[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[A CA Guy]

I run the free Zone Alarm firewall and I have no problems or patches.

[kingattax]

great thread.....but the biggest problem is which browser a person is using.

use Mozilla Firefox 1.0 for better security

Internet Explorer is like the southern border of the US

[backhoe]

 

Things you need--(all FREE)
Anti-Virus
AVG Anti-Virus version 7 (free) release available...

 Avast
Firewall
Kerio(Direct Download) Zone Alarm

 If are using zone alarm it may slow your PC. Try Outpost Firewall http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost or Sygate Firewall http://www.sygate.com/ both have FREE and Pro versions and are heads above ZA.
Misc.
IE Spyads SpywareBlaster Spyware Guard
Windows Update- you must keep updated, it is the start of a secure system-
get all CRITICAL Updates

Things you want(Still Free)
 

  I use Firefox PR1 and IMHO, beats the sox off MS Explorer. Life is good with tabs. Click the link and give it a try.

Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D

SpywareBlaster
MS MVP Hosts file

Mike Lin's Homepage and get the Startup Control Panel and Startup Monitor tools.

 

The best forum for malware removal:

-SWI Forums-

 

 
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315720/posts

 Microsoft Releases Anti-Spyware Beta 1 To Public Today.
Microsoft.com ^

 

=================================================

 

 

Browser Wars, take two various FR links | 12-22-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1306815/posts ...and let your compiler of links drop out of Lurk & Link mode for comment and advice: Ditch IE. Honest to God, almost anything else will give you fewer problems. Try and compare- use IE, then run Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy... then try another browser and repeat. You will be stunned at the garbage IE attracts. Keep your OS updated & patched. Run a hardware firewall-- with today's LAN's, it's easy. You need a hardware firewall. Use a software firewall, too-- if you don't, you'll never know how many times your PC is trying to "phone home" and send your info across the web.

[Allegra]

How secure is your computer?

Mine's got low self-esteem problems and sometimes acts jealous.

We're thinking of going to counseling.

[polymuser]

Rootkits, too -- nasty buggers that get into the kernel, get full control, and can mask themselves from administrative tasks. Sometimes only noticeable by looking at a machine from an uninfected other. Full reformatting and OS reload is often necessary to eliminate them, as they bind to the 'core' of the operating system (any OS).

A small company I know has precious little funds for IT, and they're getting ticked at the time/$ lost keeping safe on the Internet and the constant annoyances while trying to get work done. They're considering a) reverting to snail mail, fax, FedEx, b) replacing ethernet with physical file sharing, and c) having one shared Internet pc as a kiosk for unavoidable e-mail, transactions, updates and research, with only necessary apps and only scanned files coming off it on physical media.

I now trust the Internet as far as I can spit a monitor. As for computing, W98SE era software does most work just fine, especially on newer/faster hardware.

I see three paths: 1) pay to regulate and police the wild, wild Internet and block the proliferating bad guys, 2) pay ever higher costs for protection at the user level, or 3) unhook from the machine.

[Golden Eagle]

The good news is that none of the up-to-date, patched operating systems succumbed to a single attack.

Which is to be expected. The moral of the story is, only use operating systems that can be automatically patched by the vendor, without you having to manually upgrade the systems periodically through archaic commands.

[TheLion]

Good info....thanks!

[nutmeg]

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