How to almost never get a virus (for bas1c n00bs)

[acidosmosis]

I would have to disagree on one thing. I believe common sense would be your most powerful tool in lots of situations, not just using a PC.

Your right most people don't have common sense which is what I said earlier, but that is mostly out of ignorance. It doesn't take PC knowledge to know you don't do the things that get you in trouble on the Internet by doing the things I mentioned earlier.

People just need to start practicing a little common sense. Everyone should have the common sense to not do certain things.

Common sense is defined as:

1. Sound practical judgment.
2. A general concious awareness. A sense of danger.
3. To become aware of not through the senses but instinctively.
4. Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good
mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound,
true, or reasonable; rational meaning.

These are all things that people should posess. If you do not then it is your own fault. You alone are responsible.

Common sense is common, why? Because everyone is expected to have it. It is considered "normal" to have this "common sense". Yet, most people do not. Not because they just do not posess the ability, but because they choose not to USE it.

It is not a lot to ask to have common sense when using a PC. It is NOT a lot to ask to have common sense in ANY situation. It is not a lot to ask to have the sense to reject a file called "funny.exe", or to open every attachment in emails from people you do not know. Obviously if you do not know, using the Internet is risky, then you should not even have the Internet. This is 2004, and it is expected that you realize you are in the information age where information can be dangerous.

I stay with my opinion that common sense is your most powerful tool, because common sense should lead every single one of you, and everyone that owns a PC to know better to commit the top most stupiditys which land a virus on your hard-drive (or spyware, or adware, or spam).

Guess how much spam I get in my email? None. Not a bit. Do I use a filter? Nope. I have had my email address since March. Before that I had an email address which was the same for an entire year. Never got any spam. Why? Common sense not to give my email address to the wrong website or people. I have what I call a "dummy" email address at hotmail.com for the purpose of giving to websites that I do not trust. That address gets about 100 emails a week. This is a strategy that I recommend to friends, clients and any PC user I know that has a spam problem.

Again I rest my case and I know I have made a good one.

 

[Nic]

What about some advice that new users can use in the short-term (i.e. while they are aquiring common sense)?

Should they install a firewall, anti-virus, pest-control software?

This is what this thread is about.

In the longer term, then gaining some PC skills and awareness is going to be invaluable to users, but it isn't something they can pick up overnight.

 

[acidosmosis]

I don't think any PC skills are needed to exercise common sense, which I said are one of the powerful tools that you can and should use. We all have common sense. Whether we choose to use it or not is or own decision, but we have no excuse not to. You don't walk into an alley full of gang members holding clubs, knives and guns in Los Angeles and smile. It's common sense. It's common sense not to do the things I mentioned above.

I'm not saying a normal user shouldnt have a firewall or anti-virus. What I am saying is its almost completely useless to users who refuse to use common sense(for example if the user just blatanly ignores the obvious things you should not do that anyone should know, then they end up installing a backdoor for a hacker anyway rendering the firewall completely useless). And besides that, if the user has no PC knoweldge and never updates the software/Windows/virus definitions/etc., then it does them practically no good (virus definitions change almost daily).


You see what I am saying?

What knowledge does a new user already have (since they dont have any PC skills)? Common sense. Will that prevent a lot of problems? Yes. Most definately. I've already defined what common sense should be and those are the tools the new user should use since they are not able to exercise PC skills that they dont have (updating software, configuring a firewall, editing registry to get rid of spyware/adware -- for a few simple examples).

I hate to babble on guys, but I am trying to make you understand the message that I am trying to get through.

Nic: So that is my advice. Basically, don't be lame. A PC is just like anything else. If something looks suspicious then it probably is. I know I wouldnt open a letter from someone I didn't know if it was very very much common knowledge that a LARGE majority of letters received in U.S. mail contained a lethal virus.

 

[Nunja Business]

Actually, You don't need IE at all!

QUOTE: The downside to this, is you still have to use IE to run Windows update, but who cares that's low risk.

Actually, Firefox has a plugin that will allow you to do the Windows Update thing without using IE. I have been using it for close to 3 months and it works well.

I just wish they could make Thunderbird a better mail client. I have more than a couple of different email addresses I need to check and I dislike having them all in seperate inboxes. When they come up with this feature, I will switch completely.

YMMV
(Your mileage may vary)

 

[dr3K]

good points

acid you've made a believer out of me, your first few posts got me a riled up and i couldn't believe what you were saying - but you have made some great points...

the new user needs common sense, w/o it they need someone that knows a little about computers and configure things for them so their av|os|firewall|etc will stay updated
either that or login as a guest to their own computer :grinthumb not that i've set up any family members computers like that or anything

i mean w/o common sense people will sit there at post and not even read the 'press any key to continue' msg, thinking their computer is broken : no joke

 

[Didou]

I have more than a couple of different email addresses I need to check and I dislike having them all in seperate inboxes. When they come up with this feature, I will switch completely.

YMMV
(Your mileage may vary)

I do believe you can now do so with Thunderbird 0.8. When you create or add an account you can ask for it to use the common inbox instead of one of its own.

 

[Nunja Business]

Thunderbird Global Inbox

I do believe you can now do so with Thunderbird 0.8. When you create or add an account you can ask for it to use the common inbox instead of one of its own.

Thank you very much for the "heads up" I have downloaded the newest version and found it does indeed support a global inbox now!

 

[mfm1200]

virus'

speakin of virus'
a friend has contracted 2 virus, 1 called Parite, and the other plexus-a.
from what i gather both a a little difficult to clean, ie there is no automatic tool. have to go into the registry.
anybody know of a tools site that may help. already use trend and avg.
cheers
mfm

 

[leem]

I have never used a firewall. I know whay they are, but not where to get them or how to install them. I have x-home sp2, does anyone have any suggestions in getting me started with using a firewall?

 

[Didou]

Kerio Personal Firewall

 

[Liquidlen]

ZoneAlarm has a free version.
Just an alternative.
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
Very important that you turn off the built in Windows firewall before using any other.

 

[Nic]

...Very important that you turn off the built in Windows firewall before using any other.

I've been running with both the XP firewall and ZoneAlarm for more than one year now and I've never noticed any problems. Sometimes I have to shut down ZoneAlarm so that file downloads will work on some websites and it pays to still have another firewall active.

 

[Liquidlen]

Are you saying that both are running at the same time ?

 

[schizoid77]

I don't consider myself a very experienced pc user at all. But I uninstalled all AV programs over a year ago. I use Outlook and IE constantly, every day. I have not gotten a virus. When I run ad-aware, all it finds are the pre-requisite cookies I save to access certain sites I frequent.

I have SP2 and a router with a switch.

Whoever said it's common sense is right on. Don't visit shady porn sites and don't open emails when you don't know the sender.

And if you DO need a AV program or feel for some reason that you absolutely need to have one, don't PAY for it, there are free ones out there that are just as good.

 

[Nic]

Are you saying that both are running at the same time ?

Correct!

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I don't see any reason why running more than one firewall would cause problems.

When I want to get into my apartment, I have to open three doors. Sometimes the first door (the main door down at the hall) is open so that some others can get in. Then there's two doors in my apartment, although the last one doesn't have a lock.

Sometimes something can pass the first firewall, sometimes a firewall doesn't prevent data from leaving.

 

[Liquidlen]

If you can run 2 Firewalls simultaneously with no problems, bully for you .Common sense tells me that this individual has alot of experience and technical knowledge to understand all of the configuration issues that could crop up in this scenario, not to mention the time to double configure applications ,networks etc.
Newbies will have some difficulties doing this
Microsoft recommends not running theirs in conjunction with other firewalls.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875356
I personally do not see a significant advantage, except for maybe what Nic said earlier.
I am not sure the work is worth the gain.

 

[Nic]

Actually, there are no configuration issues with the XP firewall, and I wouldn't even know it was active if I hadn't activated it myself. The XP forewall is very vasic (and very stable), not like ZoneAlarm, so I don't even notice it. I wouldn't use two more advanced firewalls together because it would be more hassle than its worth.

Before I started using firewalls I had a nasty scare after completing an install of Win98se. I had just got broadband, so I was permanently connected to the web. After I had win98 installed and then installed a virus scanner (just minutes later) I found that I had two viruses and one trojan on my hard drive. That was after a full format, and I never had a problem before. After that episode, I always made sure to disconnect from the network until I have a firewall and virus scanner in place. That was one situation I didn't want to repeat. Incidentally, I have a router now and it has its own hardware firewall, so I can remain connected without fear of having a virus placed on my PC by some hacker (yes it can actually happen to anyone). I've never had a virus since, though spyware seems to crop up quite often.

 

[Liquidlen]

Basically Nic I have a similar setup.A hardware and a software Firewall.The difference being I use Zonealarm Pro .I have never found it to be unstable or problematic and it certainly is not hard to use nor learn as it also can be configured for automatic functioning or advanced.
What do you think is the reason behind Microsoft not wanting their's turned on with other software?
Simply to reduce tech support calls!