Community weekly poll: Most effective way you protect yourself against spyware?
- 3/31/05 10:11 AM
The Best Thing
by osaborio - 4/4/05 3:52 PM In reply to: Most effective way you protect yourself against spyware? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Norton Internet Security + Windows Firewall + Spybot S&D + HijackThis + SpywareBlaster = Invencible
Leave the ads alone
by Pallie - 4/4/05 4:49 PM In reply to: Most effective way you protect yourself against spyware? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have found through many years and with children growing up on computers that if you click on one ad it invites all of the adware to your computer. Simple solution - do a search for what you want and go directly to web sites - do not click on their advertisements.
My answer to MS's "Freedom To Innovate" challenge ...
by herrwitt - 4/5/05 12:47 AM In reply to: Most effective way you protect yourself against spyware? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Somehow or other , I feel most of the Windows users out there , ( myself included until recently) , have missed what the Open Source / Linux movement offers : Choice ... This , my friends , is 'what' so rankles Bill Gates and his honchos in the Windows empire ... The very prospect of the user having some sort of volition (choice) in regards to 'how' we want our specific working (cyber) environment set-up must have the M-Soft Honcho's more than a little upset ...
I recently acquired a copy of Knoppix 3.7 , in the magazine Linux User & Developer , and I'm so inspired by its functionality that it may just replace my current operating OS ,WINDOWZ XP , and its many security holes ..
Oh yeah , IE ... errr “InternetExplorer” ... I haven't used that browser in over 2 years ... I will only boot it up when its absolutely required , but I'll be sure to leave a (cyber)note behind telling the webmaster of my disgust when having to resort to it ... The whole matter of being on / in the world wide web 'is' choice , isn't it ??? Let's see , Linux offers it and open source browsers offer it ... Now , when will ”freedom to innovate” Microsoft offer it too ???
Switch to a Mac
by greg30307 - 4/5/05 9:03 AM In reply to: Most effective way you protect yourself against spyware? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
like I did.
Greg S
Preventing Spyware is very simple
by www.fieldcraft.biz - 4/8/05 4:26 AM In reply to: Most effective way you protect yourself against spyware? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Apart from banks and escrow providers there are NO other entities on the net that have a genuine need to run client-side scripts or plug-ins for their site features to work. Everything except encryption can be done server-side - and encryption is for the financial institutions, and the spooks.
The first line of protection for your PC is to shut down all scripts , plug-ins and any othe client-side technology that does more than deliver what is already on the server to your browser. Then add your bank and escrow provider to the "Trusted Sites" list to allow their user authentication and encryption procedures to function. Simple! This stops the scripting that makes it possible for programs to install from web sites without your consent.
I sell a product on my website called DrawBridge that streamlines this process, makes it easier to manage your trusted sites, and monitors the status of your security settings to inform you if they are unsecured on startup - see:
www.field-craft.com/software/browser-security/
The second step is NOT to run freebies that are not supplied by a serious commercial interest. If the developer stands to make some money from a positive experience with the use of a trial version then s/he has everything to lose and nothing to gain by messing with the client's computer. Take the time to read the documentation - corporations that fail to mention "environmentally friendly" trial locking mechanisms don't care about their software's long term impact on your PC and do not deserve your business.
Finally, all downloaded installation files and executables must be quarantined for a period of at least 96 hours (preferably one week) to allow the anti-virus vendors to catch up to any potential threats, and give you time to discover what the horror stories are before you run setup (after scanning the at-least-96-hour-old file(s) with the latest antivirus update).
Just by banning client-side code, keeping my Windows updates up-to-date, using a firewall to block the ports, and taking precautions with downloaded files, I have kept my internet computers clean of spyware, virii, trojans, and worms for many years years now. (The infected material that has been emailed to me never made it into memory where it could be nabbed by the anti-virus program because either the exploits or the scripts necessary to achieve this wouldn't work - all due to my security policy. Ditto spyware)
To sum up, the four layers of security are:
1. Up-to-date operating system & browser service packs
2. Banned client-side code (DrawBridge)
3. Up-to-date anti-virus package
4. Firewall
If everyone deployed these layers intelligently, the cyber-crooks would have to go back to playing cops & robbers with the locals!
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