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#1 (permalink) |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 77
OS: Vista 64 bit
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The Best Defence
Twice over the half dozen years, or so, my computer has really taken a beating from one infestation or another. I have tried to get the best protection but it seems I haven't. I have a nice new computer and want to do what is best to protect it. Worms, viruses, trojans, malware, pop-ups, others looking in.....any ideas how I can best protect it?
Last edited by jjonsalt; 05-21-2009 at 11:44 PM. |
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#2 (permalink) |
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Moderator/ Rangemaster TSF Academy; Analyst, Security Team; Oor Wullie; TSF Surgeon and Resident Comic
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Re: The Best Defence
__________________
Iain - Defender of the Haggis and all things Scottish. I don't help by PM - post in the Forums. ![]() ![]() PC Safety & Security::PC running a bit slow?::Donate::Photographers Corner |
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#4 (permalink) |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ohio
Posts: 16
OS: Windows Vista SP2
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Re: The Best Defence
I always felt that the best way to protect your computer from getting infected was to always practice, what I like to call, safe web browsing.. I've made an article on it, which I'll post below.
I notice that there is a lot of talk about people always getting infected on their machines by viruses, trojans, malware, spyware, and what have you. What people fail to realize is that they have the ability to keep themselves safer online almost 100% of the time by just following some golden rules, which I will explain in detail as I go along. It’s not really hard to keep your computer safe from the nasty threats that linger out there. Even with the Internet becoming more and more sophisticated and dangerous all the time, it’s still pretty easy to keep yourself safe from it all. This article will help explain some simple steps needed to keep yourself secure and almost 100% safer online. I’ve had over two years experience doing this myself and I have to say that it works out great for me, as I can’t recall the last time I ever got a virus. In fact, the worst I think I’ve ever gotten since following these golden step rules below is just a Trojan. My aim is not to put you into a falsehood of security by having you believe that you will be impervious to any and all attacks after reading this article, but merely to show you how you can significantly increase your chances of not getting infected with a Trojan, virus, and the tons of other nasty things that linger out there. Step one: The web browser There are a lot of web browsers out there to choose from, so which one should you choose to surf with? Today, I’m going to be standing from the perspective of security and not a browsers ability to be fast, have tons of addons, and other nifty options to choose from. The Good As a personal choice, I use Firefox because it’s pretty secure on the web. Firefox is backed by a huge community that continually checks for vulnerabilities in the web browser, helps get the Foxy patched up, and ready to go in no time as soon as vulnerabilities are found. They have a quicker reaction time to patching up vulnerabilities than the famous Internet Explorer from Microsoft gets. (Who says open source isn’t better?) Opera browser… Like its rival, Firefox, Opera’s community offers great response time to threats that come up against it. By getting patches ready to go as soon as possible and into the computers of millions. The Bad As many out there know, the famous Internet Explorer for Windows based operating systems is still by far the biggest choice for consumers online when they choose a web browser. It is also the biggest choice today for online attackers to choose when they choose to use malicious programs against web browsers. Internet Explorer is by far the only web browser that I know of that gets updated by Microsoft at a slow pace and still gets a high rate of attacks at the same time. Still, many out there choose to use Internet Explorer, either because they don’t realize the kinds of vulnerabilities and attacks they open themselves up to, or simply because they do not care. Our choice here: Opera or Firefox Step two: The hosts file What is a hosts file? The hosts file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network. This file maps hostnames to IP addresses. The hosts file is used as a supplement to (or a replacement of) the Domain Name System (DNS) on networks of varying sizes. Unlike DNS, the hosts file is under the control of the local computer’s administrator. Now that we have a basic understanding of what a hosts file is, let’s see how we can make the hosts file work for us. As stated, the hosts file can act sort of like a local DNS where it resolves domain names into IP-addresses that the computer can understand. Again, the hosts file simply helps resolve hostname’s IP addresses, so that we humans don’t have to remember the IP address, just the domain name itself. Makes it easier when you don’t have to remember 15.32.412.4.222 instead of mydomain.com Onto business… We can modify the hosts file to block hostnames (domains) that we wish to omit from ever contacting our computer. We can simply do this by getting a hosts file already created by someone else for this very purpose, such as this nice hosts files site for Windows based users: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm Another great site to learn how to use a host file can be found here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...utorial51.html We don’t personally recommend that you go around and start messing with the hosts file on your own without actually knowing what it is that you’re doing first. Again, though, this is a great way to block potentially bad websites that may try to gain access to your computer. Step three: Community based ratings How can you possibly know rather or not a website you visit is safe, unsafe, contains bad pornographic images, known for scams, or whatever other reasons there may be? Well, thanks to two community based programs, you can help yourself out a lot. They’re called HauteSecure and Web of Trust (WOT) Both of these community based rating programs offer EXCELLENT protection against going into sites that are potentially bad. Web of Trust (WOT) WOT is a great online community based rating program that helps web surfers know what they’re visiting before they even enter the site itself. The program works with web surfers giving “score” ratings of websites they’ve visited. Although the system sounds like it can be abused, it takes a lot of users to post negative or good feedback, so you can rest assured that WOT is a reliable source to choose from. WOT currently only works for Firefox and Internet Explorer. Haute Secure Haute Secure is another great community based rating program. HauteSecure offers several nifty features, such as stopping attacks in real time against online threats, constantly updating itself, and continually getting updated with web surfer reviews. Step four: Anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spyware, anti-whatever! There are a lot of great anti-this and that out there that offer great protection against online threats. We personally recommend that you follow this link here: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic58138.html as it has a substantially great record of helping out the average user get protected a whole lot better online. You should run your anti-virus program and all your other anti-spyware, malware, etc at least once a week. I prefer to allow my anti-virus program to run on a daily bases, as I think it’s better to play it safe than sorry, but you choose your own preferences. Step five: Disabling threats within your own browser For keeping things simple, I’m going to assume that you already have or use Firefox or Internet Explorer as your main web browser. Built into your browser are several threats that could help wreak havoc on your computer if abused by an outside source. They are non-other than Javascript and ActiveX To disable ActiveX and Javascript in Internet Explorer, please follow the links below. ActiveX http://securitywatch.eweek.com/brows...xplorer_1.html Javascript http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahqx.html To disable Javascript in Firefox, please follow the link below. Javascript http://www.mistered.us/tips/javascript/firefox.shtml We also recommend getting NoScript and Adblock Plus for Firefox. (Link provided below.) NoScript: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722 Adblock Plus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865 Step six: You, bro… You, you, you, and you are the safest and most secure way of keeping your computer healthy, clean, and happy while using the Internet. You are the guy or girl controlling the PC and it will obey your every command, like a doggy. However, like all owners, you must treat them well for them to keep you with a happy, clean computer. This means that you shouldn’t visit shady things online, like those ad banners that say, “You’ve won! Click here to claim your prize now.” Or visiting links from e-mails that you don’t know about. E.g. Chain letters In general, it’s about using common sense, which I notice more often than not people online tend to have the ability to just leave behind and act like they never had it to begin with. Following these steps will help you continue to make sure your computer is happy, clean, and most of all… running like new… Tyler |
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#5 (permalink) |
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Moderator, Games Team
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Washington, D.C.
Posts: 2,340
OS: Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
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Re: The Best Defence
I use Windows updates and McAfee anti-virus/firewall for my protection.
__________________
![]() Gaming troubleshooting steps. RIP Abe Pollin; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112402796.html Real peace cannot be found in what happens in Washington, D.C. Only God can give true peace to people. |
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#6 (permalink) |
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 174
OS: Windows XP SP3
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Re: The Best Defence
I'm not sure if this could be called the "best" protection, but here's what I use:
McAfee AV/Firewall SpywareBlaster MBAM (for manual scans time to time) MVPS Hosts file Web of Trust + SiteAdvisor plugins for Firefox It's sometimes a hassle manually updating SB and MBAM, but it's worth it. I think each has saved my butt at least once. Oh and of course there's always safe browsing
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#7 (permalink) | |
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TSF Enthusiast
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Re: The Best Defence
Quote:
Last edited by Net Jockey; 05-24-2009 at 09:31 PM. |
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#8 (permalink) | |
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Moderator/ Rangemaster TSF Academy; Analyst, Security Team; Oor Wullie; TSF Surgeon and Resident Comic
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Re: The Best Defence
Quote:
PC Safety and Security--What Do I Need? This article has been there for quite some time...
__________________
Iain - Defender of the Haggis and all things Scottish. I don't help by PM - post in the Forums. ![]() ![]() PC Safety & Security::PC running a bit slow?::Donate::Photographers Corner |
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#9 (permalink) |
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Moderator, Games Team
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Washington, D.C.
Posts: 2,340
OS: Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
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Re: The Best Defence
I also use MBAM.
__________________
![]() Gaming troubleshooting steps. RIP Abe Pollin; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112402796.html Real peace cannot be found in what happens in Washington, D.C. Only God can give true peace to people. |
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#10 (permalink) | |
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TSF Enthusiast
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Re: The Best Defence
Quote:
I guess what I am saying is that most of the above post I could have written from my personal experience...So It connected more with me. Many times I have read things written by different authors and something is said in a different way....and click it registers...That is what happened here. |
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