Broadband forum: Newbie to broadband internet...

Hello......I've had cable since '99 and just love it. I also have ZoneAlarm and McAfee but just recently discovered a free program called "Spybot". As cautious as I am, unwanted programs still get downloaded on to my pc........but not any more. You can download this "Spybot" program here from CNET. It is really easy to use.
I do have one suggestion. Get a web based email address for subscriptions to newsletters, websites. etc. Save your IP email address for friends and family only and in fact, if allowed, get more than 1 email address from your IP. I have one for my kids, one for relatives, and one for my friends plus the email addresses I have at Yahoo and Excite. The reason I do this in case you start getting "spammed" or one of your email addresses starts getting suspicious email, you can stop using it and use one of the other email addresses. I know it sounds silly but I have found it quite helpful. It helps me know whether the spam is coming from family or friend or website.
Another suggestion, if you have cable, you might want to have a dialup ISP as backup for those rare occasions when the cable goes down.......even a free dialup like "dotnow.com". Dialup can't compete with cable but it's better than nothing when the cable is down!

Keep your virus defintions up to date. If you can afford it buy a broadband router that acts as a hardware firewall. If your on Win XP keep critical patches from Win update site installed. Routers are reasonably priced & you can hookup a second machine as a benifit.Have FUN! After your setup run a security check (free) from Symantec or GRC Shields Up sites. Again, Have Fun!

I hate to put a spanner in your works there buddy but I've just discovered that Norton AV 2003 let 7 Trojans go completely undetected on my system for SIX MONTHS! Not once did NAV detect any one of them. And how did I find them? When I decided to try Dell's AV Software of choice for their PowerEdge line of servers... Eset NOD32 (http://www.nod32.com). Weird name yes, but not only does this program have a very small footprint, it's interface is quite easy and it's scanner is VERY easy on your CPU. I was surprised when I was able to continue using the system normally while the scan was running. Which, by the way, only took 13 minutes to scan 156GB of stuff. And yes, it picked up everything.

And along with that I use ZoneLabs' excellent ZoneAlarm, although some people would say that there are better software firewalls. I've been using this one for quite some time and it's great. I also have an ADSL Router so I'm pretty well protected.

You are not the only one to give Norton and AVG a "real world" test. In my test Norton was installed and updated and found one virus. After installing AVG and updating minutes later it found an additional 3 viruses. So much for Norton's superiority!

I disagree w/Faire about AVG. IMO it's better than all the rest 'cause it doesn't suck up resources like the rest of them. Faire is right about the router/firewall. Wireless is okay as long as you're not going to broadcast anything you want to keep secret.

first you need a good fire wall such as kerio, black ice or sygate that will keep all your ports in stealth mode from hackers. stealth makes you machine invisible to hackers pings. you simply dont exist on the internet in stealth mode. http://scan.sygate.com/ is a sight to test how secure your ports really are. http://www.pestpatrol.com/, I find pest patrol a must for detecting any type of bugs. set it to search for everything. adaware6 is another good program and avast virus detecter. I dont put much trust in mcaffee or norton anymore after I found the bios port wide open and the fact they missed a trojan. TD3 is another excellent trojan finder. if money is a problem, cnet and zdnet both have an assortment of decent free programs to download.

Hi Newbie...
I've been running broadband for some time now with very little problems using XP Professional. I'm very concious of the need for personal/computer security because of the fact that the computer is connected to the net full-time, so I personally installed a decent firewall (Sygate Personal Firewall .... a freebie), a very good anti-virus program (NOD32 Anti-virus), a good program that notifies me if anything tries to install on my machine without my knowledge (WinPatrol v 7.0.0.0 ..... another freebie) and a spyware/pop-up/trojan/worm/advert blocker (Spyblocker). Whilst a lot of people pay lip-service to computer security I've always found that the integrity of your security is governed by the regularity in which you keep it updated, and I might add this includes the Microsoft Security and Critical Updates. Hope this helps.....

Aussie_8

I'm afraid turning off your machine when you're not using it won't help, much. People who have run tests have recorded that the average Windows machine gets probed within 15 minutes of being turned on.

Personally, for the last few years I've had a standalone Linux box that acts as a firewall. For my mom and a friend, I purchased D-Link or Lynksys firewall devices, since they're under $50 now. I just can't imagine putting a Windows machine directly onto the net regardless of which software "firewall" you have.

The "my virus scanner is better than yours" discussion so far has been entertaining. If you've paid any attention to reviews over the years you'll know that no virus scanner is perfect. Which is "best" varies depending on the tests thrown at it. All will miss some of the new viruses as they appear in the wild. Any of the popular ones are Good Enough and will catch most viruses, as long as they're kept up-to-date. I happen to use PC-Cillin on one machine, and Norton came with a Dell I just got. So I have two of the most popular running right now. I also use Spamcop to filter my spam, and it seems to catch most of the viruses before they ever get to my machine. I think PC-Cillin has only spotted one in the last year.

I also run Spybot and AdAware occasionally.

zone alarm is a very good program to start with
also i like the avast virus protection. the boot sector scan is a smart feature
i run a presario @ 512/128 configured to get about 94%
of my bandwidth utilized. i have no worries for protection, and no slow connection like with some of the other anti virus programs ive tried.
zone has many configurable features but it loads ready to protect your computer then as you go it will configure for your usage as you specify
and the support is great if you should run into problems though i never have
then theres the internet lock feature that will stop activity when your computer is idle very nice

I use Zone Alarm configured so that my computer is hidden from the internet. It is also important to have an anti virus regularly updated. I also use Spybot to see what nasty cookie my web browsing has left behind. If you use SOCKS protocol beware that some hackers use this to hack your PC and you may not know they have been. I only found out because I use Proxy Plus as a server on my home network to share the connection and the logs told me of unauthorised access. This was even with Zone Alarm Pro installed, but the latest version appears to have stopped this.

It is always a good idea to have a seperate firewall rather than working on the computer that you are using.
It is possible to buy a router but it is also possible to use an old computer (anything from an i486 and up).
I have one set up using nothing more than a floppy drive and two network cards -- one connected to the modem and the other to a hub, to which the other computers on our small home network are connected.
To make it all work I use Coyote Linux http://www.coyotelinux.com -- no need for a hard drive! and it's free

Nigel

Just another thought (without wanting to start any flame wars) but if you want to experiment a bit, why not give Linux a try? I've been using it for about 3 years now and don't have to worry about viruses, trojans, worms etc.

If you want to stick with XP then do as someone else suggested and use Eudora or Pegasus for your mail and switch browser, something like Firefox or even Opera; then there's less chance of someone taking advantage of security issues within IE or Outlook Express.

Nigel

zone alarm should do it really. but always (in xp anyway) have the installed firewall checked under network connections. . . just as a precaution.

tim in florida

hello there easy to sto ne1 gettin in jus run ipcop linux operating system can be downloaded for free user friendly and works on ip tables it also can be configured for all purposes as a normal net user or a small business i use a simple dell pentium 2 machine which cost 35 from a computer fair built it in an hour and fully configured within 2 hours also you can add cron jobs to do specific tasks like ping 2 websites if both sites do not reply the pc knows to reboot and re-establish a connection every half an hour so the system can be used when you use remote access like working from home in a small office enviroment anyone has questions feel free to contact me demon_knight21

I recently installed Trojan Guarder for a minimal cost - have had no problems since. Was getting many Trojans previously. Norton Anti-virus has captured all the "netsky"'s so far.