What are reasonable replacements for Windows Firewall, Windows Defender in Firefox in Vista?

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I want to install Firefox as the default browser on a Vista 32-bit computer.

In Internet Explorer, I’ use to using Windows Firewall, Windows Defender
— What are reasonable replacements for them in Vista?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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You don’t need to replace them just to use FireFox – they defend Windows, not the browser.
Is there another reason you want to replace them?

cheers, Paul

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Thanks Paul. If I don’t have to replace them that’s fine with me. I was just wondering whether or not using Firefox would recommend other basic protection programs.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Windows Defender in Vista is not as robust as it is in current versions. But there are many free Anti-Virus programs available that do an adequate job. Just browse through the forums and search for antivirus or anti-virus.

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MSE – Microsoft Security Essentials is a good replacement for WD for Windows 7 and earlier.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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MSE – Microsoft Security Essentials is a good replacement for WD for Windows 7 and earlier.

AFAIK, reviews were never that good. I went around in circles with one network admin over his use of MSE and after being hit with one serious virus and Cryptolocker, he replaced it with something more robust.

So much depends on how careful the user is to avoid questionable emails and web sites which is no easy task sometimes.

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MSE – Microsoft Security Essentials works well with Vista. Recently I have attended quite a few customers who had 3rd-party AV programs on their Vista computers which were slowing their systems down excessively.

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For browser-specific security, you might want to look at security-specific browser Extensions that can be installed and how they can be used, what they could do for you.

I’m currently using uBlock Origin, with a specific set of built-in and 3rd party lists to (hopefully) suit my needs and possible usage (which frequently means delving into previously unheard of sites linked by new Members, checking for possible ‘bad stuff’).

The base set of lists used are useful for ad blocking and extra security – but they may need to be manually checked and updated, some lists are frequently updated, some several times per day! uBlockO should check/update itself at each browser start up but I can’t confirm that, as I’ve never ‘noticed’ it do so (I’m about to manually update uBlockO because my link checking showed me a prerelease version was made available ~12 hours ago and I’m not averse to Alphas/Betas/prereleases, my browser being a prerelease version, unavailable to the public).

Yes, you can use it as is, I did so for several months initially, but you can also get very deep and technical with it.

On the firewall front: some 3rd party firewalls can be used alongside the default Windows version[/i]. Others auto-disable the default firewall – yet that can lead to 3rd party software/games or components of them being silently blocked from accessing the Internet!

If you do hit an oddity like a newly installed software failing to connect as expected yet no Windows or 3rd party firewall logs show anything, try a full uninstall of the 3rd party firewall (also use the maker’s tool/uninstall routine as well – that’s very important), reboot and then check/enable the default Windows firewall before running the software/installer again. If the built-in firewall was passively blocking, even though it was ‘disabled’, you should then see a popup window from the firewall asking if you want to allow the software/component to access your network/Internet connection.

Once the hole has been punched through the default firewall for that software, you can then reinstall (check for/get the latest version is best) the 3rd party firewall and use that, it will now ‘see’ and probably allow that software, or ask whether you want to allow it.

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I’m currently using uBlock Origin, with a specific set of built-in and 3rd party lists

Interesting post; just to clarify, this is uBlock Origin.

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gsmith, you’re correct! I should have mentioned earlier that I use MSE alongside the real-time protection of Emsisoft AM [which includes AV]. While many do ok with MSE by itself, I was more comfortable having EAM/AV as my primary real time defense and having MSE as a 2nd opinion/on-demand scan. Thanks for opening the door for me!

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Autopilot broke, editing it now, Trev 😉

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