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Beginner in Security

Well you could check out the Security FAQ »Security

Pretty much can answer a lot of questions.
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HABYA HABYA HABYA TEAR DOWN THE HEM STALKS EAT UP THE OLD MAN AND WOMAN AND CARRY OFF THE LITTLE GIRL MAY YOU DIE ALONE

I checked out the whole security section, including reading hours of posts and faq.

It's still a little complicated when not knowing all the basics for good prevention.

I know if someone is really into security, my situation seems pretty subtle, but I really was just looking for tips from experts on the best protection. I just need suggestions that are user friendly, light on system resources & good, quality programs.

Use a router, run your OS under a Limited user account.

reply to newsnerd8
it really depends on your browsing/internet habits, when i was younger i ended up with a trojan horse because i accepted a file, and the guy thought he was some giant hacker cause he did it, either way i freaked out and got into computer security......since then never really had an issue, i personally have used basically every security software known, i personally like zonealarms firewall and kaspersky antivirus, i also use BOCLEAN

zonealarm recently aquired kaspersky for there antivirus, BUT it isn't free, zonealarm with antivirus and zonealarm security suite cost a little bit, but i think it's worth it, and it's very user friendly......www.zonelabs.com

»www.zonelabs.com/store/content/c···=ho_zass

thats the suite that i'm using currently, 50 bucks for a year, i think it's worth it if you can afford it........OTHERWISE AVG is not a bad antivirus, and is free, and if you wanted a firewall, zonelabs offers a free firewall, and like i said zonealarm is VERY user friendly

reply to newsnerd8
For a newbie to security the best program I could possibly recommend is BoClean. It is extremely light on resources. You won't even know it is running it is so light. It is very easy to set up and use. It was designed for corporate users who don't know anything about security but need their computers protected. It will protect you from trojans, spyware, keyloggers, rootkits, just about everything except viruses and you have AVG for that. The BoClean support is superb. There is no trial of BoClean (there is a specfic reason for that. PM me if you want more info on the reason or do a search here or at Wilders Security). But if you are unhappy with it for ANY reason, your money will be cheerfully and promptly refunded and that is not an empty or iffy promise. It is a one time purchase and future upgrades are included. The makers of BoClean have great integrity and their word is as good as gold so don't let the fact that is is no trial of BoClean put you off. If you do a search here or at Wilders Security site you will find a large number of extremely satisfied users.

»www.nsclean.com/boclean.html

edit: looks like a sale price currently!
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"If you want to do DRM on a PC then you need to treat the user as the enemy." Ross Anderson in "`Trusted Computing' Frequently Asked Questions"

»www.msfirefox.com/

reply to newsnerd8
Several resources for you (if you are an XP user):

1. »tweakhound.com/xp/security/page_1.htm
2. »www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/s···aks1.htm
3. »www.markusjansson.net/exp.html (the author posts regularly in here )
4. »labmice.techtarget.com/articles/···list.htm

reply to newsnerd8

It all depends on who you are, how many people use the computer, what your browsing habits are and how cautious and informed you are. This means that you can read dozens of posts and FAQs and get dozens of different answers. Until you answer the above questions for yourself, you can't get a right answer for your question.

Adding applications upon applications has never been the answer and I doubt it will ever be. Most people who use a bunch of applications, will also tell you that those applications have hardly ever caught anything.

And I tell you why. Because the only people who use that many applications are the ones who hang around forums like this and they are using them because most forums are application based and promote applications. The average Joe hasn't even heard of 90% of those applications.

What they really need to understand is that what's been saving them from trouble, is not the applications they use but the knowledge they have accumulated by reading and hanging around forums like this. The moment they accept that, they can throw most of their applications out and still be safe and feel safe.

As far as I'm concerned, anything besides a good AV and a firewall is a waste, unless you are in the high risk category or unless you like playing with them.
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You can catch the Devil, but you can't hold him long.

reply to newsnerd8
If you dont use file sharing between computers at your physical location Disable those services and or completly unistall them.

And disable some unedded services assuming your running Windows Xp

reply to newsnerd8

•Keep your OS and applications patched religiously
•Run as a limited user
•Use Firefox instead of IE
•Use Thunderbird instead of OE
•Run an antivirus program (I suggest AVG or Kaspersky)
•Run Microsoft Defender to actively shield against spyware
•Be smart about the what you interact with on the Internet. Be cautious of web, email, and IM content, as these are the most likely vectors for infection.

reply to newsnerd8
The arts of security is not something you can learn overnight but in time reading,understanding,and tweaking your pc to your specs is the way.
When i came to BBR years ago thanks to a friend telling me about this site, i was taken back on how much i did not know about my pc, that i kept coming back to read and learn from such a great pool of security users that in three years i have to say i can hold my own at any level of attack.
What you learn here will go a very long way in protecting you in the cyber world.I have to again thank the posters at BBR for teaching me what i need to know about security for my pc.

reply to Wildcatboy
Thanks so much for everyone getting back to me.

Well, I have one computer and that's all. My surfing habits are basic websites, like sports, news, google, and other sites, but no adult sites. I am sure I have typed in the wrong website addresses in the past that took me to websites that could have spyware. I use Outlook 2003 for my e-mail & IE 6. I have Windows XP SP2 with all the patches. I do not do anything online related to music, and haven't downloaded many programs besides AIM, Windows Media, Real Player, Adobe, and those basics.

My AV is AVG Free. I have had some kind of virus or attack in the past, where someone changed all my passwords. I did reinstall my Windows XP after that.

I'm just trying to get the best protection while being user friendly. I know that doesn't always go hand and hand, but I feel it's counter-productive to let certain programs have access to my computer because I "let them in" soley because I didn't know if I can trust the program or not.

I guess I'm looking for a user friendly anti-trojan and/or anti-spyware program like AVG Free, where it's light on resources, user friendly, and hopefully solid protection. I do not want it to affect my internet speed since I use that the most. If the programs aren't free, that's okay.

What would you suggest for solid protection for a beginner under those corumstances? I know it sounds like I want to have my cake and eat it too, but I'm just looking for solid protection being a beginner. I don't know if I need "on demand" "scanning", etc.

Thanks a lot for all your help!

reply to newsnerd8
Spyware Blaster uses no resources. It puts 'kill bits' on selected spyware, so they can't run. You open the program to update it and then you close it.

What I try to do when putting a new program on my PC is set a restore point before I install it.That way if I don't like it, or if it conflicts with another program, I can restore back.

I also try to wait a day or two between installing new programs, so if there is a problem I know what program installed it.

»www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Is the AVG Anti-Malware program good?

I don't know the difference between the paid AVG AV and the free one I have now, but I know the Anti-Malware has the anti-spyware as well.

I'm thinking if the AVG Anti-Malware offers enough protection.

reply to Wildcatboy

reply to newsnerd8
A real time AV/whatever scanner running full time in the background. Free or paid. Search for ratings here for decent ones. The full time to me is mandatory for a beginner. Not just an on demand.
Then a nat router with a firewall maybe. There is a long thread here somewhere on el cheapo nat router proving nat is ok for now.
Then a software firewall for outbound. Free like ZA etc. is fine. This covers the outbound that a nat router does not catch. You may grow out of this with learning and experience. Or if more advanced uses a rules based software or hardware/software firewall.
Then a free on demand spy scanner like lavasoft or spybot or both.

reply to newsnerd8
The key to understanding security is to understand How you can get infected. A lot of people think of Trojans and spyware as these Evil programs that actively look for people and infect them automatically. In most cases, that's not true at all. It's just a misconception. The fact is that in most cases, Trojans and spyware don't infect you, you infect you.

Primarily there are two ways that you can get infected:

A) You run something you shouldn't have.

B) Something uses a vulnerability in your system or the applications you are running and infects you.

What's responsible for the majority of infections we see is "A".

Once you know "How", then you can take steps to eliminate the cause and once the cause is eliminated, you can run your system even without an AV or AS, knowing that you'll be fine.

Stopping "A" is probably the easiest. It requires no application or tools. Just common sense. Don't click on something you don't know. Don't install a software unless it's well known or until you ask around about it first. Don't open email attachments unless you know what they are, etc...

Now you might say what if I accidentally make a mistake and click on something? Well, that's when a Good AV can help you. It's not supposed to be there to protect you all the time, it's there to save you from the mistakes you might make once every couple of years.

A year or two ago I would have suggested AVG. It's not that it's a bad AV. It's still good. But in my view there are better free options available. I'd go with Antivir. The detection rate is superior to AVG and even most of the paid Avs, updates are frequent and it's easy on your resources.

As for "B", the infection happens due to your system or application vulnerabilities. To solve the problem, eliminate or mask the vulnerabilities. To eliminate Network and system vulnerabilities and holes, use a firewall. This means that nothing, I mean absolutely nothing can infect you from outside.

To eliminate application vulnerabilities, use alternative applications that don't have them or if you are quite familiar with how those applications work, try to harden them. Because I understand that asking new computer users to start hardening their applications is not quite practical, I always suggest alternatives until they are ready and willing to learn how to harden their applications.

As mentioned by others, use alternative browsers like Firefox. Use alternative email applications like Thunderbird, etc... These two changes alone will stop majority if not all spyware that automatically install themselves on your machine.

Once you take the steps above, you'll realize that there's not much you need protection from, therefore there won't be many applications that you'd want to use.

I've also seen people suggest using a router. Having it is not bad at all but you also need to understand that if you don't have a network, a router provides no more advantage than the simple XP firewall does. Both will stop external attacks 100% of the times. The only advantage is that a router runs independently and outside your operating system.

Keep reading, understand the threats and how they operate and you will realize that the world is not as scary a place as you thought it was. You can keep buying applications till the cows come home but none of them can protect you like you can.
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You can catch the Devil, but you can't hold him long.

reply to newsnerd8
Let me reinforce what has been already reinforced in this thread and numerous others in this forum:

1. Secure Windows
2. Router with a built-in FW
3. Antivirus
4. Secure browser + Web filtering application (eg. Proxomitron, Ad-Muncher...) + intelligent web surfing

That's it! No need for more.

There are other free extras than can be added on top but they aren't that necessary as the correct router will do that job. They are: SpywareGuard & SpywareBlaster, Windows Defender, Process Guard/System Safety Monitor/WinPatrol/PrevX, etc., Sandboxie (good for risky surfing), etc.