Quote:
Originally posted by greyeyezz
I have had one instance of spyware from a freeware download in the past year and a half and thats it. My fault. Haven't seen a popup in 6 months. If you surf suspect sites with ANY browser you will get owned. Anyone who needs to run 3-4 resident spyware monitors consecutively is doing something wrong, or giving access to their pc to uneducated persons. I even ran a unpatched XP Pro up until January, never got hacked, hijacked, exploited or badly infected.
Rule1, Don't use Internet Explorer unless you absolutely have to. Firefox is good (for now) Opera is better.
Rule2, Update and patch your OS. I won't let MS download and install whatever they want, thats my decision, i do it manually.
Rule3, Secure IE, Outlook Express, disable unneeded services, do a port scan make sure you are stealthed.
Rule4, Set up a few garbage email account for software registrations, forums, newsletters, etc. Trust no one. Your personal account is just that, family and friends only. Disable preview pane and open no unrecognizable email. Delete it.
Rule5, Don't use P2P software, disable file sharing in windows, do a Google search for securing your OS whatever it may be.
Rule6, Be very careful what you download and install, if its free, be suspicious.
Rule7, Get a good popup blocker, router, firewall, antivirus, antispyware, anti-trojan software. Too much is not enough. Occasionally do an online scan.
Rule8, If you must surf porn or crack sites use Opera and disable java/javascript, but you'll still get whacked.
I probably missed something but you get the message.
Rule 3 says in part 