How Do I Make My Computer More Secure?

[{KHH}darwin's joke]

alright, gather around peps and i will happily help you make your computer more secure. i've been using these same methods and i've yet to have a virus or even a piece of spyware make it on to my new rig.

1. stop using internet explorer!!!! it's full of holes and it is the #1 browser in use so most attacks come through IE. download firefox. it's much more user friendly and more secure and it has all kinds of cool little add ons so you can customize it to your personal tastes.

2. get a good internet security suite. i use pc-cillin from trend micro. also recommended is norton internet security. shop around a bit and you can find better prices than at the links i posted, i would recommend you try looking at pricegrabber for better prices. also avoid mcafee, it sucks don't waste your time or money on it. these security suites include a personal firewall (so you can disable the default windows xp firewall) along with excellent virus scanners and real time virus protection.

3. download and install the following programs to keep spyware/malware off of your computer: spyware blaster, spybot, ad-aware, and microsoft antispy beta. all are free and each catches programs that the others might miss. after you install them, update and run at least once a week to keep you system clean.

4. for those of us who are used to running ms office at work but don't want to pay for it at home i would recommend you download and install mozilla's thunderbird to replace outlook and open office.org's suite to replace the rest of ms office. thunderbird is compatable with any POP mail service which is pretty much any non-web site mail provider (such as mail provided by your ISP instead of yahoo, aol, or msn) and it also allows you to set up rss feeds for news or pretty much anything else to keep you informed about what is going on in the world with out having to visit each individual site.

5. if you're really paranoid about people tracking your computer you can also change your ip address on a regular basis to help hide your tracks on the web. you can do so by clicking on your start button, clicking on run, then typing in cmd, then you type ipconfig release to ditch your old ip address, and then type ipconfig renew to get a new ip address.

everything else here either falls under the heading of good ideas to keep you computer running smooth or it's just some cool *poopie* i found and wanted to share with the rest of you:

6. run disk clean-up and defrag your hard drive at least once a month, you can do so by clicking on start, all programs, accessories, and then system tools to access both.

7. also for those of you with better rigs, i would recommend you check out google earth for a cool map program using real time satellite feeds of the earth.

that's all for now, if you have any questions about any of this just give me a holler and i will be glad to help you out with it.

[{KHH}Boltme]

Interesting stuff, darwin, and many thanks for all the helpful tips. I've been using Norton's for several years now but I know that relying on a single line of defense is a rather flimsy plan at the best of times. I've also been using IE for several years as well... I know, I know; I'm a little pansy that fears change. I downloaded firefox but have yet to actually switch over to it. I have also recently taken to using Spybot and Ad-aware to help screen my computer. But once again, thanks for the insight and I'm sure the rest of us here are just as grateful as I am.

[niyon]

Yea, good job. I still use Internet Explorer too, but that's because I got Firefox and loaded it on my old ME when I was still using it and it would regularly lock up my computer. I may go back to using it, but right now I have an awesome pop-up blocker running that catches most of the big pop-ups (and unfortunately, windows that I want to open). The one nice thing is that all I have to do is hold down CTRL and click the link that I want the new window to come from and the blocker lets it in. I got it from www.panicware.com . If you check the main site, there should be a place to download the free version (which is what I use). It is really helpfull and I recommend it over all the other pop-up blockers that you can get.

[petteyg359]

My computer is more secure than ANY of yours :-P. I use Linux. I have now deleted Windows and will never install it again.

[{KHH}darwin's joke]

linux is definitely the best way if you know enough about it to never need tech support. although finding drivers can be a b!tch since the linux drivers usually come out a while after the product release.

[petteyg359]

Anybody on here wants me to install Linux for them and set it up to run Steam and such should just tell me and I'll pwn their computer

[KingZope]

Anti-Symantec people make me laugh. Get symantec anti-virus.

If symantec is good enough for the military, then its good enough for your computer.

[niyon]

yea, Norton does a good job. My only beef with them right now is that their Disk Doctor doesn't want to work on any XP computer. If you have errors, it will check them, but it can't fix them because "another program is in use" and won't let Norton fix it.

[{KHH}darwin's joke]

kingzope said:

Anti-Symantec people make me laugh. Get symantec anti-virus.

If symantec is good enough for the military, then its good enough for your computer.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha *deep breath* hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
i hope you have really better network security than we do here. i wouldn't hire anyone associated with the navy's NMCI intranet network. every single comp here is full of spyware and viruses.

[Deuce|NinjA [elT]]

so much for the hi-tech military. we manage to nuke someones ass from halfway across the world, but we cant manage to block spyware. shows how whack we are -.-

[petteyg359]

I hate Norton. Norton SUX0RZ. It's expensive, it does a far worse job than Avast! (which is free), and you have to pay to get updates (which Avast! has for free). Of course, their software is stupid enough that you can just reinstall it every time your free included subscription runs out, and get another 60 days or whatever it is. Still SUX0RZ.

[Deuce|NinjA [elT]]

i used to use norton. its still on my desktop, cept its dated about 3 years lol. now i'm usin AdAware SE and Spybot S&D

[KingZope]

Firstly, to all the people who say Norton is crap, I have this for you ahhahahah. What you have to look at is who gets the definition files out first. Gordon obviously doesn't know that Symantec is so fast at getting them out, that they've even been accused of producing some of the viruses. Also Avast has a big known problem. It doesn't find worms. Symantec gets its bad name because alot of people will run into problems with the software sometimes or they will get mad because they have to pay for it. Avast is a piece of crap. I guess if you don't want to pay then its better than most of the free ones. However if symantec can quarantine a virus just about within the hour its foung on the internet then I go with them. I used Avast about a little over a year ago. Now I have a new computer and Symantec running. I haven't had a single virus on my new computer. Well I haven't had one run. It will quarantine and/or delete anything that pops up through my outlook email or anything the internet or bearshare can throw at me.

Gordon you may be happy with your avast because its free, but don't make me laugh by saying its better than Symantec.

For spyware I use Ad-aware Plus. I gives me Ad-Aware the registered version and Ad-Watch. I've been using it for 3 years now. Ad-Watch can be a pain if you leave it telling you every time it block something. But either way no spyware here. I installed it on my computer at home and at work. I also got the base to allow the software on the computers. I'm hoping your old base darwin is doing better now than before. At our base we are secure as *poopie*. In the four year I've been here we had one virus, but it was one put on our system as a test for our security. We had it quarantined quickly and removed from the network in about a week. Which in pretty good considering we wrote the program so Symantec wouldn't know about it. Right now we just flat out don't get viruses on the network.

To all of you I recommend 3 things to guarantee your computer security. Firstly put up a Firewall. I recommend Zone Alarm if your gonna pay for one. Although Windows Firewall is very good with SP2. Secondly Install just the Symantec Antivirus Client. The rest of there stuff is unneccecary. Lastly get a registered version of Ad-aware.

If you do that you'll be secure.

[petteyg359]

Every version of Symantec I've used sucks. Last version I used was 99, though, they may've gotten better since then.

IMHO a hardware firewall is much better than any software one. Also, SpyBot is usually much quicker than AdAware on my system, and AdAware has never found anything that SpyBot hasn't. SpyBot also has a registry cleaner, process viewer, BHO/ActiveX object viewer, and such. SpywareBlaster is also good, and works together well with SpyBot.

And obviously, I like FREE! (If you're smart enough to not give people your passwords and not open files that you don't know what they are, then you really shouldn't need expensive anti-virus software, assuming you're not networked to anyone stupid)

Still... Linux PWNZ0RZ! No malware, no viruses, no *poopie*.

[KingZope]

I'll give it Linux its the safest route. Also Unix. I normally use Linux for my servers. Namely my web server is linux. My old cs server was Linux also. For at home PC. I have to use Windows. Its just better for all the software I want to use.

Ad-aware is hella better now. For the past 3 years it has check your registry for malware. I don't trust registry cleaners because they are just not good right now. I can do a better job cleaning up my registry than any software. Everything that Ad-aware finds you can view. Plus with Ad-Watch it blocks it real time so you don't even get malware anyways. Works sort of like symantec Auto-Protect built in virus watch that comes with Regular norton.

Remember though Gordon. You get what you pay for.