safety advice for new members

I've read a few threads or post's regarding people being concerned with there security or worry that there being watched.

Now im not upto anything other than your average surfing of a mid 20's male who's being recently getting into alot of subjects that this site cover's, Nothing illigal or anything i want to hide so to speak, But should i tred carefully ? I have a free 2 year security software that provides alot of good's, Not sure if its ok to release the brand? , Anyway i share the comp with my partner and the kids but it is mine and i dont allow them to download or do anything without my knowledge due to having many desktops that with in a few months it's back in the shop because of a trojan or the like. So i bought a new laptop and its a fresh start, So im with virgin media (uk) and have 50mb broadband. I have the superhub router/modem. Windows 7 and i use IE 64-bit is there anything else i should do or have in order for me to be that little bit safer and at the mean time allow other new members to be aware.

After all i suspect a large majority of user's download free anti virus ect or may not be as computer safety knowledgable like myslef. I see people mentioning ip issues ect, What are the free best way to see if your being watched or attacked ect? Either by a non conflicting program that wont mean me delving deep into my laptop to make sure my security doesnt conflict and cause any issue's. OR by command prompt, basicaly what do i already have that i may not know off that is really usefull and things i dont know that store which could cause me problems of any sort? , i dont preserve favorites website data, and i delete history after evrytime i've finished before shutting down. is there anything else i can do manually?

Please forgive me if there is already a thread like this one. Please ask for more answer's if need'd thank you,

for a little extra security and peace of mind there is a program called Malware Bytes AntiMalware that compliments most antivirus/internet security programs and is allways handy to have i wont link you to it as i believe external links are a no no on here

for a bit more peace of mind when browsing stay away from internet explorer as that is a virus/problem magnet
i personally use firefox with adblock and adblock plus pop up addons
that saves from any possible redirects on sites (alltho this site i have seen no malicious redirect attempts)
but there are numerous sites that do attempt redirects

if you need links to malware bytes or any help with it feel free to pm me

My reply might be controversial in the eyes of many computer users, but 'common sense' is a best practise approach to avoid virusses and the like. Anti-virus/malware/etc. programs will never safeguard you from ignorant clickery on web sites entirely.

If it is privacy you are concerned with, I would advise you to not install any AV software and disable the myriad of built-in safeguard application pre-installed with Windows 7.
Did you know that if you fail to install an AV like application on Windows 7 within a certain amount of time, Windows Update will do it for you?
According to the adage 'Follow the Money', one could ask him or herself why there are so many free AV suites available. But then again that could just be conspiratory little me.

Admittingly I am professionally engaged with computers and have therefor an above avarage understanding of how these things work.

The choice is really yours to make. What is most important for you and what is the most likely threat for your personal circumstances?

Originally posted by CriticalMess
My reply might be controversial in the eyes of many computer users, but 'common sense' is a best practise approach to avoid virusses and the like. Anti-virus/malware/etc. programs will never safeguard you from ignorant clickery on web sites entirely.

If it is privacy you are concerned with, I would advise you to not install any AV software and disable the myriad of built-in safeguard application pre-installed with Windows 7.
Did you know that if you fail to install an AV like application on Windows 7 within a certain amount of time, Windows Update will do it for you?
According to the adage 'Follow the Money', one could ask him or herself why there are so many free AV suites available. But then again that could just be conspiratory little me.

Admittingly I am professionally engaged with computers and have therefor an above avarage understanding of how these things work.

The choice is really yours to make. What is most important for you and what is the most likely threat for your personal circumstances?

this is the worst advice ever-you recommend no anti virus (really bad advice)yet claim to be professionally engaged with computers(what ever that means).i use outpost pro it has a good firewall,anti virus etc. all in one.i got a years paid licence for free during a promo on a tech. site.keep your eyes peeled on various tech. sites and you will get a paid version for free sooner or later.avast is a good free anti virus and outpost also do a free firewall.winpatrol is also a good addition,comes in free and plus version.the free version is only limited in the sense of the program being able to check startup entries names and what they are for,google is your friend and the feature is not important.

reply to post by glen200376


That's why I stated upfront, it might be controversial.

Best approach for 'regular' computer users might be different. Some decent free ones are available.

To my personal defense, though, my computer rarely gets infected without 'protection'.

Shields Up! is a free Internet Vulnerability Profiling tool. It's available here: www.grc.com....

It checks things like file sharing and port vulnerability issues.

If you are not afraid to use other operating systems than Windows, you could try out Linux. It's considered to be much more secure than Windows, even if you don't use any anti virus program in Linux. Vast majority of trojans and viruses is targetet to harm Windows users.
But before you install Linux, I would recommend that you safe your data first. If you have much free space on your harddisk, you ussually can resize the Windows partition and use both operating systems, but it's just bad if you accidentally choose another option in the installer.
I can recommend Fedora, Mint or Ubuntu. These linux distros are pretty newbie friendly. Other advantage of Linux is that it doesn't cost anything. If you have any issues you shouldn't be afraid to ask in a Linux specific forum or maybe check the wiki of your used linux distro.

On any operating system you should keep programs like internet browser and multimedia programs like VLC or flash player up to date.

i think the one problem i have using firefox or other, Is i would still have to keep IE becuase on a previos desktop i had, I did try firefox but my partner hated it, so as i use firefox to surf, She'd be using IE when she had pc, Would this cuase me any issue's? as i didnt bother keeping it for it long.

2nd I'm do know abit about computers but not as much as some on here or atleast most lol, so with my previous post,s in here if i use firefox would it benifit me to use it myslef and will it be easyier for me to research or just browse around on here or the net, i've heard it can be quite tricky to use to it's full use's?

I want to learn to be able to protect myslef and check myself to make sure site's are safe and not just malware ect full.

i know on IE i can view souce but what exactly am i looking for? and these ip watch programs i see people mentioning/ i clicked a link and just saw my providers name with some info but again what am i looking for?

i just want to be able to understand and be able to be that little bit more knowledgable regarding keeping safer?, people being hacked and stuff makes me weary to be honest? it seems people are in the know as to how to tell ect? it's this sort of level i wish to be on. along with command promt knowledgable for checking issue's ect? Im not sur eif this even makes sense to anyone? i probley sound abit dumb but without asking you dont know.

thanks

i think the one problem i have using firefox or other, Is i would still have to keep IE becuase on a previos desktop i had, I did try firefox but my partner hated it, so as i use firefox to surf, She'd be using IE when she had pc, Would this cuase me any issue's? as i didnt bother keeping it for it long.

2nd I'm do know abit about computers but not as much as some on here or atleast most lol, so with my previous post,s in here if i use firefox would it benifit me to use it myslef and will it be easyier for me to research or just browse around on here or the net, i've heard it can be quite tricky to use to it's full use's?

I want to learn to be able to protect myslef and check myself to make sure site's are safe and not just malware ect full.

i know on IE i can view souce but what exactly am i looking for? and these ip watch programs i see people mentioning/ i clicked a link and just saw my providers name with some info but again what am i looking for?

i just want to be able to understand and be able to be that little bit more knowledgable regarding keeping safer?, people being hacked and stuff makes me weary to be honest? it seems people are in the know as to how to tell ect? it's this sort of level i wish to be on. along with command promt knowledgable for checking issue's ect? Im not sur eif this even makes sense to anyone? i probley sound abit dumb but without asking you dont know.

thanks

In terms of malware, the main source of an infection with typical desktop usage is from a browser exploit.

In other words, 99% of the time even if you do not download anything just clicking a link and loading a malformed page can trigger a payload.

If you want to be protected from web exploits use firefox with the noscript add-on. It blacklists all _javascript and protects from XSS attacks (cross-site-scripting; people use it to steal login information). you just "allow" the sites you trust.

Might not be for everyone, but it also speed's up alot of sites where the page might be plagued with un-needed _javascript.