It's not the SYSTEM but it's the USER whose the problem

[macgyver2]

I use a netspend prepaid visa to do any online shopping, they offer a virtual credit card which can be deleted immediately after the purchase. Granted this could be an issue if I had to return something maybe, but from what I feel its the safest way to shop online today.

 

[madtownidiot]

there really ought to be a user license requirement before a person is allowed to touch a keyboard or mouse. too many people out there who are barely smart enough to remember to breathe but still somehow manange to get online

 

[MadMatt]

Hi all

I think we've blown system security our of all proportion to the number of times it actually happens in real life.

These days people commit FRAUD big time by not getting in to your system with a Virus etc but by posing as a legitimate supplier / Bank etc etc and obtaining vital information which is supplied quite freely irrespective of HOW much security is on the system.

Even today how many people still send Money up front for the most elementary SCAMS (Canadian Lottery, Nigerian Businessman etc etc). and these scams have been going on for as long as "Pontius was a Pilot".

How many people also give out passwords when they get an email from what appears to be a Bank , Utility company etc etc.


I don't really care if some nerdy sub teen wants to blow my hard disk away -- it only takes me 15 mins to restore anyway but what I DO take more care over is

1) NEVER open ANY email unless I know who it's from - and certainly don't open attachments - especially those on a typical mass corporate circular email system like "jokes" etc unless again you trust 100% the source.

2) NEVER EVER supply a password / bank details to ANY site that requests "We need to update our information" --- if they are BANK for .....'s sake they will WRITE to you if they need to re-set your password etc.

3) Never use an online shopping system that REQUIRES you to register on their site.

4) Be very wary of "Unsolicited" requests from Utility companies - Gas, Water, Electricity etc requesting Online payments where they want all bank details etc. By all means pay them online BUT DON'T GIVE OUT PRIVATE INFO.

5) If you DO make any payment online ensure the Bank has an extra security popup requesting a password etc before the request is processed.

6) Never download Pirated music / other P2P stuff from "Free Torrent" or other P2P file sharing sites. If you really must use these then use something like the 'OID which has a private / restricted membership.

7) Always take an image backup before installing any software from a Site you don't 100% trust.

8) If you are a computer admin BAN ANYBODY plugging in USB devices to a machine on a corporate LAN. These (especially if the computer is running XP) can infect computers big time via the AUTOPLAY feature (finally disabled by default in W7).

9) Use something like a Linux machine or a Linux VM to access links you are unsure of when downloading software - especially Free software.

Most AV software is pretty hopeless anyway and usually causes more problems than it solves. False positive research takes more time to resolve than just taking 15 mins to restore an infected computer back to health anyway and as nearly all AV software show different false positives the work required into researching what is OK and what isn't makes the whole process just a HUGE WASTE OF TIME.

If you use your machine intelligently and regularly perfom backups you should never run into Virus problems.

In over 30 years of using computers I've NEVER had virus problems.

A post in this forum on phishing amply exemplifies its those sort of threats that are the REAL problem.

Just my observations however -- YMMV of course.

Cheers
jimbo

with a good antivirus and good malware knowledge you dont even have to think about backing up your whole hard disk. install a good automatic antivirus and forget. add with safe surfing and safe computer use habit. no worries, no image backing up time waste, no 15 mins image restore.

 

[chev65]

Above all else I believe this one to be the most factual of them all.

Quote Jimbo: >Most AV software is pretty hopeless anyway and usually causes more problems than it solves.

I have said the same thing myself may times. Anyone who works with computers enough will eventually come to the same conclusion.

Anti virus solutions are for the masses of unknowing computer illiterates. The computer savvy have no use for such devices.

 

[madtownidiot]

the vast majority of computer problems are PEBKAC errors. 99.9% of the time it's not malware, spyware, or hackers that's the problem, it's boredom combined with ignorance. A bored, inexperienced computer user is as dangerous (to the computer anyway) as a drunk driver in a school zone.

 

[jimbo45]

OH DEAR

This is about the WORST ADVICE I Have EVER SEEN.

Hard Disks DO go bad etc for all sorts of reasons -- YOU SHOUDL ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATA.

Also have you NEVER made a mistake and accidentally deleted a file.

What about if you accidentally spill Beer / Coffee / etc on the machine and ruin the HDD -- happens -- not often but it can.

What about if someone BURGLES your home / there is a Fire or you have fLOOD damage.

Very appropriate user name MadMatt if you think you never need backup --

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Zidane24]

OH DEAR

This is about the WORST ADVICE I Have EVER SEEN.

Hard Disks DO go bad etc for all sorts of reasons -- YOU SHOUDL ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATA.

Also have you NEVER made a mistake and accidentally deleted a file.

What about if you accidentally spill Beer / Coffee / etc on the machine and ruin the HDD -- happens -- not often but it can.

What about if someone BURGLES your home / there is a Fire or you have fLOOD damage.

Very appropriate user name MadMatt if you think you never need backup --

Cheers
jimbo

Great post Jimbo...

Let me point one thing out...You put Beer as the first thing to spill:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

 

[jav]

with a good antivirus and good malware knowledge you dont even have to think about backing up your whole hard disk. install a good automatic antivirus and forget. add with safe surfing and safe computer use habit. no worries, no image backing up time waste, no 15 mins image restore.

you, know I do agree with Jimbo.
Atleast make copy of your personal Data (your documents and files)
And believe me, I have experienced it.
On my old laptop I already once had HD failure. And it was nothing about viruses or malware it was just technical failure (which can just happen without warning you, because it is computer, so there is always chance of technical failure, like heartattack.. BUMM and .......................................... that's it, finish)

So even if I had top 30 AV programms running together without ant issues and problems, have best Anti spyware, Anti Malware, live in Virual enviroment and sandboxed, And have best prevention systems, have 100% (and I mean 100% not 99.99%) detectoin and removal rate And best malware knowladge of the whole humanity :devil: , change my OS to linux( or even create my own OS, so comlicated that one can't even understand it and create virus, and don't give source code to anyone), drop my rights to minimum and even if I disconnect from Internet and close all my connection (tear away USB sockets, CD/DVD ROMs, enthernal network socket, Wireless adaptor and so on :sarc: ) And most important put Chuck Norris to protect it!

It would not have saved from HD failure and it may even have give boost to it, So you should atleast backup your personal files.

P.S. hmm.. now I am thinking, nice security setup, isn't it? :huh: (anybody wants to be the first person to test it?)

 

[MadMatt]

I do backup, but not the whole hardisk/s. And one needs to put some protection on their computer i.e. antivirus unless he/she surf only 3-4 trusted website in basis and never does online-payment and never had to transfer data through removable media. Do they? Do you?

 

[MadMatt]

[/QUOTE]
So even if I had top 30 AV programms running together without ant issues and problems, have best Anti spyware, Anti Malware, live in Virual enviroment and sandboxed, And have best prevention systems, have 100% (and I mean 100% not 99.99%) detectoin and removal rate And best malware knowladge of the whole humanity :devil: , change my OS to linux( or even create my own OS, so comlicated that one can't even understand it and create virus, and don't give source code to anyone), drop my rights to minimum and even if I disconnect from Internet and close all my connection (tear away USB sockets, CD/DVD ROMs, enthernal network socket, Wireless adaptor and so on :sarc: ) And most important put Chuck Norris to protect it![/QUOTE]
you know, you made me laugh :roflmao:

 

[jav]

you know, you made me laugh :roflmao:

oh, Atleast there was some use from my post

 

[bigmck]

3) Never use an online shopping system that REQUIRES you to register on their site.

I am curious how this is even possible? Doesn't amazon, newegg, overstock, buy .... well .... everybody require you to register?

I do alot of shopping online. You can put your name, address and email on the vendor site and pay through Paypal. I also pay all my monthly bills online. Never to the individual site but all through my bank. This way I only have to trust Paypal and my bank, not ten different sites.

 

[MadMatt]

3) Never use an online shopping system that REQUIRES you to register on their site.

I am curious how this is even possible? Doesn't amazon, newegg, overstock, buy .... well .... everybody require you to register?

I do alot of shopping online. You can put your name, address and email on the vendor site and pay through Paypal. I also pay all my monthly bills online. Never to the individual site but all through my bank. This way I only have to trust Paypal and my bank, not ten different sites.

That's what I'm talking about, you do need an antivirus unless you barely do anything on the internet or never use removable media to transfer data (almost everybody does).

 

[severedsolo]

That's what I'm talking about, you do need an antivirus unless you barely do anything on the internet or never use removable media to transfer data (almost everybody does).

Amen to that, id always recomended AVG to everyone and had set it up on my girlfriends pc, i uninstalled it and was trying Zone Alarm for a week or so see how it went, stupidly allowed her to plug her Ipod into my PC and Zone Alarm caught a virus on there masquerading as an mp3... all the safe surfing in the world is great, but surely an antivirus is your "safety net" just in case? If Zone Alarm wasnt on there i would never have known... the only symptoms on her PC were lagging big time, but i put that down to it being an aging machine....

funilly enough, that was the day i went off AVG

 

[valtonray]

very nice post with good key points. safe browsing should always be your number one defense against online threats.

 

[madtownidiot]

If you're not using the internet to download porn, pirated music, games or movies, don't keep your computer connected to the internet 24 hours a day, are not connected to network with other computers, and clean your system regularly, I see no real need for anything more than the windows firewall and defender. MSE at the most. Just use a little common sense.

 

[jav]

If you're not using the internet to download porn, pirated music, games or movies, don't keep your computer connected to the internet 24 hours a day, are not connected to network with other computers, and clean your system regularly, I see no real need for anything more than the windows firewall and defender. MSE at the most. Just use a little common sense.

Maybe better leave it unboxed? This way you don't need even Firewall and Defender.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi all

Actually for a HOME computer I've never seen the reason for a Firewall - usually gets in the way when testing networking etc etc.

If you have a decent ROUTER which blocks all open Inward coming ports except the ones you allow like RDP I'm not sure what actual use the firewall is.

For a Corporate or business scenario with Interconnected networks then it's a different ball game.

Something like MSE will prevent unauthorised changes to registry etc etc.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[severedsolo]

well i use Zone Alarm Personal Firewall basically because it tells you whenever something tries to "phone home" and block it, its amazing how many things try to connect to the internet during installation, example games, nearly all the installers try to phone home without needing to, Windows Firewall lets them through because it trusts them, ZA asks each and every time

 

[jimbo45]

well i use Zone Alarm Personal Firewall basically because it tells you whenever something tries to "phone home" and block it, its amazing how many things try to connect to the internet during installation, example games, nearly all the installers try to phone home without needing to, Windows Firewall lets them through because it trusts them, ZA asks each and every time

Hi there
I usually install stuff on a Virtual machine first with NO internet connection.

If the software works "as it says on the tin" then I'll migrate it to a real machine.

I'm not a gamer so I don't have the problem with games "phoning Home" every so often but even here you can set your router (at least decent routers) to only allow certain programs through -- hardware firewall.

IMO this sort of stuff is done much better by the hardware since it's unlikely a hacker would be able to get into the router's Bios.

Decent Routers these days have this facility built in together with decent logging so you don't need an EXTRA windows firewall.

Cheers
jimbo