Iamcanadian From Canada, joined May 2001, 734 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1507 times:
Quoting Carmenlu15 (Reply 1): Too much visiting insecure sites *cough*porn*cough*, methinks...
It's not just the skin sites...if you frequent the sites that provide crack-codes and cd-keys for programs, you're GUARANTEED 100% to get at LEAST one virus. I know this because I have a friend who...well...let's just say he doesn't believe in giving into "The Man" and paying for things...but the point is, he has a seperate computer that he uses to surf these crack-code and cd-key sites from, for the sole reason that he doesn't want to eff-up his $3,000 desktop with viruses. He just lets the viruses infect the bad computer.
The point is, viruses are everywhere, and you have no idea (or maybe you do) how easy it is for them to get in...
StrasserB From Singapore, joined Nov 2005, 1541 posts, RR: 8 Reply 3, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 1477 times:
Quoting Carmenlu15 (Reply 1): Too much visiting insecure sites *cough*porn*cough*, methinks...
Get a decent antivirus and watch where you surf.
Hi CarmenLu15,
In fact it's not only a matter of "avoid *cough*cough*" or "get an antivirus".
You are dealing with security issues and I'm involved in IT security of many airports worldwide and - to be honest - we both surely know how easy it is to identify weak points of any automated system.
How secure is site.this?
... Just think about ... and check your UP.
Regards,
Bernhard
Still, even in the most arid desert is an airport somewhere ...
AC773 From Canada, joined Nov 2005, 1730 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 1473 times:
Quoting Iamcanadian (Reply 2): I know this because I have a friend who...well...let's just say he doesn't believe in giving into "The Man" and paying for things...but the point is, he has a seperate computer that he uses to surf these crack-code and cd-key sites from, for the sole reason that he doesn't want to eff-up his $3,000 desktop with viruses.
Your friend is clearly lacking in the "common sense" department. There are plenty of free, very effective security programs out there for Windows. The three I'd recommend are:
These are all fine products, and the price (free) is great for cheapskates like myself.
I just have one question though: If your friend has the cash to pay for a $3000 computer, isn't it just a little petty to forego the $65 it takes to protect it?
Better to be nouveau than never to have been riche at all.
Thanks, that reminded me of (probably) the most important security tip for Windows: You can avoid 99% of the viruses/spyware/trojans/etc. just by setting your account to limited privelidges. Simple as that.
Better to be nouveau than never to have been riche at all.
Nighthawk From UK - Scotland, joined Sep 2001, 4990 posts, RR: 38 Reply 7, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1456 times:
Quoting Carmenlu15 (Reply 1): Too much visiting insecure sites *cough*porn*cough*, methinks...
Ill have you know that porn sites are almost entirely virus free.
Its crack/cd-key sites that are covered with viruses and trojans.
As for how you got these viruses, it could be any numberof ways. Some worms actively hunt out machines to infect by scanning IPs, other trojans arrive by email. Some will come from visiting less than legitamate websites. Also downloading from P2P sites can be a sure fire way to get infected.
One you get a single virus/worm/trojan they will quite often download a few hundred other such viruses, hence why you found so many.
Get a Linksys router with firewall capabilities - a much better solution than a software firewall as it won't start hogging system resources.
And get ESET NOD32 for your anti-virus rather than AVG. It might not be free, but it's beating all the other players in every major benchmark at the moment.
Spybot is probably has the biggest envelope for spyware detection, but you should never rely on just one spyware blocker. I would recommend at least Spybot AND Webroot Spy Sweeper together.
AC773 From Canada, joined Nov 2005, 1730 posts, RR: 3 Reply 9, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1439 times:
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 8): Get a Linksys router with firewall capabilities - a much better solution than a software firewall as it won't start hogging system resources.
I'm running that in conjonction with ZoneAlarm, and I haven't noticed any decrease in performance. Furthermore, the big advantage with a software firewall is the ability to control the access of individual programs. No hardware solution can beat that.
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 8): And get ESET NOD32 for your anti-virus rather than AVG. It might not be free, but it's beating all the other players in every major benchmark at the moment.
I believe the point of my list was "free". There's no doubt in my mind that there are better anti-virus apps out there, but they cost money.
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 8): you should never rely on just one spyware blocker
Better to be nouveau than never to have been riche at all.
ANITIX87 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 3233 posts, RR: 14 Reply 10, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1439 times:
Quoting Nighthawk (Reply 7): Ill have you know that porn sites are almost entirely virus free.
Its crack/cd-key sites that are covered with viruses and trojans.
Well no wonder porn sites are safe. There's Trojans out there preventing them from infecting things.
TIS
www.stellaryear.com: Canon EOS 50D, Canon EOS 5DMkII, Sigma 50mm 1.4, Canon 24-70 2.8L II, Canon 100mm 2.8L, Canon 100-4
Carmenlu15 From Guatemala, joined Dec 2004, 4686 posts, RR: 35 Reply 13, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1415 times:
Quoting Iamcanadian (Reply 2):
The point is, viruses are everywhere, and you have no idea (or maybe you do) how easy it is for them to get in...
Of course... I was just having some fun at the expense of our 'virused' friend.
Then again, in the year or so that we've had internet connection at home, we've had only one virus infection so far... which I suspect came with certain downloads my brother got from Limewire. And my almighty and powerful virus protection is... well... um... Norton .
Spyware/adware infections have been a little more frequent, though; but that's mostly my parents or my little sisters clicking on the 'free smileys' ads and the like. I use Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D, and both work wonders to clean up my PC.
Quoting AC773 (Reply 6): Thanks, that reminded me of (probably) the most important security tip for Windows: You can avoid 99% of the viruses/spyware/trojans/etc. just by setting your account to limited privelidges. Simple as that.
Funny, that reminds me of an incident a couple of years ago... I was supervisor at a call center, thus being one of the few people with internet access. One morning I arrived at my workstation, just to find out that some schmuck from the night shift had been using my PC to surf dubious sites, and I had a really nasty spyware infection. Mind you, both the agent network login and my supervisor network login had been set up as limited privilege accounts. And that little detail made it even harder to get rid of the spyware, as I had a hell of a time finding a spyware program that I could install without having admin privileges.
Quoting Nighthawk (Reply 7):
Ill have you know that porn sites are almost entirely virus free.
Piercey From Sweden, joined Nov 2005, 2233 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 1379 times:
Quoting Carmenlu15 (Reply 1): Too much visiting insecure sites *cough*porn*cough*, methinks...
Not me, but I do loan out my comp for gaming tournaments. A person who borrows it frequently has put cracks on it, so that's probably where it came from.
Quoting AC773 (Reply 4): The three I'd recommend are:
AVG is a POS and is what I currently have
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 8): Get a Linksys router with firewall capabilities - a much better solution than a software firewall as it won't start hogging system resources.
Hawaiian717 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 3092 posts, RR: 8 Reply 17, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 1355 times:
It's not just surfing dubious sites that get you infected. Many legitimate sites contract out their advertising to a third party, and every now and then someone will get a bad ad into the system. It's happened here from time to time, you should be able to find complaints about it in the Site Related forum.
Also, as Carmen alluded to, a harmless ad can point you to a malicious page that will try to install stuff. Or you can get hit with a trojan, that neat pack of smilies, that little weather icon that sits in your systray, that popular media player may all carry along an extra visitor.
Get a Mac. Use Linux. Use Firefox. Use antivirus software. Use antispyware software. Use a software firewall. Use a hardware firewall. Use a limited access account. All this will only do so much when the Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair (although right now you'd be pretty hard pressed to continue to have problems with with PEBKAC and ID-ten-T errors with my first two suggestions ).
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20853 posts, RR: 55 Reply 21, posted (6 years 7 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1303 times:
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 19): Wrong. With port triggering, port forwarding, and pin-holing, most hardware firewalls can do more than software firewalls.
He was talking about something different: A hardware firewall has no change recognizing and differentiating between different applications.
That is primarily relevant for outgoing traffic, while the main advantage of a hardware firewall is that it can protect dangerously fragile systems against unwanted incoming traffic.
Iamcanadian From Canada, joined May 2001, 734 posts, RR: 1 Reply 22, posted (6 years 7 months 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1245 times:
Quoting AC773 (Reply 4): I just have one question though: If your friend has the cash to pay for a $3000 computer, isn't it just a little petty to forego the $65 it takes to protect it?
If you paid more attention to my post, you would notice that I said he uses a SEPERATE computer (one that cost only about $150) to go to the crack/cd-key sites, NOT the $3000 one. That way, he doesn't have to worry about scanning his computer every day, or having it get infected and screwing his system.
Piercey From Sweden, joined Nov 2005, 2233 posts, RR: 1 Reply 24, posted (6 years 7 months 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1180 times:
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 19):
This makes no sense. Computers don't identify or differentiate between routers.
Alright, ANY router.
Either way, my computer just when off the deepend. It's fried, cooked, dead. Shop has refunded me, but I only have $150 to find a motherboard and hard drive
Well I believe it all is coming to an end. Oh well, I guess we are gonna pretend.
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Shop has refunded me, but I only have $150 to find a motherboard and hard drive 
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