Internet Safety and protection

[Bighead]

i don't have time to post everything I want, so this will be a work in project and others feel free to chime in.  I'm going to focus on free products right now.  Any software I refer to is related to PC's.

You always need a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware.  Some anti-virus only focus on "viruses" while anti-spyware focus on stuff the AV doesn't.  Malware is synonymous with viruses, Trojans, spyware, etc.  

I'll start with my PC protection, which is all free.  I have experience with malware removal and is somewhat knowledgable on this topic.  
AV/AS I use is Avast!  It offers AV/AS both.  I use the windows firewall and a NAT router (router with a firewall).  I also own the paid for Malwarebytes Anti-malware.  As Avast! Provides Spyware protection I have MBAM turned off.  I use it as a scanner as it is probably the most advanced, yet one button scanner available.  I have intentionally gone to infected sites and my protection prevented infection.  
This is the minimum you need.  Never run two AV or two AS programs at the same time as they will fight each other to try to prevent an infection, and then the infection gets in.  


I will add more free programs, secure browsers with add-ons designed for safety, etc.

[forme]

Linux,
Malware dude sticks out his thumb, driver picks him up and leaves him in the ditch somewhere along the route to meet the kernel.

ETA: for scripts I run ghost

[Grandote]

Bighead what is MBAM? I use malwarebytes, the free version. I run it now and then. I also have spybot which is good too. I would not run them both at the same time. I have zone alarm which stops spyware from phoning home and a router with a firewall on it. Some stuff still occasionally gets through and I run spybot or malwarebytes. If I can't get the computer working right often simply doing a system restore back to a time when it was working correctly will do the job.

Good thread

[forme]

Hijackthis was a great one for Microsoft, it allows you to remove trojans on reboot that cannot be removed while the drive is in use. Just be careful what you remove.

[Bighead]

Bighead what is MBAM? I use malwarebytes, the free version. I run it now and then. I also have spybot which is good too. I would not run them both at the same time. I have zone alarm which stops spyware from phoning home and a router with a firewall on it. Some stuff still occasionally gets through and I run spybot or malwarebytes. If I can't get the computer working right often simply doing a system restore back to a time when it was working correctly will do the job.

Good thread

Abbreviations for Malwarebytes antimalware.  I'll add more stuff in the future.  Most, if not all, products I list will be free of charge.  

Hijackthis is still decent, but the malware designers are now making malware that hides from it.  Also, sometimes even using hijack this won't remove the infection.

---

Hi Gang.  

I was one of the 'No's.

Last time I had a pc, I bought some type of virus protection program and found the shredding function so much fun, I shredded too much and the pc stopped working.

Anyway, now I am on an ipad.  Anyone got a good suggestion for that?

The iPad runs in a sandbox like environment so it's very tough to get infected.  I am very security conscious and don't use any protection on my iPad.  However, if you want to be overly cautiously believe Avast! Has an iPad version.  I run Avast! On my android phone because it is more vulernable to infections than IOS.

[forme]

Hi Gang.  

I was one of the 'No's.

Last time I had a pc, I bought some type of virus protection program and found the shredding function so much fun, I shredded too much and the pc stopped working.

Anyway, now I am on an ipad.  Anyone got a good suggestion for that?

HAHAHA, it was CW shredder I bet, I thrashed my pc with that app as well!

With My windows PC's I always used "Adaware" "spybot search and destroy" "Hijackthis". More often than not I didnt even run an antivirus, and would just use the pccylin (sp?) online scanner, and when I did it was the free "Avast"
Always had my best luck just keeping a solid backup, using external storage devices for all that is dear to me. and running hijackthis once a week to see the culprits running on my pc and kill them (and replace system files with healthy ones when app).

Also used "zone alarm" fire wall which was a great way to learn to recognize what programs should and shouldn’t have web access, and sometimes catch a trojan uploading data to a web url, a real eye opener!

Any more I just run linux. By the time Bill Gates gets an OS to where it is reliable and not full of holes, you have a couple years, then they drop support and want you to download another Gates beta nightmare. Sorry for the rant.

The Android smart tv and PS4 plays all the games I want, so thats my MO!

P.S. MajorGeek has a page where you can download a lot decent security ware for free. Just be sure and use there server and not some shiny flashy button.

[IceWizard]

This is a gread thread indeed... I actually have an "old" fone... Doesn't download anything...

Having sai that, most all "mal-ware" programs out there will find at least one bug so it "proves a point" that it's worthy .... I have used most (if not all) those from the past just after a "fresh" re-install of every OS Billy boy made up to XP...

Everyone "found" at least one, even though I haven't even connected to the internet... Good sales stradgey though...

Now I did use "Kaspersky" AV with great success and "Norton" AV (with 99yr updates ).... Kaspersky I liked better, although it updated daily and therefore I would need to get/create another "key" to continue to recieve the updates.. It would recognize the "ripped/mfg'd" key and get it... Norton was way easier to "register" ....

This all being said... The malware proggies, some are better than others... Right off, I cannot remember which one was which until I would get back to using them...

I actually "caught" a bug, that would "morph" it's name... So when you would find the thing (in D0S) and delete it, when you rebooted it showed up named something else! Those dang TSR's.. Had em down to just the basic ones actually need to opperate!

But EVERY free proggie I tried (where you used it first then bought it if you liked it) found a bug.... You may be more apt to buy it that way...

I've been a member, sometimes even a mod, at warez sites since, O..88-89 and have run into some very "interesting" folks... Most all "bugz" are specificy made for Win... Simply because it's more "user friendly" and more used worldwide.... Like said before, just about the time you've gotten all those "updates" and fixed most of the problems... Here comes another OS... I have them all.(even Longhorn.. Never released OS) ... I would have to say, I liked 2000 pro the best for stability, but again EOL catches up...

Billy made billions buy selling his "new and improved" OS's, not fixing one to a stable platform such as Apple does... But most proggies are M$ based...

Sorry for the tangent.... As I cannot even use the beaux coup proggies I still own...

That' another thread indeed...

To sum it up, I used several... Some do thingz that others do not...

Ice

[forme]

Yes windows 2000 pro was pretty solid as were all the NT based os's, it seems the more simple the Microsoft interface became, the more vulnerable they were. Its easy to write a script that will run and replicate files on a machine that operates without human intervention.

Most Microsoft users I know auto login to admin everytime they start the pc which is basically saying ok, if anything wants to install or change any settings go right ahead, lol.
And if you use the microsoft outlook email you could share this same fate with your friends without even knowing. Im sure another .5gb of patches has fixed these issues nowadays.

I think if there were no redhat linux, we wouldn’t be able to have this discussion right now, lol.

A lot of times when there is malware detected on a microsoft pc, it was put there by microsoft, there are a lot of benign apps that behave and appear the same to these anti malware apps. I have removed some things I shouldn’t have in the past.

At one time SUN the developer of JAVA had plans of building an OS that would have taken up less than 100mb of disc space. The apps such as word processors, graphics, browsers... all would have been on cd or dvd media with applicable hardware drivers. the OS would have been very lite and extremely fast. Insert game disc and you would have free access to all memory and CPU for that one single app.
I learned about this while taking a business systems analysis coarse in the mid 90's.

We will never begin to realize the technology we could have at our finger tips right this moment if it weren’t for the mighty dollar and world politics (ie greed).

[Grandote]

Some of the "threats" they detect are just adware, which is not so good but not harmful, or cookies so they can track you and give you ads. Ever wonder why when you are looking to buy something online and do a search or two on it, everywhere you go you see ads for it? Thats because google tracks you, puts super cookies on your computer that sites which pay google can use. The cookies tell them what you are looking for so they can target you with ads. I try to use duckduckgo instead of google because it doesn't do that.

I leave my computer on overnight so I don't have to mess with it in the morning but after a week or two it starts running slowly. A restart will perk it back up. Often a window will 'wear out' so to speak. The website I was watching on it will freeze up or something. Closing the window and opening a new one usually fixes that. IE is especially vulnerable to that. I sometimes have to close all IE windows and reopen. If I shut down the computer with the power button or by pulling the plug, I can restore the pages I had open when I restart it. But if I shut down "properly" by selecting shut down, when it starts again all the windows are lost and must be found again.

Revo uninstaller is a good program but expensive. They have a trial version. When you uninstall a program via windows, it usually leaves behind some traces which may mess you up. Good old gates and his garbage OS. My next computer will have linux on it. I plan to have a partition and put windoz on the other part so I can run games and certain progs. The only thing gates was good at was creating a semi monopoly to the point he conned software makers into only working with his crap system. He also persuaded computer makers to include windoz. Once you get to that point you can milk the public without ever giving them a good OS. Now he is conning the world into thinking he is a saint because he gives away some vaccines but makes a killing selling them. Its all marketing. A modern day robber baron.

[Bighead]

Kaspersky usually rates as the number one AV/As. Avast! and Avira (both free) usually rate 2-4.

Again, I'm exhausted from work, but I'll post all the free software, what they do, and links to them.