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okageryuuSince I'm going into the computer tech field, I thought I'd just mention some stuff here to help people out. I've seen quite a few people complaining about malware when they visit websites. I'm bored so I thought I'd make a quickie little guide on keeping your PC generally safe with more than just the browser. First, we'll start with the browser and how to set them up, move on to anti-malware programs, and finally, the BEST thing you can do to lessen your chances.
THE BROWSER:
I'll only comment on the three I've mainly used so I won't mention Opera or Safari until a future journal, sorry. :P
Internet Explorer 8
I could give a huge rant against IE but, honestly, as of Internet Explorer 8 it's gotten a bit more decent. If you absolutely MUST use IE, then use IE8 or at the very least IE7. Do not EVER use IE6. I don't care if your Windows OS can't use IE7, use another browser. I repeat, do. not. use. Internet. Explorer. Six. Seriously. It's crap and you will regret it. If you buy Windows Vista, you'll automatically get Internet Explorer 7 built in. If you buy Windows 7, you'll automatically get Internet Explorer 8 built in.
Mozilla Firefox
Everyone seems to love this browser but some people don't know what to do with it in terms of add-ons OR they add too many add-ons and their browser performance takes a dive. It's relatively faster than IE and safer. I currently recommend this over any other browser, even to the instructors and professors in my IE-only college. :P
Google Chrome
The new browser on the block that's faster than both IE8 and Firefox. This is because it runs on the WebKit engine. It's rather simplistic but it works. This browser doesn't officially support add-ons yet (unless you're running the developer version).
SETTING UP THE BROWSER:
The first thing I do when setting up either IE8 or Mozilla Firefox is use the Securing Your Web Browser Tutorial given by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team. It's not exactly up to date with Firefox 3.5.6 or Internet Explorer 8, but a lot of the things DO still work. It's better than nothing. The website also lists ways to set Safari up.
Some things there may hinder your browser experience such as turning off Java and Javascript, so I wouldn't worry about that. Besides, if you're using Firefox, you will be learning about NoScript in the next few paragraphs anyway. :P
Add-ons
Most people don't know that IE can use add-ons, but they seem to be corporate based (Yahoo!, Walmart, Best Buy...etc). I didn't see anything having to do with security so we'll just skip IE's add-ons. :P You can use some nice e-mail ones though, I guess.
Firefox is sort of the king of add-ons. It's got a LOT of nice ones but we're gonna focus on the main security ones you MUST have. These add-ons are are Adblock Plus and NoScript. I've heard about Flashblock, but I haven't personally used it so I won't comment on it here.
Adblock Plus will block ALL ads on most websites. However, some websites don't like this and require you to allow them to show ads or you won't be able to use their site. This is because you are costing the website owners money. Regardless, this will block most ads that give you viruses and whatnot.
NoScript is the more powerful of the two addons (at least, I think so). I'll quote what their site says as it says what I was going to say better than I can. :P
"When you install NoScript, JavaScript, Java, Flash Silverlight and possibly other executable contents are blocked by default. You will be able to allow JavaScript/Java/... execution (scripts from now on) selectively, on the sites you trust. You can allow a site to run scripts temporarily, if you're just surfing randomly, or permanently, when you visit it often and you really trust it. This means that NoScript learns from your own browser habits and tends to disappear in the background after a while, but it promptly comes back to save your day if you stumble upon a malicious web page."
-- http://noscript.net/features
Pretty much, it locks up everything until you say it's ok. It's not intrusive or anything as it mostly just sits quietly in the corner until you need it. However, this also can get you locked out of some sites until you allow them access (even if it's temporary).
If you combine Adblock Plus, NoScript, and the US-CERT's guidelines I can almost guarantee that you won't see any ads (there are a few ads that will break through, but you can block them once you find them*).
You can also use Adblock to block pictures and Flash things you don't like say maybe some horrible disgusting photo on a website. Just right-click, go to "Adblock Plus: Block Image", then go to Custom and it'll only block that image. You can also use a * wildcard character and block ANYTHING from that folder showing up.
ANTI-VIRUS / ANTI-MALWARE / ANTI-SPYWARE / FIREWALLS
Firewalls
Honestly, Windows Firewall is just fine, you don't need to pay for anything and it does outgoing and incoming traffic. Windows XP's firewall is kind of meh but I believe it got updated with SP2 / SP3. So, just use it. It's not gonna hurt you. If you're really worried, just use a router for a hardware firewall. Stay away from shitty software firewalls like ZoneAlarm (especially ZoneAlarm). They cause problems with things randomly. Comodo was ok for me though...except on Vista. :P ...Seriously, don't touch ZoneAlarm.
Anti-...Whatever
IMPORTANT NOTE: I don't care what ANYONE tells you, do not install more than one anti-virus program. If you are using NOD 32 or something, don't install AVG on top of it. It won't give you "double protection" it'll just cause problems as they will conflict with one another.
You CAN have more than one anti-spyware program, however. You may also have a suite anti-virus installed alongside an anti-spyware as long as the programs are NOT scanning at the same time. If your anti-virus is scanning, let it finish before you scan with your anti-spyware. The same is true for multiple anti-spy programs, let one finish before you start the other.
I'm just gonna mention this too... McAfee and Norton are notorious for being terrible. Not only do both programs "bloat" (put crap you will probably never use or need) on your computer, it doesn't always scan what it claims it does in those huge computer-wide scans. Soo, let's just stay away from those, shall we? Did I mention they cost WAY too much? ANYWAY.
There are a lot of decent free anti-whatever stuff out there. I personally don't like AVG, but it's decent. I also like Microsoft's Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, does real-time protection, and isn't a resource hog. It basically says what it's going to do and then it does it.
The most widely accepted anti-virus programs are AVG, Avira, and NOD32. NOD32 is probably the best pay anti-virus program you can get, if you want to buy something, buy that. If you want free, try AVG, Avira, Avast!, or even MSE. I've also heard Kaspersky mentioned here and there but the others I've heard more often.
For anti-spyware, Spybot is decent (used to be better) but it's decent (again, better than nothing). I'd go with something like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as well, however.
THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO TO LESSEN YOUR CHANCES OF BECOMING VIRTUALLY INFECTED
Watch what you're doing with your e-mail. Seriously. No matter what your e-mails tell you, you are not a millionaire instantly, eBay doesn't need your social security number, you have no rich family in Kenya who died and wants to leave you money, and your penis isn't going to get any bigger. Do not open weird e-mails, just junk em and move on. To reduce spam, don't give your e-mail out to everyone or just use something like Gmail that is usually good at separating the bad from the good so you don't click on something that'll fuck you over.
Watch what you're downloading. I have gotten into a habit of using Spybot and MSE to scan EVERYTHING I download (ESPECIALLY from torrents and direct-download sites like Rapidshare and Megaupload). It sounds paranoid, but I have found viruses in files from these places so it's not a total loss.
Don't start thinking you're invincible. Yes, Macs can get viruses and so can Linux. There is NO operating system out on Earth that is immune to viruses (maybe on Mars, but good luck getting NASA to let you go if you're not an astronaut... or a robot :P). Just because you're running Linux or whatthefuckever, doesn't mean you're immune. Remember that.
Oh, and Windows gets the most viruses because it's the most popular. Of course people will target the biggest thing out there that most companies use to keep their shit safe.
Not to mention, most new malicious things are targeting multi-platform programs... like your browser. So it doesn't matter what OS you're using then, now does it?
Watch what others do on your computer. If you don't trust em, don't let them on OR make sure you're in the room with them. You don't know if they're going to check their e-mail or fill your computer with spam. Yea, this also seems paranoid, but it CAN help you... also it lets you make sure they don't find those "special pictures" you got from naughty sites. :P
If you must let people on your machine (maybe it's the family machine or something), make sure you create separate User Accounts with some type of restrictions. In XP, do NOT make anyone a Power User, they will have access to things they should not have access to. In Vista and 7, don't make anyone else an Administrator except yourself.
Don't open weird files that show up on your computer unless you KNOW where it came from. It would be a good idea to enable the ability to see filetypes. I would say enable hidden files as well but I notice that most people screw things up by messing with them.
Once you get infected, disconnect from the internet. This'll lesson the chances of it calling up anything else.
* There's a website going around from Xtube (and other sites like it, apparently) that pops up regardless of Adblock and NoScript. Unfortunately, there's no way to block it but you CAN block the content from showing up on it so you don't get any potential crap.
I think that's all I got, I've been sitting here for about an hour typing this stuff up and I'm hungry. So, I hope I shed a bit of light on stuff for people who were confused. If you want to know what add-ons I use for Firefox, just ask or something. XD
I'm gonna go get a sammich. :3
THE BROWSER:
I'll only comment on the three I've mainly used so I won't mention Opera or Safari until a future journal, sorry. :P
Internet Explorer 8
I could give a huge rant against IE but, honestly, as of Internet Explorer 8 it's gotten a bit more decent. If you absolutely MUST use IE, then use IE8 or at the very least IE7. Do not EVER use IE6. I don't care if your Windows OS can't use IE7, use another browser. I repeat, do. not. use. Internet. Explorer. Six. Seriously. It's crap and you will regret it. If you buy Windows Vista, you'll automatically get Internet Explorer 7 built in. If you buy Windows 7, you'll automatically get Internet Explorer 8 built in.
Mozilla Firefox
Everyone seems to love this browser but some people don't know what to do with it in terms of add-ons OR they add too many add-ons and their browser performance takes a dive. It's relatively faster than IE and safer. I currently recommend this over any other browser, even to the instructors and professors in my IE-only college. :P
Google Chrome
The new browser on the block that's faster than both IE8 and Firefox. This is because it runs on the WebKit engine. It's rather simplistic but it works. This browser doesn't officially support add-ons yet (unless you're running the developer version).
SETTING UP THE BROWSER:
The first thing I do when setting up either IE8 or Mozilla Firefox is use the Securing Your Web Browser Tutorial given by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team. It's not exactly up to date with Firefox 3.5.6 or Internet Explorer 8, but a lot of the things DO still work. It's better than nothing. The website also lists ways to set Safari up.
Some things there may hinder your browser experience such as turning off Java and Javascript, so I wouldn't worry about that. Besides, if you're using Firefox, you will be learning about NoScript in the next few paragraphs anyway. :P
Add-ons
Most people don't know that IE can use add-ons, but they seem to be corporate based (Yahoo!, Walmart, Best Buy...etc). I didn't see anything having to do with security so we'll just skip IE's add-ons. :P You can use some nice e-mail ones though, I guess.
Firefox is sort of the king of add-ons. It's got a LOT of nice ones but we're gonna focus on the main security ones you MUST have. These add-ons are are Adblock Plus and NoScript. I've heard about Flashblock, but I haven't personally used it so I won't comment on it here.
Adblock Plus will block ALL ads on most websites. However, some websites don't like this and require you to allow them to show ads or you won't be able to use their site. This is because you are costing the website owners money. Regardless, this will block most ads that give you viruses and whatnot.
NoScript is the more powerful of the two addons (at least, I think so). I'll quote what their site says as it says what I was going to say better than I can. :P
"When you install NoScript, JavaScript, Java, Flash Silverlight and possibly other executable contents are blocked by default. You will be able to allow JavaScript/Java/... execution (scripts from now on) selectively, on the sites you trust. You can allow a site to run scripts temporarily, if you're just surfing randomly, or permanently, when you visit it often and you really trust it. This means that NoScript learns from your own browser habits and tends to disappear in the background after a while, but it promptly comes back to save your day if you stumble upon a malicious web page."
-- http://noscript.net/features
Pretty much, it locks up everything until you say it's ok. It's not intrusive or anything as it mostly just sits quietly in the corner until you need it. However, this also can get you locked out of some sites until you allow them access (even if it's temporary).
If you combine Adblock Plus, NoScript, and the US-CERT's guidelines I can almost guarantee that you won't see any ads (there are a few ads that will break through, but you can block them once you find them*).
You can also use Adblock to block pictures and Flash things you don't like say maybe some horrible disgusting photo on a website. Just right-click, go to "Adblock Plus: Block Image", then go to Custom and it'll only block that image. You can also use a * wildcard character and block ANYTHING from that folder showing up.
ANTI-VIRUS / ANTI-MALWARE / ANTI-SPYWARE / FIREWALLS
Firewalls
Honestly, Windows Firewall is just fine, you don't need to pay for anything and it does outgoing and incoming traffic. Windows XP's firewall is kind of meh but I believe it got updated with SP2 / SP3. So, just use it. It's not gonna hurt you. If you're really worried, just use a router for a hardware firewall. Stay away from shitty software firewalls like ZoneAlarm (especially ZoneAlarm). They cause problems with things randomly. Comodo was ok for me though...except on Vista. :P ...Seriously, don't touch ZoneAlarm.
Anti-...Whatever
IMPORTANT NOTE: I don't care what ANYONE tells you, do not install more than one anti-virus program. If you are using NOD 32 or something, don't install AVG on top of it. It won't give you "double protection" it'll just cause problems as they will conflict with one another.
You CAN have more than one anti-spyware program, however. You may also have a suite anti-virus installed alongside an anti-spyware as long as the programs are NOT scanning at the same time. If your anti-virus is scanning, let it finish before you scan with your anti-spyware. The same is true for multiple anti-spy programs, let one finish before you start the other.
I'm just gonna mention this too... McAfee and Norton are notorious for being terrible. Not only do both programs "bloat" (put crap you will probably never use or need) on your computer, it doesn't always scan what it claims it does in those huge computer-wide scans. Soo, let's just stay away from those, shall we? Did I mention they cost WAY too much? ANYWAY.
There are a lot of decent free anti-whatever stuff out there. I personally don't like AVG, but it's decent. I also like Microsoft's Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, does real-time protection, and isn't a resource hog. It basically says what it's going to do and then it does it.
The most widely accepted anti-virus programs are AVG, Avira, and NOD32. NOD32 is probably the best pay anti-virus program you can get, if you want to buy something, buy that. If you want free, try AVG, Avira, Avast!, or even MSE. I've also heard Kaspersky mentioned here and there but the others I've heard more often.
For anti-spyware, Spybot is decent (used to be better) but it's decent (again, better than nothing). I'd go with something like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as well, however.
THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO TO LESSEN YOUR CHANCES OF BECOMING VIRTUALLY INFECTED
Watch what you're doing with your e-mail. Seriously. No matter what your e-mails tell you, you are not a millionaire instantly, eBay doesn't need your social security number, you have no rich family in Kenya who died and wants to leave you money, and your penis isn't going to get any bigger. Do not open weird e-mails, just junk em and move on. To reduce spam, don't give your e-mail out to everyone or just use something like Gmail that is usually good at separating the bad from the good so you don't click on something that'll fuck you over.
Watch what you're downloading. I have gotten into a habit of using Spybot and MSE to scan EVERYTHING I download (ESPECIALLY from torrents and direct-download sites like Rapidshare and Megaupload). It sounds paranoid, but I have found viruses in files from these places so it's not a total loss.
Don't start thinking you're invincible. Yes, Macs can get viruses and so can Linux. There is NO operating system out on Earth that is immune to viruses (maybe on Mars, but good luck getting NASA to let you go if you're not an astronaut... or a robot :P). Just because you're running Linux or whatthefuckever, doesn't mean you're immune. Remember that.
Oh, and Windows gets the most viruses because it's the most popular. Of course people will target the biggest thing out there that most companies use to keep their shit safe.
Not to mention, most new malicious things are targeting multi-platform programs... like your browser. So it doesn't matter what OS you're using then, now does it?
Watch what others do on your computer. If you don't trust em, don't let them on OR make sure you're in the room with them. You don't know if they're going to check their e-mail or fill your computer with spam. Yea, this also seems paranoid, but it CAN help you... also it lets you make sure they don't find those "special pictures" you got from naughty sites. :P
If you must let people on your machine (maybe it's the family machine or something), make sure you create separate User Accounts with some type of restrictions. In XP, do NOT make anyone a Power User, they will have access to things they should not have access to. In Vista and 7, don't make anyone else an Administrator except yourself.
Don't open weird files that show up on your computer unless you KNOW where it came from. It would be a good idea to enable the ability to see filetypes. I would say enable hidden files as well but I notice that most people screw things up by messing with them.
Once you get infected, disconnect from the internet. This'll lesson the chances of it calling up anything else.
* There's a website going around from Xtube (and other sites like it, apparently) that pops up regardless of Adblock and NoScript. Unfortunately, there's no way to block it but you CAN block the content from showing up on it so you don't get any potential crap.
I think that's all I got, I've been sitting here for about an hour typing this stuff up and I'm hungry. So, I hope I shed a bit of light on stuff for people who were confused. If you want to know what add-ons I use for Firefox, just ask or something. XD
I'm gonna go get a sammich. :3
