with sooo much news about cyber-security...

with all the recent news about facebook, internet censorship, ISPs tracking you...how does a non-tech savvy person stay up to date?

i hear all this jazz about TOR but not sure what the hype is about. i know that there are all kinds of threads and info out there, all over the place...but you kinda have to know what questions to ask in order to find the info you need to stay safe and secure.

can anyone out there maybe point me in the direction of a site that deals with all of this? or do any of y'all techies out there feel like schooling me? maybe a GOOD virus/spyware program (i don't mind paying if it's worth it)? ways to step around all the snares that the average person is unaware of?

i've got windows7, AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz, ati radeon 5600 HD video card, 2TB hd. i also have a t-mobile mytouch4g. just giving you all the info i know so you know what i've got.

basically...i have no idea how to make sure that i'm safe and would love a few pointers. thanks!

Originally posted by ICEKOHLD
with all the recent news about facebook, internet censorship, ISPs tracking you...how does a non-tech savvy person stay up to date?

i hear all this jazz about TOR but not sure what the hype is about. i know that there are all kinds of threads and info out there, all over the place...but you kinda have to know what questions to ask in order to find the info you need to stay safe and secure.

can anyone out there maybe point me in the direction of a site that deals with all of this? or do any of y'all techies out there feel like schooling me? maybe a GOOD virus/spyware program (i don't mind paying if it's worth it)? ways to step around all the snares that the average person is unaware of?

i've got windows7, AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz, ati radeon 5600 HD video card, 2TB hd. i also have a t-mobile mytouch4g. just giving you all the info i know so you know what i've got.

basically...i have no idea how to make sure that i'm safe and would love a few pointers. thanks!

edit on 10/30/11 by ICEKOHLD because: (no reason given)

I'm a tech savvy kind of guy and to be honest, as long as you play it smart you're fine.
that means no signing up to unwarranted #, just download comodo firewall and AVG (up to your discretion whether you pay for it legitimately or get it through other means, likewise with comodo) and go to the kaspersky voris scanner every few days you're ok.

For me it was a little paranoia that I had to get over as I was paying for VPN and using TOR amongst other things.
I speculated it's not worth it because, at the end of the day, right now, I'm the least of the governments worries.

Sure I post, read and search controversial things but it's not enough of a reason for them to care about.


As long as you're just a regular home user filling yourself with knowledge and to stay updated, I would recommend just using the basics (P2) you'll be fine.


Enjoy and if you have any other questions (though I definitely wont be the best on here to ask) feel free to ask.


EDIT:

I'm a tech savvy kind of guy and to be honest, as long as you play it smart you're fine. that means no signing up to unwarranted #,

Sorry I'm really stoned and finished half way through:
Just don't sign up to stuff you do not need, don't use dodgy sites to download programs, movies, music, porn, don't buy stupid # of ebay (IE: Salvia seeds, Morphine and Peyote[use a VPN if you must]) and installing (accepting ToS) crappy software you'll be fine.

Originally posted by WiZKiD111


Sorry I'm really stoned and finished half way through:

i completely understand. i know this guy who is like you and he forgets to finish sentences all th



thanks for the advice.

reply to post by ICEKOHLD


OK, surf over here: pcflank.com...
Run the Quick Test, and see the results.

Here are my results, on my Custom Built Linux Machine I run both Tor, Socks, Chains, and Privoxy, and anonymoX.

IP Address test The test could not determine your IP address. The test has found that the IP address used by your computer cannot be scanned. This commonly occurs because of a firewall program on your computer and/or you are connected to the Internet through a proxy-server or your ISP uses Network Address Translation (NAT) to share IP addresses. This means the test cannot check your system as the results of the testing would be incorrect.

Now do you see the benefits of running a proxy?

reply to post by autowrench


awesome. thanks mate. you seem to be a breath of fresh air in all my threads...

First thing you can do is remove all software you rarely use. The more stuff you have installed on your computer opens up more security holes.

And then make you sure you don't have any silly services opened to the entire internet such as FTP, Remote Desktop, and the likes.

EDIT:
Also, i'm only familiar with running Tor on linux/bsd desktops, however if your on windows it should be almost straight forward using this:
www.torproject.org...

Not just a case of running it and being 100% anonymous though.

reply to post by ICEKOHLD

Here is a really good site to check your security, firewall, and browser header.
www.malwarehelp.org...

Here is another one:
www.pcflank.com...

For one thing, you can never make Windows hard enough to keep virus out of your PC. Linux, on the other hand? Free, stable, and secure. I have a different IP address every day, and a different proxy for every page. Never a hack, never a virus. Never slows down, never a blue screen.
distrowatch.com...

reply to post by ICEKOHLD


Sorry, but there is just no way to secure a Windows computer for free anymore. For complete security you will need:
A professional firewall
A spyware detector that works in real time
A good anti-virus program
You will need to close all ports except the ones you normally use, such as port 80 for HTTP
Use Mozilla Firefox with Foxyproxy and all the security extensions you can find, like Ad-block Plus, and subscribe to all blockers, Flash Block, Ghostery, Histor Block, IP (Bad Word), Privacy Block Tracker Blocker, Share me Not, and Track me Not. Run the FoxyProxy wizard, and you are now as safe as you can get without running a paid proxy server.
Want to test your security?
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