj

Here's my "schpeal" that I give to folks whose primary concern is to not get infected while browsing on the internet. Please do not consider it "authoritative", as it is not derived from or cited in any noted reputable source. I just wrote it to help folks at a help-forum to better understand why they should have their kids on "limited user accounts" and why they themselves should be running from their own "limited user account".

For your purposes, there are many additional options for consideration, particularly if you have to contend with users who consider themselves relatively savvy and may venture into "making changes" that they can't convince the IT guy to make, or which they want to change "privately" for their own use. Hey, it happens in most networked environments, that some user will think they know more than you do, and decide to "help" or to "get away with" something. Some considerations might include, Minor importance –>preventing changes of "home Page", preventing changes to the Registry <—-(very important),—->preventing changes to the operating system<—(very important)—->preventing changes in Control Panel. (these can be handled by making specific changes in the Registry entries associated with each Current User. Don't forget to allow your password protected Administrator Account to have access to Registry, Control Panel, Operating System…… you'd feel pretty silly if you applied the changes to All Users, and thereby locked yourself out of the Registry to enable yourself to have access.)

Microsoft has a IT tool kit that you can download for such purposes, or there are a variety of sources for such "fixes" that can be found around the internet.

Here's my speech about Limited User Accounts as a deterrent to Opportunistic Malware:

It is important to understand the distinction between "Limited User Accounts" and "Administrative Privilege Accounts".


Limited User Accounts have the ability to use any application program that is already installed on the machine; such as Microsoft Office, Outlook or other email client, Internet Explorer or other web browser, photo, music, and media display and editing applications, games, etc. The "limit" is that a "Limited User Account" cannot install new application programs, install many downloaded updates (firewall, MS updates, AntiVirus updates, Javascript updates) modify many areas of the Registry, or gain access to the Operating System, unless allowed by the Administrator. The "Administrator" account can do all the above, but can also install programs, modify the Registry, and gain access to changing the Operating System.

As a general rule, each machine should have only one "Administrator Account" and all other accounts should be "Limited User Accounts".

As a General Rule, all of us should be running our machine from a "Limited User Account" most of the time, and all of the time that we are logged onto the Internet, except when intentionally updating security and operating system files. Why? Because, in the ordinary course of computer use, various hazards and risks occur. If the owner/user is running from a "limited User Account" any "damage incurred" will be limited by the overall privilege of the Limited User account and any damage/error will remain restricted to that limited account in most circumstances.

So for instance, if an owner/user is "surfing the Internet" while logged onto their machine in a Limited user account, and runs afoul of some spyware, trojan or virus (by downloading, viewing or clicking) then the spyware/trojan/virus will be limited in its ability to "install itself" into the Registry and Operating System, because the malware enjoys only the privileges that it has gained from the limited user account. Of course, a Limited User Account, can still get "infected", but the infection will be stopped from advancing in many cases, because the open Limited User Account does not have privilege to modify the Registry or to change the Operating System. Therefore, the "malware" may get saved in Temporary Internet Files or remain attached to a downloaded song or picture, but will not be able to do its work of additionally embedding itself into the Registry or Operating System. Pretty Neat, huh? (greatly oversimplified, but still good stuff)

If however, the owner/user is "surfing the Internet" while logged into the machine as Administrator, and then they run afoul of spyware/trojan/virus by downloading, viewing or click on infectious content, that malware will enjoy the same "privilege" that the Administrator Account has (full privilege) to install itself into the Operating System or modify the Registry, activating its malicious function or payload. Not Good!

Hope this helps.
Doug

It is a great help! Thanks for giving your time to share…. peace

If i can just pop in a piece of software i use? Lavasoft Ad-aware Personal this is free and removes tracking cookies…..seems good to me