Posted on 09/21/2005 12:57:05 AM PDT by Echo Talon
Well, if you're using Firefox it's time to upgrade. If your using IE it's time to switch! :)Link
And for the adventurous, there's the Firefox Beta of v1.5 - and I hear they're giving away Opera now too...
I never tried opera before...
Firefox must be waiting to add the update notification.
In either case, I'm ready to hop on it.
Everytime I think I've got my box hardened to 440 I manage to pick up some crap.
It's not mutch fun surfing w/o Java Script and I already use No Script...
I am on the verge of resurecting an older P4 box just for surfing.
Here's my defense list
AVG
Spybot S&D
Lavasoft Adaware
CWSHredder
Microsoft Anti-Spyware
Trend Micro
I also do the on-line scans
and scan for open ports, trojans and dakine on a regular basis.
I'm really starting to get disgusted with the net.
I've got Thunderbird wratcheted down to strip everything but bare text and send the same.
I don't do pornsites, or download low-end games, or even "surf"
By the way, did I miss anything Security wise?
Using ADSL no Router. -TIA, somehow I know you'll have input.
wow, lots of stuff you got goin' on. Not sure what fixes are in this version. Maybe on their site they will have it.
Don't you have to pay for Opera? I thought someone said you had to buy it or something thats why I never tried it.
Wow, thanks! I'll give it a shot.
Opera has pretty good RSS support, too, although I use another reader.
Both Firefox and Opera are much better than IE, for many reasons (and I'm not your standard-issue MS basher--I make my living writing software for Windows, but I just don't like IE).
Sigh... I just sold three friends on it last month, so I'll be hearing from them about their forty bucks. I don't regret mine--it was worth it.
ok, using Opera to write this post.... :) thanks guys.
I have had problems with AVG letting things get by. I use ETrust Antivirus from Computer Associates along with firefox and thunderbird. I don't have anything ratcheted down. I use Adaware and run a scan once a month - it doesn't find anything.
One thing I do use is what we call Inbox Sentry which is a challenge/response spam blocker that holds email on the server until I release it to Thunderbird - that keeps the auto-executing crap away from my system.
It may be that you have something on your system that hides itself pretty well, then runs when you start your web browser and installs more junk. Those are hard to get rid of but will make your life easier if you can manage to find them.
I got rid of windows 98 too - what a security hole that was!
I would guess that if you can find a way to screen your email before you download it that will stop 99% of the junk from getting to you and then you can let scripts run again.
Put the router in, as they say it wouldn't hurt.
Just be sure you aren't jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
Twenty-five vulnerabilities were disclosed for Mozilla browsers, including Firefox, in the first half of the year, compared with 13 for Explorer, Symantec said. Eighteen of the Mozilla flaws were classified as high severity, compared with eight high-severity Explorer flaws
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/mc/20050919/tc_mc/symantecmacusersdeludingthemselvesoversecurity
Check out K9--it's free, and beats anything I've ever paid for or installed on Unix.
It takes a little setup--you have to know how to set your email client to use a non-standard port (configurable in K9), and you'll need to tell it what's spam when it misses things for a while. After a "training" period you hardly know it's there, but all your spam emails go whereever you tell your email client to put them. You can configure it either to change the subject line of spam, or add a special header (that's configurable, too)
From a clean installation on a new machine in December, my stats are showing 99.24% accuracy on 32,958 emails processed. It's missing only one or two spams a month now, with zero false positives since I installed it. My last installation ran for years with similar results.
If I may butt in?
The biggest single improvement I've had with the home PC's was setting up a LAN ( newer term is a home network ) using an Asante' FR1004 router which has a hardware firewall in both directions- in & out.
The previous setup used a Wirespeed DSL modem which claimed it had a firewall, but still let in tons of junk-- when we changed to a cable modem, I networked the two home PC's via ethernet, and problems virtually ceased.
You still need an antivirus running, just to be on the safe side, but there's no subsitute for a hardware firewall.
On the bottom of my Freeper Home Page are these three links to the best internet security sites I've found:
The best site for keeping your PC safe from spam, viruses, spyware and other security hazards on the internet is FirewallGuide.com.You also need to have active spyware and virus and firewall software running all the time in your PC, as well as automatic nightly scans for spyware and viruses.The best site for help setting up home and small business networks, and for networking equipment recommendations and reviews is PracticallyNetworked.com. Post your questions to their online forums.
The best site to explain the technology and terms of home networking is CERT's Home Network Security.
It has gotten dramatically worse during the last year.
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