Recently
a fellow told me that he was quitting the
Internet! He had enough and didn’t want anymore. No
more spam, no more viruses, no more spyware, he just felt it was not
worth it. "I'm shutting of my broadband
connection. It's become too invasive to my privacy and it seems that
one has to have more and more protection and I'm just tired of what is
going on with the internet." If this speaks to you, maybe some of
these suggestions could put more fun back improve your internet surfing.
However I'm not because so far I don't
really find it that difficult to avoid infections. A few relatively
simple things minimize the risk:
1) Use Antivirus software
and keep it up to date, Grisoft's AVG is free, effective, and doesn't
mess up my machine like some other popular Antiviruses I could
name2) A firewall, some free ones such as Zonealarm or Sygate Personal are also quite
good
3) Use
text at the very least to preview email, Chilton Preview for Outlook is very effective
4) Change things like .vbs and .reg files to open with a text editor in Windows by default
5)Don't use Internet Explorer! I've
used Opera for years but now use Firefox for almost all my browsing,
but occasional tricky site ends up requiring IE for a short time.
6) Disable the Messenger service in XP
7) If it looks weird don't open it! Don't trust your relatives on the internet!
8) Be stealthy, very few internet sites really need your email address, get a webmail account just for the junk mail
Selecting a good password is an important part of password security. The key
is to find a password that is easy for you to remember and hard for others
to
guess.
Create a good (strong) password:1) Include both uppercase and lowercase letters (case-sensitive).
2) Include both letters and numbers (alpha-numeric).
3) Do not include your login name, a.k.a. username, in any form (as-is, reversed,
capitalized, doubled).
4) Avoid words that can be found in a dictionary (including foreign
and technical dictionaries).
5) Do not use a password that has
been given as an example of a good password.
Create an easy to remember password:
One possible way to pick a good password is to make up your own acronym.
Create a phrase that has meaning to you and pick the first letter of each
word. Make sure your phase has numbers in the middle. A
combination of numbers and
letters is harder to guess or crack with a computer program.
For example:
"I love to shop for sandals in
the Spring." (Il2s4sitS)
2) "I'm going to work out 3 times a week." (Ig2wo3taw)
3) "Last summer
I caught a 30 inch striped bass." (LsIca30isb)
A similar method is to take out all the vowels from a short phrase.
For example:
1) "I work 8 hours a day." (wrk8hrsdy)
2) "You're once, twice, three times a lady."
- Lionel Richie (Yr123tmsLdy)
Protect your Password:
1)Memorize your password.
2) If you must write down your new password because you are afraid to forget
it, then:
2A) Never write your
username and your password on the same piece of
paper.
2B)
Do not place a written copy of your password on the side of your monitor, under your keyboard, etc.
3) Destroy the written copy as soon as you have memorized your password.4) Do not allow anyone to look over your shoulder while you are entering your
password.
5) Change your password often.
6) Change your password immediately if it has been compromised.
One
phenomenon that has become quite obvious from the vast numbers of virus
victims over the last year is that people click first and ask questions
later. Maybe we're inspired by the false belief that firewalls,
antivirus software, and anti-spyware programs protect us from all
viruses, worms, and
intrusive programs. But even the best of these shields can't always
protect you from your biggest security threat: yourself.Don't click e-mail attachments: Most viruses and worms
arrive on
your PC in the form of e-mail attachments. A few of them exploit
security flaws in Windows
or in your browser to launch automatically, but if
you keep your
programs updated, your chances of being infected via this route
are slim to none.Don't believe the return address: Though an e-mail
message may claim
it's from your bank, your ISP, or even your boss, that
doesn't mean it is. Spammers and virus mailers generally spoof the From address
field in their
messages with a legitimate address that they've stolen. You may
even have received spam from yourself as a result of this clever technique.
Of course, not all e-mail is bad. But if a message from a coworker or
friend insists that you launch a file attachment, first confirm with the sender
what the file is (make a call or send
an e-mail asking whether the purported
sender in fact e-mailed the file attachment, and whether it is indeed intended
for you). If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of the message and its
attachment, delete them.
Don't
believe the message: To persuade you to launch a virus-laden mail attachment or provide your personal information, virus authors
must earn your
trust. They try to accomplish this by composing
convincing-looking messages that appear to be sent from Microsoft, your ISP, or
some other entity you do business with. The message may even contain links to a
counterfeit version of the company's Web site, complete with genuine-looking
graphics and corporate logos.Often the message laments that the company is experiencing technical
problems, and that it needs you to click an executable attachment. You don't
need to rely on your intuition to determine whether this message is truthful.
If the message hasn't been verified by a company representative via phone or in
person, it almost certainly contains a virus. Microsoft doesn't e-mail updates
to its customers, and neither should your ISP.
Don't believe the link, either:
A link in an e-mail message that claims
to point to a Citibank Web site may not really go there. Devious
phishing scams use the wonders of HTML to snooker you into uploading
your Social
Security number, PIN, credit card number, password, or other sensitive
data to a scammer's Web site. A carefully crafted e-mail message
purporting
to be from your bank, PayPal, or some other institution (and often also
containing links to the real company's Web site) warns that you must
update your records there. The biggest tip-off should be this: Banks
and ISPs don't lose your information and then send e-mail requests for
you to reenter it online. Another tip-off is that the link text and the
real underlying URL don't match. Always examine log-in Web pages and
their URLs closely. The site sends unsuspecting Citibank
customers to a non-Citibank site (which no longer exists, fortunately).
If you do get hooked by creeps on a phishing expedition, notify your
bank, ISP, or other institution
immediately.
Practice abstinence. Resist viewing or replying to messages from questionable sources or
opening dubious attachments-- most viruses, worms and Trojans enter computers this way. If the email seems
too good to be true, it probably isn't. Many schemes use `social engineering'
methods to lure unsuspecting users into revealing personal information
or into confirming their email address for use in more schemes or
spam.
Make
sure your antivirus and personal firewall software is up to date. An
updated antivirus program blocks incoming threats from known viruses
and worms while an updated personal firewall blocks incoming threats
from
hackers, identity thieves and even new, unknown viruses and worms. Make
sure
that your personal firewall provides outbound protection measures, too.
Outbound
protection is vital in case malicious code does make it onto the PC and
starts trying
to 'call home' to establish a back door method for hackers to disguise
their activities.
Schedule a monthly check-up. Vulnerability patches and bug fixes are released often, but you don't
always hear about them. Take a few minutes one day a month to check for updates on all your software
vendors' Web sites.
