Nerds rule the world.

[mishmannah]

I was discussing with a friend the other day about viruses, and how perfect you can get protection on your PC when you are online.

My argument was that you cannot get perfect protection...that eventually something gets through, just like the immunity of a human drops, and they get ill. That is just life, and you fix the problem, re-format and off you go again.

He said that you could create administration priveledges, on Windows XP, where you configure the system so that you log in with one password, and the only thing you do under that name is surf the net. If that name and password isn't the administrator, then you cannot download stuff from the web, apparently, therefore, there would be no viruses. I am confused already.

Another thing was partitioning the hard drive into two. If you access one part for surfing, then that part gets the virus, but the other part doesn't.

My thoughts were; If you get a trojan, the type that has remote access, then whatever you do, whether you slice the drive or create multi users, the host will have access to every part of your PC.

Also the best way to avoid viruses and trojans, is to just stop surfing....(Or have good antivirus software etc..)

OKay...I have huge respect for computer experts and I apologise if I am not making sense.... :confuse:

[PhantomLord]

to avoid viruses, install windows, never put a cd, dvd, floppy disk, usb drive, or any single storage device or external component into it. it's the only way. you WILL get viruses no matter how hard you try to prevent them. like you said, you can't have perfect protection.

[phingerboard]

One of the leading sources of 'problems' is the 'free' services: free file sharing networks, free toolbars, free smilies and wallpaper, cash rebate programs, etc.

How do they stay in business? Bandwidth costs to service downloads for millions of non-paying 'customers' needs to be covered. This is where "drive by" downloads come in. Even at a pennies apiece, these folks get filthy rich installing spyware, etc on unsuspecting users machines.

Read the EULA before hitting the "yes" button when downloading 'free' stuff from the internet. Chances are you are authorizing scumbags to not only clog your PC up with crap, but to log and monitor your activity as well. They may present it on a silver platter, but they'll give it to you in the behind.

I have never had any sort of virus or spyware on any of my PC's, as I've never downloaded free crap from the internet. There is a correlation there.

Ben scratches the surface; evil lurks everywhere: http://www.benedelman.org/

[mishmannah]

One of the leading sources of 'problems' is the 'free' services: free file sharing networks, free toolbars, free smilies and wallpaper, etc.

How do they stay in business? Bandwidth costs to service downloads for millions of non-paying 'customers' needs to be covered. This is where "drive by" downloads come in. Even at a pennies apiece, these folks get filthy rich installing spyware, etc on unsuspecting users machines.

Read the EULA before hitting the "yes" button when downloading 'free' stuff from the internet. Chances are you are authorizing scumbags to not only clog your PC up with crap, but to log and monitor your activity as well. They may present it on a silver platter, but they'll give it to you in the behind.

I have never had any sort of virus or spyware on any of my PC's, as I've never downloaded free crap from the internet. There is a correlation there.

Ben scratches the surface; evil lurks everywhere: http://www.benedelman.org/

Ha ha hah ha!

We download free crap all the time!!
We have "Secretmaker" installed, a free program that hides your presence on the web and stops profiling.

SOon as you disable the cookie blocking option...WHAM! spybots are crawling all over the system!

[Puddlegum66]

Yeah, it's amazing sometimes. I fixed my boss's kids pc a few months ago. Her daughter had never bothered to run any anti-spy or anti-virus at all on it. I ran adaware and found, and I'm not kidding....over 4000 pieces of spyware and running norton found 125 virus.

No wonder her pc was running so slowly.

[mishmannah]

Yeah, it's amazing sometimes. I fixed my boss's kids pc a few months ago. Her daughter had never bothered to run any anti-spy or anti-virus at all on it. I ran adaware and found, and I'm not kidding....over 4000 pieces of spyware and running norton found 125 virus.

No wonder her pc was running so slowly.

LOL! Also to mention all the fragmented files and chokkablocked registry to contend with!

[ModestCargo]

Haven't had spyware or a virus for probably over 4 years now. You just gotta know what you're doing and be careful. Also, get a firewall.

[reddavis999]

want a spy-ware and virus free computer? Get a mac!

[Al Liss]

"One of the leading sources of 'problems' is the 'free' services: free file sharing networks, free toolbars, free smilies and wallpaper, cash rebate programs, etc."

You said it there.

I use a software firewall (not MS one) but hardly ever use any antivirus software, sometimes use only AVG. My pc's never get infected, and no adware - well just once and it was no big deal.

Creating Administrator account is good if other people use ur PC.

Here are some good rules:

1. dont open email attachments you are not expecting to get- obvious
2. go to sites you trust- bad scripts etc.
3. dont use peer to peer- too much to list
4. use firewall- worms:mad:
5. Use Opera8;)


"We download free crap all the time!!
We have "Secretmaker" installed, a free program that hides your presence on the web and stops profiling."

Not sure that'll help you on peer to peer network.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer
peer to peer (http://www.webpronews.com/it/security/wpn-23-20050322TheDangersofPeertoPeerSystems.html)

[Etingi]

This reminds me, I haven't run anything to check for malware in a while now.

*opens Spybot*

[gormuu]

the most important thing besides the ones already mentioned is to keep everything up to date - windows, browser, anti-virus software etcetera. most viruses are able to penetrate your system because of not updating. firefox or opera also beats IE. installing free stuff is ok if you know what you're doing and what to avoid. i'm not sure that a virus couldn't spread to another partition - after all, viruses spread, that's what they do. if they can spread from harddrive to harddrive, they should be able to spread from partition to partition also, if i'm not missing something.

totally virus-free - mac, yes, or linux. linux people don't have to worry about viruses. of course switching to linux is a headache, and configuring your network is impossible for all but a select few of linux-jedis, but it beats never surfing the web at all.

needless to say, i'm still a windows user. :smile:

[pml]

My argument was that you cannot get perfect protection...Your approach is correct, there is no such thing as perfect security. On the other hand, your friend is right in the sense we can take effective measures against security problems, although personally I have serious doubts about the strategies he recommends. For starters, if the "web account" has administrator pivileges, then the whole system is exposed. Second, even if we go for an approach similar to having two computers, one for using with the Internet and another one that remains isolated, we can still get viruses and malware in the "isolated" computer (or account), for instance, through infected media. We'd also have the problem of non-communication, we couldn't transfer information from one computer to another without the risk of an infection. So I don't think it's a good strategy, you might as well keep the computer turned off, that will guarantee that it doesn't get any virus and stuff, but it makes for a very expensive paperweight.

Dealing with computer security at a paranoid level is a very complex subject, because we have to marry the effectiveness of the security measures with the usability of the system, but we can reach a good level of protection with some strategies:

- Backups. Yeah, I know, they're a pain in the neck and virtually nobody is willing to do them. Nonetheless, these will be your first line of defense. Nobody is free from a severe virus attack, a hard drive going bad, or an inept user deleting important stuff.

- Run reliable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs and keep them updated on a daily basis. Do full system checks once a week or more.

- Properly configuring and running a firewall. This may be, possibly, the most difficult thing for a non-technically oriented person to do correctly. The concepts involved, however, are not that complex, so either one learns them or then should ask for knowledgeable advice. It's always more risky to run the firewall in your working machine than to have a dedicated equipment for it. One can use an old computer for it, for instance. If using DSL, there are many cheap DSL "modems" with firewalling capabilities. Furthermore, one can always run a firewalling software in the working machine as well.

- Minimize Internet connection time. The longer your system is connected, the more exposed your system will be.

- Disallow cookies in the web browser. Alternatively, some browsers may be configured to ask the user if he wants to allow or disallow each one of the appearing cookies when it reaches a web page. Mozilla, for instance, allows you to remember which sites you'll be allowing/disallowing cookies, and even to manage that list.

- Disallow pop-ups in the browser.

- In general, disallow or uninstall everything that you don't actually use. This may go from Java support to this or that program that you installed, tried once, and never used again.

- Keep the operating system updated security-wise. Namely, with Windows, one should activate the automatic updates feature and/or regularly visit www.windowsupdate.com. Microsoft's approach to security issues may be wreckless, to say the least, but it's better than nothing.

- Avoid using Microsoft's Outlook. The simple fact that it is installed in your system may be a security risk. A similar thing could be said about Internet Explorer, but as it is so imbedded in the OS, you'll probably have to live with it.

- Do "safe hex". This has to do with user's behavior. If the user likes to install all kinds of "free" stuff that appear on the web or in magazines, he's asking for big time trouble. Beware of suspicious e-mails (just delete them without opening them, a good strategy may be to see them in a webmail interface before you actually download them to your computer), and never, ever, open directly a file attachment. Set your mail reader not to do it. Instead, save the file to a directory and scan it with your battery of anti-malware software. Also, set your mail reader so it doesn't even open the message automatically. Don't overtrust the capabilities of anti-malware programs either, even if you have them running in memory. Some Internet sites are more dangerous than others. For instance, visiting "warez" or porno sites is potentially dangerous. Sites that use a lot of cookies or popups should also be considered less safe than others. Beware of user-sharing networks, like BitTorrent or eMule, not as much because of the technology involved, but because you may be getting something very different than what you'd expect. Same would go for online messengers like IRC, MSN, ICQ, etc. Some of these also present technological issues one should be aware of. Summing it up, the idea of all of these (and there may be more) is to minimize the possibilities of opening a way for an infection, it doesn't mean you should avoid them completely. Be on the lookout, use good sense, and you should fare better than most.

I've seen some people here mentioning the Mac, and one other mentioning Linux. Neither one is exempt from a virus attack or other security-related problems. However, it's true that attacks on these systems are much less frequent and in the case of Linux virtually unexistant. This has to do a great deal with the internal architecture and the development policy of the OSs, but it also has to do with OS popularity. In the world of the PC's, running Linux may not be for everyone, but I think it has gone a great way towards user friendliness. BTW, configuring a network is not that hard at all in Linux, but I guess there will be differences for different Linux distributions. I personally use Gentoo (http://www.gentoo.org) because it marries efficiency with ease of maintenance. I never caught a virus or trojan in my Linux systems. I can't say the same at all about my Windows installations even if I rarely use them and do have all sorts of security measures in place.

PML

[BMG_SKULK]

Haven't had spyware or a virus for probably over 4 years now. You just gotta know what you're doing and be careful. Also, get a firewall.
QFT

Like a sleazy motel, P2P services...porn...and those "FREE" gaming sites.

It takes experience and sometimes just common sense to avoid viruses,
worms, spyware etc.

[stratman56]

I'm the computer geek at work everyone comes to with there computer problems. I am writing this because I feel so strongly about this subject because of the harddrives that I have lost before I knew what to do. Mac users can skip this, a least for know!

The best protection, if you are using a broadband conection like cable or DSL, is to buy a wireless router, even if you don't use wireless, and run your computer through it. They are only about $40.00 and well worth it. It will serve as a firewall and not allow hackers to access your system remotely to use you computer to send out thousands of emails without you knowing about it. All they will see is a dummy conection.

There is a great virus scanner download out there, and it is free, called AVG. here is the link. http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2 The problem with the well known ones are that hackers are writing code to disable them and then get into your computer. Like Norton, Mcafee, PC chillin etc. Also, the older ones use a lot of your computer's resources to run thus slowing it down. If you use your computer to record with or play audio and video in can cause dropouts because it is always running in the backgroung.

Spyware is getting worst than viruses! Another free download, if you are using windows XP, is Microsoft's anti spyware. here is a link to it: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en (It will only download if you have a legal copy of windows). The nice thing about this one is, it serves as a popup stopper and keeps your IE browser from being hyjacked.

If you can't use Microsoft's spyware there is another freebee called Spybot. I has been rated high by most users. The link to it is: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html I use both spy programs at the same time as a double saftey net. Spybot offers an immune feature that the other one dosen't, which acts as a spyware firewall.

Also, make sure you stay current on all of microsoft's critical updates! There is a reason they are called critical.

Go into the settings or the help files and learn how to set these up to run automatically each day. If you don't keep all of these updated at least weekly they will start to lose their effectiveness.

My machine tells me when it has blocked a virus or spyware now. I notice most of my infections are coming from Guitar Tab sites and P2P file sharing sites. Most free downloads or giveaways make their money by sending spyware to your computer. When you use there stuff you have just agreed to be used by them!!! There is a dark side to the internet ran by greedy, sick and twisted people!!

Another thing to note! DON'T EVER USE YOUR COMPUTER WITH OUT PROTECTION. People that I know, have ran test to see how long it take to get spyware and viruses on a computer that has no protection. It is less than a minute!! There a programs floating around out there that there only purpose in life is to find a virgin computer and infect it before you load it with protection. Virus scanners CANNOT be use together. Make sure that you download the new one on you hardrive, then unplug your computer from the internet before you uninstall the old one. Then put the new one on. As soon as you get the new stuff installed check for updates in the programs to make them current.

I am hope this will make the cyberworld a better place for all. If you have any questions just send a reply. I am happy to help any fellow members. I have gotton so much from you all, this is my way of trying to give back for what it's worth.

Also, please check out my new song at the link below! Thanks!

[PhantomLord]

i once had 11 000 viruses on my computer...