Public WiFi Security

jeanniebeanie_2

I apologise in advance if this has been covered many times, but my first visit here and I can't find info that I understand.

I have a new netbook running Windows7 starter that I will be taking to the US shortly with the intention of using wireless hot spots/ hotel internet etc.

I have Microsoft Security Essentials, Spybot and Malawarybytes, do I need more security?

I won't be using it for banking, just e-mail (hotmail) and browsing.

Sorry if I come across as a complete numpty.

John_Gray

The most important thing is a good firewall. Microsoft Security Essentials is a good-enough antivirus. Malwarebytes' AntiMalware is a good on-demand/manual scanner (no relation to cassowary!). Spybot is pretty-well obsolete nowadays.

You should be certain that you don't have anything on your netbook's hard disk which it would be useful for someone to steal: bank sort codes and account numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, home address, phone numbers, and so on. Many of these can be saved by browsers, and retrieved by programs. Perhaps work your way through the relevant password recovery utilities written by Nir Sofer, and discover what you have saved on your machine that you didn't know about!

In summary, make sure that if your netbook is stolen, then nobody would be able to empty your bank accounts or charge things to your credit cards, or obtain any compromising information about yourself. If that's OK, then unless you are doing online banking in the internet cafe, and/or someone is looking over your shoulder, you should be all right.

jeanniebeanie_2

Thank you for taking the trouble to reply. Do you have a suggestion for replacing Spybot or do I just not need it? I don't save passwords and use the on-screen keyboard/mouse to log in when needed.

As you will have gathered I am a complete novice at this!

Darksun

The danger of using public (or any unencrypted) WiFi is that all data sent to or from your laptop can be intercepted. This will include all websites you access (unless they are secure sites) and may include passwords - for example, if you logged into these forums your password could be intercepted. Some email providers also don't use encryption for their logins.

Other than that, using public WiFi doesn't really pose much of an increased threat than using the internet normally, it sounds like you have good enough security. When connecting to a network Windows 7 asks if it's a public or private network, select the public option as that will disable file/printer sharing (if you have it set up).

If you're concerned about the laptop getting stolen and there's any sensitive information on it, you could look into Whole Disk Encryption.

jeanniebeanie_2

Thank you. I can see I have a lot to learn.

Not overly worried about the netbook getting stolen as far as sensitive information is concerned, it is new and will hardly be used online before I travel (I use my desktop mostly) and only has basic programmes installed, but obviously this will change as I use it more, so I do need to be aware.

sharkie

you could do worse than installing Windows Steady State or Comodo Time Machine or Returnil Personal. This is software that can make a Local image of your disk and roll back to the known state if anything goes wrong. It is great for internet cafe situations. Anything you save to disk will be lost, so make sure it is not enabled when saving pics to disk from camera or anthin else you want to keep.