Safe and happy computing

Okay. it has come to my attention that people need me to give them some points to browse / compute safely.

1. Passwords
Use a password that contains Capital and small letters, try to use at least 3 numbers of a password at the minimum length of 8 characters
for example:

'Ab3F5d6x'
The above password COULD NOT be guessed, unless the cracker is an Einstein with the ability to read your mind.

Try to use multiple passwords for Multiple sites / apps / games / tasks

For the point of my example:

Lets assume you play 'Gunbound'. By having an Unguessable password like 'Ab3F5d6x' which most likely will never be cracked. or brute forced EVER... and having a different password for your EMAIL so that IF there is a slight chance that you could be hacked... they can hack your account, but can't exactly change the email, therefore you are still in control.

Overall point being.... Use passwords with Capital / lower case and Number characters, use multiple passwords for multiple accounts.

2. Secret Questions
It is more than obvious.... Don't use anything obvious.. if you are Stupid enough to put your mothers real maiden name.... then i would like to personally slap you... if you do so, people who may be 'close' to you, or have that available information, may guess your secret question.

3. Anti viruses / spyware / Firewall
I say this topic is essential to the internet world... But, what anti virus / spyware / Firewall should i use?

In my opinion, ZONE ALARM PRO / Security Suite, it truly is the best, it will give you notice's of suspicious behavior, programs trying to connect to the internet, programs trying to act like a server.. blocks intrusions... blocks spyware, viruses. you can set your security settings, and much more.


4. Internet browser
if any one even says they use Internet explorer, i will seriously own you. because everything targets it. Try using Mozilla Firefox. firefox

It really is secure... besides, you can add plugins, which are exclusively made by developers.. which are indeed rated, so that you know what to choose, you can have theme's, it has a better Download manager... more so than IE... Tabbed browsing.... a million billion other features..


5. Suspicious Files
the net is full of them.. Full of weird and nasty viruses / spyware.. if your not sure about an exe.. or a file... try to scan it before open any of them...

6. Downloading / Accepting Files
Okay, well this site is built of Downloading files. so what do you do? You scan the file at viruscan.jotti.org or other sites.. you scan it with your own virus scanner, you post the results on the thread.. you wait for others to reply.. you see since this site has many pro's... such as members like Sunbeam.. they tend to open the exe in Assembly... and check the code, make sure there is no trojans etc. remember the site is built on trusted members, so this doesn't always need to occur. just for suspicious members..

accepting files on msn.. make sure you can ABSOLUTELY trust them with your life.. things like this can be fatal.. friggin.. believe me, I've been there, scan the file... you see. keyloggers and other nasty files can be binded with 'legit' programs. so this is why you must always scan files.. from untrusted sources.

7. Users
watch who you let on your computer... watch your self when logging on into a public place. the computers may be keylogged or virused. If you have brothers and sisters / peers you share the computer with, educate them on such errors that may be caused if they do certain things like downloading exetubles, Exposing a 'noob' to p2p programs like Limewire.. they search for there favorite song, to find that they are downloading an exe file.. but since they aren't educated, they have no clue on what this file is.

8. Warezing
yes, piracy is a big factor on the net.. and im sure we've all done it, if your going to do it, i suggest joining a 'FORUM' community / a site with 'comments'. You will always get an '*******' who will post a virus, by having that comment / forum support there, you will know from other posters if the program is virused or not.

9. Trusted sites
Does the site look legit? is the site well known? stick to well known sites.. If using Zone alarm, it has a TRUSTED site feature, if the site is not trusted by the ZONE ALARM team, it will notify you if the site is on the 'untrusted' list. Watch when you shop online, some sites look legit.. look for sites with a 'secure' zone (a secure zone is when your browser shows the little padlock).

10. Phlishers
You will find them around.. especially on myspace, people create 'sites' that look like that certain site, such as myspace, it is critical to make sure that your browser url contains the site domain.

sites you may be interested in looking into:
antivirusworld