just introducing myself & a few questions

hi everyone,i'm glad to be a member of this community now.i'm quite eager to learn as much from all u security freaks as is possible as these are uncertain times for us all.

not that much to say about me really,i like anime n videogames and spend most of my waking hours in front of my computer.

i was actually wondering if some of u could help me out with a few security questions that i have?

basically even though i use the net quite regularly,for simple surfing and online gaming,i'm actually rather an idiot when it comes to security and this does worry me,i hear all the time about spyware and how ppl can read your passwords n stuff every time you type n send out on an unencrypted network and was wondering what a blundering novice such as myself can do to eliminate this worry.

all i use right now is win xp,mozilla firefox,zonealarm free,spybot s&d and AVG free edition.

what can an average guy like me do to turn my machine into a secure beastie??

Hello, and Welcome to AntiOnline! Although I don't think these are "uncertain times for us all", I agree that security is an issue that needs to be discussed and shared at all times. It sounds like you have some nice applications in place (Firefox in place of IE, Spybot S&D, and AVG) that help. I'd suggest switching out of ZoneAlarm, as it's not my preference and their are quite a few better firewalls out there to choose from. Lookup "Tiny Personal Firewall" as thats one of my favorites..

Some key things to keep in mind..

-- Keep your virus definitions up to date.

-- Keep your system up to date. Whenever new updates/patches become available, be the first to know.

-- Moniter firewall logs. Your firewall is pointless unless properly used and the logs MUST be monitered.

-- When it comes to e-mail, only give out your address to people you really know and/or people you KNOW you can trust. Use a second account when signing up for websites.. Also, be wary of email attachments.. they usually contain a virus or spyware if they are from people you don't know.

-- Be paranoid about EVERYTHING.


Those are just a few basic simple things to go by.. for more background information and more in-depth knowledge, browse the site and some of its tutorials. They should be of great assistance. Also, google is your friend. Use it. Hope I've helped, and if you need any help feel free to PM me at any time. :)

The only way to be 100% secure is to pull that little plug out of the wall. :D

henestly common sense is your best protection in my opinion. If you think it may not be wise to do something, then don't. If you do willingly partake in anything questionable such as porn sites, p2p programs, or anything like that then i would highly suggest getting a second 'bare basics' pc for that purpose. Just use that as your test enviroment to open and run everything in before you decide its safe to use on your main pc. By the way whats your online gaming addiction, im hooked on the FFXI.

One other tool you might look into is Adaware. (www.download.com) It will sometimes pick up items that spybot misses... I have heard several times that it is best to use multiple programs for scanning for malware. You just have to be sure that the removal program is credible though.

sevral tips ,
1. what may work for one person may not work for another, when choosing a sucurity product (i do have to shop around alot i work on 3-5 computers a week) i keep sevral factors in mind, one is how fast the computer is, the second is how experinced the owner of that computer is .three what the computer is being used for,
2. dont assume you know enough , keep studying studying studying .
3.test out a bunch of diffrent products to see what works for you , if you have to get another slower box for that perpouse . there is no replacement for gaining knowledge by seeing how these products work yourself , i never take what anyone says as the holy grail till i try it out myself ,because what may work for that person may not work for me
in advance i apologize for misspellings , the spell check isnt working for me, and hoked on focics didnt werk fer me lol

THE most importat thing to do to keep your computer secure is to keep current on patches for all your software and keep your virus defs up tp date. beyond that its just common sense.

in answer to your question JewishIntent,i mostly play World Of Warcraft,but as a long time Final Fantasy fan i am most saddened that i do not have time to play both games.

When you are browsing new web sites (especially less reputable web sites), turn off java and javascript.

You are certainly doing well, in addition to your little arsenal there I would add these as standard too:

spywareblaster
Just install this and keep it updated every week or so, and it just runs in the background, you don't have to do anything after the original set up.

Adaware
This is another scanner like spybot it tends to pick up stuff spybot doesn't and vice versa.

Hosts File
This will stop you going to known sites that have nasties hidden in them.

These are usefull for starters. If you pc is running nicely, that is great, if you suspect something on your pc, then you might just want to give your computer a wash first just to spring clean anything out. If that is the case, have a read of this Cleaning a pest infected computer. This is a great article to start with, and is invaluable even if you don't want go through the process. At any rate, chances are that you will have to at somepoint.

Be Savy

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I'd suggest switching out of ZoneAlarm, as it's not my preference and their are quite a few better firewalls out there to choose from. Lookup "Tiny Personal Firewall" as thats one of my favorites..

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Why do you say this Spyder?


Jonny Fro...Fro...Fro...Fro...Fro...

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and spend most of my waking hours in front of my computer.

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My best advice is to get out and smell the roses, find another hobby. Just don't spend all of your time at the computer. That time away will probably even help you in your quest for all the knowledge you seek.

Everyone has had some great advice.

My best advice is to read what you can about computers and whatnot. Start with books to help you learn about OSes (start with windows books) then start moving onto stuff like networking and programming.

And follow devpons advice about getting out, Real Life > Computers/Gaming, always.

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And follow devpons advice about getting out, Real Life > Computers/Gaming, always.

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Wimmin

:D ;) :cool:

Let me say Welcome to AO, So what I would sugest a good starting point is MBSA (Micorsoft Baseline Security Analyzer) Download this tool from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This tool will show you where your flaws are and give you the approperate fix for that flaw.

Dont go crazy on the firewalls and AV, yes its great to have them implemented but if you are any gamer like me, these programs will slow down your game play.

I suggest not keeping any personal information on your computer like: Credit card info, SSN, or any other thing you feel is personal. Keep these things on CD's, external drives, or thumb drives, or like me in my head.

Now im not saying not to have a firewall and antivirus but read up on them see how much resourses they take up.

Get all the Updates Microsoft offers for your system minus the hardware updates. Usually hardware updates from Microsoft aren't the best ones out there.

Stay away from P2P (kazaa, Bearshare, ect.) these programs share from many different computers that you have no Idea what you are downloading. Sites with many popups will usually throw up a red flag (bad news). So stick to well know sites, and dont trust a link.

If you do use a credit card and make purchases online make sure that you are secure. look at the address bar does it say https:// ? If not then anyone can see what info you are sending. I find using paypal is your best bet.

Ad-Aware and SpyBot are the two most common programs used when scanning for spyware, adware, and malware. I find that these two programs do the job. There are many others out there claiming to be the best but once you test them you will find they dont quite cut the mustard.

Well thats just a few things you can do to begin with, the more you read up on security the better you will get at securing your PC.

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Originally posted here by nihil
Wimmin

;) :cool:

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Thats one of those things that will drive you back to computers though :p

Hi there

I agree with what everyone has said so far so I cannot post much to help you. The only thing I am paranoid about is viruses at the moment. There are 2 types of people in the world. someone that has been attacked by a virus and someone that hasnt. I use AVG and keep it up to date however from time to time (say every two weeks) i scan my PC online and one of the major companies, trend micro. It can be found here http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hous...start_corp.asp. They install a little proggie so you can scan. It is totally harmless and you dont need to worry. This online scanner has found many trogans, viruses etc that my normal anti-virus cannot pickup.

Anyway keepposting those questions and the community will be more than willing to help you.
:cool:

As far as your browser goes, Astral, I suggest also looking into the many extensions for firefox. There are script blockers and other tools that you may find interesting. You can find some of the extensions on the firefox website, or just google them. Furthermore, because firefox is not evil, the extensions should be legit wherever you get them, at least I haven't had any problems...

THE most importat thing to do to keep your computer secure is to keep current on patches for all your software and keep your virus defs up tp date. beyond that its just common sense.

Lots of good advice thru this thread.

You might also consider a router on your internet connection if you don't already have one. A NAT router will mitigate the need for a firewall on your PC.

Also not a bad idea to start picking up some linux skills via "live cd's" like Knoppix.

Just a quick tip:
Stonee as said it, but since you use Firefox, check out the NoScript addon for FF, it allows you to choose what sites you allow java/js on (ebanking for example) and blocks everything else.
It comes in handy for when you visit sites that may try no hijack your cookies or explore a system flaw through scripts.

http://noscript.net

Hi AstralVortex, :)

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_...der_d4466.html

https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...cation=firefox

https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...mpg=10&id=1865

https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...mpg=10&id=1136

https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...mpg=10&id=1127

https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...umpg=10&id=241

https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...umpg=10&id=433


There ya go... for starters. :D same as me :D

i hope it helps