Great 'Easy Computer Security and Privacy Tips' Hunt

Tils

Well it's already been mentioned but I will mention again because its something people do not realise.

With a password if you want it to be very hard to crack use the extra characters like ?#@ etc. Passwords are considerably harder to hack with these characters in your password than without. Uppercase and lower case basically doesn't make much difference to a hacker.

I had a piece of software which used to hack NT 4 passwords and was interesting to see how it worked. (I'm an network administrator) and it took litterly seconds to pick most peoples passwords at the time as most people picked things like catdog or peoples names etc. so all the thing did was check its dictionary for words and compare. When you added numbers it added a few hours to the hack which slowed it down. But when you added these extra characters like ? or # etc. the timings went into months and in some cases years if you used something totally random.

Also 8 characters is the recommended minimum password for good networks in companies. Where some have bigger requirements of course.

Learning how hackers hack your passwords like this is a good way to increase security on your network or home computer.

Jake'sGran

I am so impressed with the knowledge you all have. I'm a silver surfer but do try to be security aware. Right now I am running the Spyware Doctor downloaded free from Google and so far it has detected 63infections and it has only scanned 20%. In the past I have used AVG free but have given up trying to install the new version (7.5) as I keep getting an error message. So I will uninstall completely and see if Google will will keep me safe plus a few of the suggestions above.

albertross_2

Google won't keep you safe, you need a resident AV product. Spyware doctor is probably over reporting such things as tracking cookies (to make it look better than it is), which aren't a threat to security. Try https://www.ccleaner.com to clean up cookies.

The_Economist

Jake'sGran wrote: »

I am so impressed with the knowledge you all have. I'm a silver surfer but do try to be security aware. Right now I am running the Spyware Doctor downloaded free from Google and so far it has detected 63infections and it has only scanned 20%. In the past I have used AVG free but have given up trying to install the new version (7.5) as I keep getting an error message. So I will uninstall completely and see if Google will will keep me safe plus a few of the suggestions above.

Be carefull what spyware programs you use because not all do the job properly. As Albertross says, download ccleaner, also download spybot search & destroy and Ad-Aware to help with spyware and maleware. You should be able to download both of these from https://www.download.com. And make sure you have an up to date Anti-Virus program running to.

JDPower

For safer cookie handling (on XP) go to Start>Control Panel>Internet Options>Privacy tab.
Click the advanced button then:

Tick the box for 'Override automatic cookie handling'
For 'First party cookies' tick 'Accept'
For 'Third party cookies' tick 'Block'
Tick the box for 'Always allow session cookies'
Click OK

wakandem wrote: »

Don't go to the 1st advertised site in google searches even if the site is nospywareforyourpc.ru - dont click, made up site

If you use SiteAdvisor it will mark every Google search result as safe or not before you even click on it

DamianA wrote: »

One option that hasn't been mentioned is to use an alternate DNS server. Sorry to sound geeky but if you look at https://www.scrubit.com they offer a free service that will block !!!!!!, phishing and all manner of nasty sites

An alternative is OpenDNS, they are fast and reliable but security wise offer just Phishing protection (not !!!!!! blocking ) - http://www.opendns.com/

ndc wrote: »

I find CallingId & CallingIdLinkAdvisor very useful. It works with IE & Firefox.
Use https://www.callingid.com for more info.

Ignore that advice. Their software contains tracking elements and their privacy policy is appalling.

ILikeFreebies

The best tip I ever heard for passwords was to use the first letter of every word in a line from your favourite song. Use a line that has numbers and punctuation or substitute letters e.g. I becomes 1 or !

For example:

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17

becomes:

yatdq,yas,o17

I can't imagine that would be too easy to crack. Before anybody tries to use that to hack into my MSE forum account, I just spent 5 mins trying to think of a song I could use in my example.

djawol

I know that Zonealarm has been mentioned but I find the free version is limited if you need to open up ports for specific applications, games etc.

The free firewall here - http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/ has a lot more features on the free version. (see table on the page for a comparison).

Andy

mrclanger

You've got a firewall/AV/anti-spyware - next area? Maybe intrusion prevention to stop an attack on your system the others have missed. I tried Prevx Home for a while (during the free period anyway), and it does alert based on a central database of threats. It picked a couple of nasties that Avast missed, but nothing too serious. Safe surfing, and keeping away from peer-to-peer, bitorrents and 'dodgy' sites helps. I have one friend who is a habitual downloader of MP3s & videos and he gets a regular hit of garbage - system restore usually required!

cragdoo

Education is the best form of security. I mean you're not allowed behind the wheel of a car without a licence.

I believe that before you can connect, you must have to obtain a license showing a minimum level of competency and provide your license number to your ISP as part of the sign-up process. The ECDL is a good starting place http://www.ecdl.com/publisher/index.jsp

If you go online unprotected, and worse knowing the you’re unprotected then, frankly, you deserve everything that’s coming to you but it pi***s me off that you will then, in however small a way, become part of the problem; either as a virus carrier, a spyware host, or, worse case scenario, part of a botnet.

If you’re found to be connected without one, then your ISP will suspend your account until you get one.

I know this will probably never happen, but go on a course or something! I promise you will feel better afterwards and I won’t feel like I have to go all right-wing when something malicious impacts against my firewall.

And a final word:

If you’re reading this from behind a firewall then I thank you for your patience.

If you’re reading this and you don’t !!!!!! a firewall is, then I’m on my way round with every intention of depriving you of the use of your legs

poorbabe

Cragdoo, you such a smooth talker!