Safe S....

[Ghost Down]

FireFox, Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007.

 

No firewalls or anything, they mess things up IMO.

[Ray Jones]

Over ten years ago I used Norton as well. It was good and fast.

 

Sadly, now all there is left from anything Norton related is the bloated resource eating hog, which is not even flexible enough to bend down to tie its own shoelace.

[Jeff]

I use firefox to surf and avast anti-virus, and have my firewall turned on, but aside from that I don't do too much to prevent problems besides being smart about the sites I visit. Oh and half the time I use linux.

[Ray Jones]

Firstly, before any more Mac and Linux ppl get on saying "but we hardly get malware" it needs to be said

Noone said Linux hardly gets malware. In fact, I would not doubt it to get tons of in any given day. The point is Linux simply doesn't work that way. Its design gives almost no surface to attack in a way Windows allows it. That doesn't mean you can't install root kits or run an hazardous program sending emails on it, the point is you cannot do this using any random email attachment or browser or even hide this. You need root access to the machine, which is not that easy to get.

[Astrotoy7]

No firewalls or anything, they mess things up IMO.

 

whoa.. tell that to the banks, military etc whose (mostly)impenetrable firewalls are amongst their most important assets!

 

you mean you mess them up because you don't really know to use them right?!! dont worry, Ive been there.

 

It's really worth learning about them, IMO In fact, I'd say a firewall is the **backbone** of any network's security architecture..

 

Let me give you an analogy. Your house is your network. Your front door lock is your firewall... your data is your VCR player.

 

Isnt it easier to keep burglars away from your VCR by keeping your front door locked than by leaving the door open and hiding it under a blanket ??

 

You need root access to the machine, which is not that easy to get

 

Ray, an intent hacker can do (almost) anything they damn well want. Linux being "open source" makes it a lesser target off the bat. Many hackers out there are 'nuisance' hackers or those simply into hacking copy protection... Any OSource application is far less a target than Vista(for example) which costs $300US plus for a multi license copy.

 

What would an intent hacker have to boast about after attacking an open source application is a more important curio If you were a talented thief, would you rather knock over Tiffany's or The Salvation Army Thrift Shop

 

I know what I would chose!!

 

mtfbwya

[Ray Jones]

No one is throwing security out of the window, Astro. That's why I have firewalls and check every file that leaves my system before I bring it somewhere else.

 

But there are always dangers, especially when it come to internet connected machines. This why some machines and systems are not connected to the world at all or use many security measures to keep things most secure. This is also why backups are so important. Security also means to use the right tactics according to why you want to protect what thing.

 

I remember years ago the Mojo website was down due to some hacker gaining access to the server and using it a storage place or something. This was not because of a virus, and could not have been avoided with a firewall AFAIK.

 

The hacker used some well known buffer overflow exploit in the OS's kernel to gain root access. The only way this could've been avoided was to apply the necessary security patch, what didn't took place, unfortunately.

 

 

[edit]I should actually read slower, Astro, but whatever. XD

[Ghost Down]

I know how they work, it is just that I'm to lazy to give permission for every action and they mess with multiplayer games

[Astrotoy7]

This is also why backups are so important....

 

*cough* [/remembers previous haranguing he got for mentioning it, elsewhere]

 

They are indeed!

 

* * *

 

@Ghost Down, if you are referring to Vista's User Account control, that is *truly* a pain in the a$$! You can easily switch it off as still have either windows internal or your hardware firewall(in your router) doing all the good work for you >> if you ever need help with it, click R2 & 3PO in my sig

 

mtfbwya

[Ray Jones]

*cough* [/remembers previous haranguing he got for mentioning it, elsewhere]

To backup/protect a system holding private or accounting data of your paying clients against any loss or criminal action is surely of more importance than a backup up of your home PC because you want to clean your graphic card's fan. ^^

[Taak Farst]

I think with me it comes down to experience. I don't use p2p sites, i always recognise a dodgy website and always have a virus scanner active.

 

This is all I have needed. I have had my pc for 7 years now and have only ever had 1 virus on it.

 

Plus if anyone ever hacked my compy, id kill them.

 

Umm, just so u know I never used it to access ur personal details and steal from ur bank account.

[Negative Sun]

Programs I use:

 

- FireFox + AdBlock Plus

- Avast Antivirus

- ZoneAlarm Firewall

- Advanced WindowsCare (general cleaning like Registry fixes, Spyware removal, etc...)

 

Another thing I use:

Common sense

 

It cannot be stressed enough.

[Alegis]

Common sense v3.12 Premium Edition. NOD32 is running but never felt the need for it.

[Ray Jones]

Yes, COMMON SENSE cannot be stressed enough.

 

 

It's also OS independent, resource friendly and *free*.

[Alegis]

It's a b**** to install on some systems though. Like as if it deletes itself during the installation.

[Ray Jones]

There seems to be this odd problem with the intuitive menu sometimes, too. XD

[TriggerGod]

I use DNS, which I can block any site I want and all adult sites, pretty much eliminating most chances of getting (a) [insert computer problem here]

[Negative Sun]

It's a b**** to install on some systems though. Like as if it deletes itself during the installation.

Faulty hard drives...I blame the people who make them!

[Jae Onasi]

I wouldn't be too complacent with a router firewall, however. Someone hacked the password on my router and was using it until I got a little help booting the leech. You need to check it periodically to make sure no one's 'sharing the wealth'.

[Paddythegreat]

Firefox and zonealarm, i have norton but dont run it, its just very poor. Also common sense helps, becarefull what you click on is all, do a safe mode check on all apps every couple months.

[Q]

Here's what I use:

 

Antivirus:

Kaspersky Anti-Virus -Has the best detection rate and I got it free after rebate at Fry's.com

 

Firewall:

Comodo Personal Firewall -Highly rated and free for personal use

 

Anti-Spyware Active Protection:

Spybot Search and Destroy

SpywareBlaster

Windows Defender

 

Anti-Spyware Scanners:

Ad-Aware 2007

SuperAntiSpyware

AVG Anti-Spyware

A-Squared Free

Ad-Aware SE for its plugins

 

 

Yeah, I'm a bit paranoid.

[RedHawke]

You want to avoid problems?

 

Stop going to porn sites!

 

[Astrotoy7]

I use DNS, which I can block any site I want and all adult sites, pretty much eliminating most chances of getting (a) [insert computer problem here]

 

as your pc gets older, its chances of developing a hardware issue start to overshadow any difficulties you may encounter with code based problems...like malware. etc. This is especially the case if you have an off the shelf PC with authentic "monkey a$$" components

 

mtfbwya

 

To backup/protect a system holding private or accounting data of your paying clients against any loss or criminal action is surely of more importance than a backup up of your home PC because you want to clean your graphic card's fan. ^^

 

~snipped bait~

 

No one makes an intentional full PC backup because they are planning to merely clean a fan. They do one because....well Im sure you of all persons know why

 

For my few dozen home theater pcs out there, having a full system backup of a fresh "ready to use" setup(OS, codecs, drivers, tuners, channel mapping EPG, plugins) is worth its weight in gold. Makes a 5 hour process a 30 minute one, and can be implemented by anyone with the confidence to plug in an ext drive or pop in a bootdisc. Saves me doing a housecall too.

 

lolz @ Q... Im a bit scared to ask what your internet surfing habits are!!

 

mtfbwya

[Hayden Kered]

Mozilla Firefox

ZoneAlarm Firewall

AVG Anti-virus

Spybot Search and Destroy

CCleaner

 

I rarely have any problems on my computer when using these progs.

[Ray Jones]

No one makes an intentional full PC backup because they are planning to merely clean a fan.

Hey, hey, you were the one who was kind of suggesting it. Eh. ;~~~

 

^^

 

For my few dozen home theater pcs out there, having a full system backup of a fresh "ready to use" setup(OS, codecs, drivers, tuners, channel mapping EPG, plugins) is worth its weight in gold. Makes a 5 hour process a 30 minute one, and can be implemented by anyone with the confidence to plug in an ext drive or pop in a bootdisc. Saves me doing a housecall too.

Well technically, this is not a backup. It's an image.

[PoiuyWired]

Well, recovering your boot partition image should take alot less than 30 minutes. Personally I would just Throw the image on some old removable HDD, and really doing it once a couple months would be enough for many people, unless doing some major change/installation on your system.

 

Well, to be fair, the more average users probably would be better off sing just simple protections. Its kinda hard take some time to learn the details if all you do is whorring on myspace and msn, posting self-worshipping videos on youtube, surf pr0nz and check the occasional email.

 

Personally I won't rely on Micro$oft for any security related issues, just disable them all sonce most of them do more annoyance than its practical functions. You should be better off with a reasonable 3rd party firewall program and some form of malware/virus protection.

 

But seriously, if you act reasonable and take note when "your common sense is tingling" you should be ok. That means you should know better than to click on the "you just won over 9000 dollars" banner and not install that program to get your free 1 day pass to some pr0n sites, and not filling out your information in the galactic lottery to win yourself an island. The average people probably won't be important enough to be hacked by some professional hackers anyways. And if you are being a female dog on youtube/myspace (or being tom cruise on Co$) while posting your personal information on the web, you sorta deserve the pain.