new to net need a Q/A session,

hi new to netHi new to the net, bought an open book value from circuit city and the virus and all protection went out of date after my 30 days of ownership,I have had problems but not sure if its the user or the machine. Got to major geeks site, I think that is how I eventually got to this....had spyware/adware and actually problems with norton by symantic so I got it removed. I am disabled and rely on this to keep me in touch, and on a very limited income, cant afford to buy software and need ideas and links to free stuff that is good, I am shocked at the abuse of the internet and if my time of warrenty hadn't elapsed I would have taken this back and got my money- God know I could use it. We were effected by the flooding here in Pa and lost almost everything , then my mom died, my baby was born a premee and is now autistic, so even if you cant help say a prayer, seems like we have been beaten up by life lately. Any ideas on nice sites, what to stay away from, and where to get free advise/help? I use yahoo and like it and my notebook is windows xp, Ithink there is a service pack2 not sure don't know a thing, learned on an apple2c in ,85 as a senior in highschool. thanks, Ajoy

 

Hi Ajoy,

First Welcome to Wilders'

To start off with Wilders' is an excellent source of Info for Security Related things.

Another excellent resource is Eric Howes Site - Protecting Your Privacy & Security - http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/main-nf.htm

There are many freeware applications to protect you. Many are listed on our sister site - http://www.wilders.org/index.htm

The "Why did I get infected in the first place?" thread - https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Is a pretty good warm up to get you started.

For basic PC Security ... You will need. (These are all free)

Anti-Virus Program (1) -

AVG - http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
Antivir - http://www.free-av.com/
Avast - http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Software Firewall (1) -

Zone Alarm - Here
(there are many free firewalls but Zone Alarm is probably the most novice friendly)

Anti-Spy Programs (All listed) -

Spybot - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Ad-Aware SE - http://www.lavasoft.de/
Spyware Blaster 3.2 & Spyware Guard 2.2 - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/downloads.html

Anti-Trojan Program (1) -

Ewido - http://www.ewido.net/en/download/
A2 - http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/

This will get you started. I'm currently @ work, so I can't give you a more detailed run thru, but this will certainly help. Feel free to ask more questions, or ask about anything you're not sure of. There are many people to help you out here.

Welcome Again.

Steve

 

A few more to add - If you're using Interntet Explorer to browse the web.

These two things will be of interest to you ... From the Eric Howes Site Mentioned above.
IE-SPYAD- http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm#IESPYAD

An Introduction to Web Browser Privacy & Security - http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/btw/browser-sec-intro.htm
Securing IE - http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/btw/ie/ie-opts.htm

One of the best ways to have a more Secure Browsing Experience is to use a browser other than Internet Explorer, The two most popular are FireFox & Opera. They have many fewer Security flaws, and most importantly do not support Active X ... which is the common entry vehicle for malware & hijackings. FireFox is free, and Opera has a freeware version, that displays a generic ad in the browser toolbar.

Firefox 1.0 - http://www.mozilla.org/
Securing FireFox - http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/btw/ffox/ffox-opts.htm

Opera 7.54u1 - http://www.opera.com/download/
Securing Opera - http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/btw/opera/opera-opts.htm

Host File - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm - With directions and description.

More info on Internet Explorer from MVPs - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/security.htm

Ask away if you have any questions or need help As long as the topic remains similar, post in this thread, so everyone will have a little background info on where we're at.

Hope that Helps.

Steve

 

Lastly, You inquired about where to get good information on Security. While I am biased, I think Wilders is the best. All the Security Forums Listed on ASAP ( The Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals) are all outstanding. -> http://a-sap.org/

Some of the best of those are (in no particular order):

Castle Cops - http://computercops.biz/
Spyware Info - http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/index.php?b=1
Tom Coyote - http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
Net-Intergration - http://forums.net-integration.net/
Gladiator Security - http://forum.gladiator-antivirus.com/
Bleeping Computer - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

Steve