What has been your Biggest Security Revelation from Wilder's? (Just Curious)

BTW, Mine has got to be the tips on the the basic settings for Norton Personal Firewall 2003. I read and read in the firewall forum and was convinced my firewall was flawed, and they were all too complicated. I saw that CrazyM and others actually put together a comprehensive guide so I took a look...

Now I think I have a great firewall. I no longer go "how did that get access?" A great firewall with not so great help files.

All the hours I spent trying to figure out through help files....I basically just skimmed the guide, for what I wanted to know. In just minutes, for the first time I had the settings I should have had for the previous year!

Big Thanks to CrazyM and his associates!


-HandsOff

(P.S. - Don't feel you have to name an individual. The only reason I did is because, knowing me, I probably did not thank him at the time!)

 

Mine was that I needed any security AT ALL!!

The internet had seemed so friendly - until I realized it wasn't my dial-up that was slowing things down and spamming me and making me write bad checks!!

 

Security??
What Security??

That's what husbands are for
http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/love/636.gifhttp://img118.exs.cx/img118/1691/hug8ok.gifhttp://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/love/636.gif​

 

Mine was that Nod32 does not quarantine a file, it simply makes a copy. I had been using the program for about a year or so, and was simply and totally stunned.

I came here knowing of the need to use a firewall and anti-virus program (didn't know there were so many) and that was it. Now I have myself Fortress de Blackspear, come with your rocks Detox, I am well protected

Cheers

 

True Image! For when everything else fails. Seriously I've learned more about educated computing at wilders than I have at all other sites put together. Multilayered defense.

 

I have learned that I don't know near as much as I thought I did. I have learned so much about software that I didn't even know existed.

I really learned a lot about securing a PC and keeping it clean.

 

I guess there are a few for me, first and foremost is investigate, investigate, and investigate some more. That there is no end to the knowledge to gained/learnt ... PC Security is a rapidly evolving dominion, more so than most technology in this field.

As feddup already mentioned ... I think that the "Layered Defence" motto is the most important message Wilders' delivers on the security side of things. I think on the human side, Wilders' is all about not only compassion and understanding, but the importance of reaching out to help your fellow man.

Regards,

Steve

 

My biggest revelation was that after I let BeetleBoss touch the computer, that I needed security. I never had any problems before. No virus', trojans, or spyware. But you see, she likes to explore the internet thoroughly by going everywhere, and clicking on everything. Especially when she is looking for songs or pictures for the picture game.

Example: She could be looking for a picture of a rodent. There could be a banner ad on some web page stating
"Click here to install a RAT (remote access trojan) on your computer".
She would think to herself "There's my rat picture" and click.

http://websound.ru/aradzish/content/caricature/computers/rat_resize.gif​

 

Only if your on the other end controlling the RAT.

 

Before discovering wilders, I already knew a lot about about firewalls, antiviruses etc. I learned a lot on other forums...mainly dslreports.com. However, one article here at wilders has helped me more than any. There is lots of valuable info here.

The one that has helped me the most is a program called "Winrescue" I learned about it when I read the sticky tutorial entitled "Disaster prevention 101" by Root, a retired moderator. You can read the article here Disaster Prevention 101

Winrescue has prevented a lot of reformats for me. I used to have to reformat my hardrive about every 2 months LOL. I installed "winrescue" on September 10, 2003. I haven't had to reformat my hardrive since I installed it about a year and a half ago. Winrescue has gotten me out of a lot of trouble numerous times. The article explains how winrescue works. You can find winrescue here. http://www.superwin.com

If everyone would use just this one program.....Most computer problems you hear about on these forums could be fixed in a couple of minutes. Other than a hardrive failure or major virus. One may not have to ever reformat again.

I know that's a bold statement to make...However, they used to call me "mr reformat" because I was always having to reformat. I also have a link to the article on my signature.

I've gained a lot of knowledge here on wilders...Knowledge is a continuing process. However, if there is one program I wouldn't be without.. It would be "winrescue"

 

I learned that right clicking and saving aint as innocent as it looks, lol

 

my biggest security revelation from wilder's has been an amazement that people from all over the world come here. it shows a commitment and bond between all of us worlwide to spread the knowledge of responsible and secure computing everywhere. i think i have learned that this is a place to go to fight back, and this forum is proof and hope that we won't be invaded and have our privacy intruded upon without a fight!

 

damn that was cheesy!

 

LMAO, oh that is good, so did you get your system all clean again?

Cheers

 

The fact is that computer security is something people all over are working on! It's a world problem - then it's a parent problem, a medical research problem, a space travel problem, a crime problem, a problem for any one who's livelihood might even remotely be connected to a computer, so we need to feel we can DO something, and actually combat the people who would take that all that away!

So it's not cheesy, it' true!!

 

I already knew quite a bit about viruses, trojans, worms etc. and also a bit about firewalls...I learnt through harsh infections of Redlof and repeated infections of certain Trojans which my old PC-cillin wouldn't detect. I switched to eScan after that and WOW...I'm infected and I didn't even know it till I installed eScan!!!

My biggest security discovery at Wilders was ArcaVir. I'd known about it for a while, but when I saw what an increasingly great product its becoming...I knew I had to keep an eye on it. Thankfully I was invited to test it out with a 1-year license by Stormbyte..Yippee!!

If you wanna talk about REVELATIONS, my biggest revelation at Wilders' was that KAV's heuristic engine was not as good as I thought. I never knew that the old code analyser had been unchanged since v3.5.

That's my bit.

Have a nice day

Regards,
Firecat

 

In the time I've been reading article here (which is quite a bit longer than when I eventually got around to registering), I've certainly encountered lots of golden nuggets of information

Not sure if any of them count as revelations, but blackspears nod32 quarantine info is amongst the gems, as was knowing about SIG^2's and nautilus's site to be able to investigate what hooks different products are using

I guess the more interesting information for me is information that allows me to investigate for myself rather than just having to listen to other ppls conclusions

 

I have learned the meanings of and the necessity for:

firewalls, anti-virus and anti-trojan programs, routers and all the amazing free programs and tools put out by not only Javacool but many other wonderful sources.

Most of all I have discovered there are one heck of a lot of very nice people who are more than willing to help others learn about computer security, get themselves out of a jam and offer sound advice on how to stay out of trouble.

 

Learned so much having been here. Being on a fixed limited income, this site has given me the ability to enjoy the Internet an still be reasonably protected. Also learned that there are a whole bunch of good, nice an smart people who post here also. If one want a wealth of information on tech. stuff, or is just looking to have a little fun, Wilders is the site to use.

Thanks
Wildman

 

Some very interesting answers, still, I am surprised that there aren't more.

In order hopefull, to get the ball rolling I will say Wilder's not only introduced the concept of the Hardware firewall, but also gave me the confidence that I would not get stuck if it was hard to install (its very easy, just try not to read the instructions). Did you know that their are a number of services that can be disabled when you use a router (think about whose software is handling those services if you don't)? Expensive? I got one for my sister (netgear firewall router) that was free after the rebate...

I really enjoyed the responses and I agree with the importance of every one, excepting the one's that I am not familiar with yet.

But I can't go learning more computer stuff until I get my computer fixed!


- HandsOff