Essential and user friendly security...

The_stingemeister

for a complete internet novice. Not me, for someone else.

They have: XP service pack 1, connection via a dongle and probably using Internet Explorer.

I've heard the windows firewall is not up to scratch on this version of Vista? So a firewall thats simple to use would be good. But I'm not really after a big debate of zonealarm v commodo or whatever. However with the anti-virus, personally, I use Avast but maybe with a dongle connection (can't get 3G) this slows everything up? as on start-up it can take a while to update. Also would it be ok to stick with service pack 1 or upgrade to 2 or even 3? Will security updates still work on xp1?

But the most important security question is how to avoid clicking on bad websites. Myself I use WOT and found it pretty good. Any other methods?

Probably most people will say ditch IE for Firefox/Chrome etc but I'm trying to keep the installing of new programs down and things fairly simple.

Lots of questions!....any advice appreciated.

somersethillbilly

They really must update to SP3 !
Maybe look at Sandboxie for defence against malware http://www.sandboxie.com/
Also Norton DNS http://nortondns.com/

Hope that helps?

Firetastic

What about using Clearcloud DNS? http://clearclouddns.com/

somersethillbilly

Firetastic wrote: »

What about using Clearcloud DNS? http://clearclouddns.com/

Sadly it's due to end in a couple of months

dixiebb

yep, ditch ie in favor of Opera or FF; Avast still works with xp and is very good -- well, works well for me anyhow; WOT is good and a similar feature in latest version of Avast .:cool:

The_stingemeister

somersethillbilly wrote: »

They really must update to SP3 !
Maybe look at Sandboxie for defence against malware http://www.sandboxie.com/
Also Norton DNS http://nortondns.com/

Hope that helps?

Thanks, Norton DNS looks good. May try it myself as well, I see Google has a similar bit of software also.

gaming_guy

...........

stilltheone

I think the OP is confused.

I think that they mean Vista SP1.

I'm not sure that a mobile broadband dongle would work with Windows XP SP1.

If really XP SP1, then it's time for a clean install.

Machine details; brand and model number etc.

GlynD

Take the advice given. XP SP1 is really out of date. You need to either upgrade to SP3 from the Microsoft update site or do a clean install and update to SP3 from there.

Firetastic

So what other web filters are there?

Andrew1472

The_stingemeister wrote: »

for a complete internet novice.
Probably most people will say ditch IE for Firefox/Chrome etc but I'm trying to keep the installing of new programs down and things fairly simple.

Lots of questions!....any advice appreciated.

Purely because you say they are a novice, I would install Chrome, delete the desktop link to IE, (pin it to the start menu instead) and uninstall Adobe flash and whatever PDF reader they have got.
Chrome has them both bundled and keeps them auto updated, so it is two things they, and you, don't have to worry about.