what else do i need?

[falcon1025]

i now have spy sweeper 2.1, norton anti-virus, and outpost pro firewall (free trial, im cheap).
do i need anything else to ensure my privacy out here?
i am running win XP.

[N1ghtStalker]

Keep in mind that I dont know anything about firewalls so what I am about to suggest may be something that is built in but if you are really worried about privacy you could surf the net using a proxy server.

[NullDevice]

as i am reading ur post, the quick tip on AO shows

"Your firewall is only secure if you monitor the log files, ignore them at your peril"

keep it in mind

[bpiedlow]

do i need anything else to ensure my privacy out here?

While you have a good start, there is nothing you can really do to 'ensure' it 100% (other then disconnecting it from the internet, never using floppies, etc etc)...

- That said, having both a software and hardware firewall is often a 'good idea'.

A simple router with all incoming ports you don't need closed can offer both; more protection from probes, and more privacy as they can only see your router's IP and not your PC's...

- Also connecting thru a proxy server can add an extra 'roadblock' in peoples 'snooping' ways

(I'm sure many people here can offer you some other if not better ideas also, along with possibly some good proxy servers to try)...

RRP

[Swampy_ finger]

Lets sum this thread up "uberGUIgnome" style if your paranoid
Its part of my personalized KGB lock down technique


SMOOTH WALL
LINK:
1. http://www.smoothwall.org/

[phishphreek]

but if you are really worried about privacy you could surf the net using a proxy server.

I disagree with this. If you are just browsing a couple of pages, posting political messages, etc. sure... use a proxy...

Take this scenario...

You want to remain anonymous on the net. You lookup a list of proxies and pick one with decent speed. You don't know who is running that proxy nor do you know what else is running on it. I can setup a proxy and then run a sniffer and capture all your banking tranactions, emails, passwords to various services, what you just purchased on ebay, etc.

Another reason I wouldn't trust them is... you want to remain anonymous... but are you in fact doing that? or giving ONE person(s) the ability to track everything you do?

Read This and then tell me if I'm wrong. Popular Net anonymity service back-doored

Wonder how many others have also been backdoored...

And you were worried that Polo might find out that you were also considering purchasing a Gap t-shrit...

Proxies were not necessarily meant to be used as a way to become anonymous....

They were meant as a way to filter out web pages, provide one means of connection to the internet and cache pages...

It just so happens that you can use them for more than one purpose.

proxy server Last modified: Monday, August 05, 2002

A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server.
Proxy servers have two main purposes:

Improve Performance: Proxy servers can dramatically improve performance for groups of users. This is because it saves the results of all requests for a certain amount of time. Consider the case where both user X and user Y access the World Wide Web through a proxy server. First user X requests a certain Web page, which we'll call Page 1. Sometime later, user Y requests the same page. Instead of forwarding the request to the Web server where Page 1 resides, which can be a time-consuming operation, the proxy server simply returns the Page 1 that it already fetched for user X. Since the proxy server is often on the same network as the user, this is a much faster operation. Real proxy servers support hundreds or thousands of users. The major online services such as Compuserve and America Online, for example, employ an array of proxy servers.
Filter Requests: Proxy servers can also be used to filter requests. For example, a company might use a proxy server to prevent its employees from accessing a specific set of Web sites.

Source

[ShagDevil]

Here's a basic, but good site to help you out Falcon. It covers basics of security, networking, threats and it's laid out in a easy to use fashion. Plenty of definitions, networking structure concepts, yadda yadd all wrapped up in an easy to read way. I hope it helps you out.

http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/#4

In addition Falcon, here's some more related links (found on the bottom of the page of the 1st link I provided)

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/home_networks.html
and
http://www.staysafeonline.info/

[Tedob1]

falcon1025 im assuming your talking about maintaining your privacy while surfing. I’d say you have everything you need for that. I just have one thing to add….settings. set your browser to prompt for everything. Java, activeX all of it. Disable auto downloading of fonts ie add ons and the like. If you don’t you’ll be loaded with “marketing research tools” like comet curser and alexa. (How the theft of your internet service so they can conduct business is legal is beyond me but it is.) deny all cookies unless needed….for sites like AO and even then deny 3rd party cookies and off site graphics.

[phishphreek]

Looks like the example that I gave above about JAP being backdoored has been unbackdoored... for now.

On Wed, Aug 20, 2003 at 09:56:22PM -0700, Thomas C. Greene wrote:
> Popular Net anonymity service back-doored
> Fed-up Feds get court order
> http://theregister.co.uk/content/55/32450.html

Markus Wiese, who is with the privacy commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, just posted the following to the
debate@lists.fitug.de:

-----
Message-ID: <3F4C84DA.9040509@datenschutzzentrum.de>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 12:15:54 +0200
From: Markus Wiese <mw@datenschutzzentrum.de>
To: debate@lists.fitug.de
Subject: AN.ON / JAP: Teilerfolg

http://www.datenschutzzentrum.de/mat...se/anonip2.htm

> Das Landgericht Frankfurt am Main hat am gestrigen Tage angeordnet
> (Az.: 5/6 Qs 47/03), dass die Vollziehung des vor einigen Wochen
> gegenüber den Partnern des AN.ON-Projektes auf Antrag des
> Bundeskriminalamtes erlassenen richterlichen Beschlusses des
> Amtsgerichts Frankfurt auszusetzen ist.

-----

The text at the URL translates to

The court of Frankfurt/Main has ordered yesterday (Az: 5/6 Qs
47/03) that the court order against the partners of the AN.ON-project (this includes the privacy commisioner of
Schleswig-Holstein) requested by the Bundeskriminalamt (the german FBI) has been suspended. Under that court order the AN.ON project by ULD Schleswig-Holstein and TU Dresden had been ordered to implement logging of all accesses to a particular IP address.

The project partners have disabled the protocol functions in JAP as soon as they got notice of this decision. At this point in time only a single data record had been logged. How this single data record will be used will be decided only after the final decision of Landgericht Frankfurt. The record is currently held by the AN.ON project.

The project partners will be releasing a complete documentation of all proceedings after the Landgericht has made its decision (they are legally barred from doing so before that point in time).

Source == bugtraq mailing list.

Still, my example shows that the use of anonymous proxies/services may not be what they seem... and I still don't trust them. Just my opinion though...

[MSgtN]

For complete (as complete as you can be these days) I like to use spybot- search and destroy in conjunction with adaware, and to top it off, use spyware blaster to block all them nasty critters.