Post: #1

Preface:

I am well read and researched in the subject of philosophy. Politics is a very serious interest of mine. Trump is my favorite candidate and I can defend that stance with decisive logic. HOWEVER, because I am a newbie, and the rules of the forum are that newbies cannot contribute to threads on politics or philosophy, I will contribute on the topic of technology, which is my profession.

How to avoid computer viruses

>Anti-virus software

The importance of anti-virus software should not be undervalued. Paid for titles like Bit-Defender and free versions like Avast and AVG are quite effective, but they are not full-proof. There are other techniques for avoiding viruses that are equally as important and possibly more effective.

Fun fact: I have been known to have computers that did not run anti-virus software, and went virus free for years, despite downloading many torrents.

Here are the tips:

>Don't click on ads

No matter how enticing, don't click on ads. If the content of an ad looks like something that is interesting, just open a new tab, use a search engine, and find the content in that manner. DO NOT CLICK ON ADS.

>Don't open emails from unsolicited senders and certainly do not open the attachments!

For those that work in big companies, this is particularly true. Your IT departments would thank me. The content of this post is something that I send out to the users of my company periodically.

Sometimes opening the email is hard to avoid. If you are like me, you get 10-100 emails a day, and you move through them as quickly as possible and spending time trying to decide the legitimacy of an email based on the information provided before opening it is simply impractical. I will tell you that the big hitters these days are emails that refer to unpaid invoices. I have seen countless phishing attempts that had subject lines of this nature. If you see a subject line that talks about an unpaid invoice, stop and ask yourself if that is plausible.

If you feel that you need to open the email to verify then go ahead. Chances are there will be no ill effects from opening the email. However, if it is a phishing attempt, the attachment is where the damage certainly lies. Again, consider the likelihood of the email. Is there any reason that that sender should be asking you for whatever they are asking for? If in doubt, contact the subject company or individual and inquire directly. DO NOT CLICK ON THE ATTACHMENT.

>Thumb drives, HDD, and SSD are bad.

This is not as big of an epidemic as it used to be. At least not in my world. In my world these days, files are more commonly transferred via email or cloud services. Thumb drives aren’t as prevalent as they were a few years ago.
Know this: viruses are commonly self-replicating. That means that if you plug your thumb drive into a computer that has a virus, there is a good possibility that the virus has now been copied to your thumb drive, and when you take that thumb drive to your own computer, it will then be copied to your computer. If your fat-ass beta (or charlie, or delta) classmate offers you his homework and hands you his thumb drive, don't do it. He has probably been downloading porn without prejudice and you will likely get all the nasty viruses that he has on his computer. Tell him to email it, upload it to the cloud, or burn it to a CD instead.

>Torrents

Downloading torrents is risky business. I do it, but I am pretty good at picking up on something that is unusual. But even I get broadsided sometimes. It would take a post far longer than this one to tell you how to navigate torrents strategically. Bottom line is, torrents are risky. Know that trouble is a possibility if you are downloading torrents. Use an old junk computer for downloading torrent if you can; that is what I do.

>Web Browser Defense

Web browsers like Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla have content filtering mechanisms in place that block or at least discourage you from going to sites that have known malicious content. They tend to be quite effective.

I will be the first to tell you that I detest Google, and I have an inherent repulsion towards the giants like Microsoft. Knowing the power and reach of Google and how haphazardly people give up there information to them makes it clear that they could be a very damaging force to society if their agenda ever turned to something evil. In brief, I believe that if any company had a potential for becoming Skynet, it would be Google.

>In closing

Even if you have the best anti-virus software and follow all of these tips, it is still possible that you will get a virus, but the likelihood will be reduced by 99.9%.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if there are certain technological topics that you would like me to elaborate on.

Post: #2

And if you want to watch porn use your smartphone, Ipad etc.

Post: #3

Good spirit man!

Post: #4

I don't know how, but I've never used an antivirus and I'm still virus-free. Then again I don't really visit fishy websites and tend to download from reputable sources. As far as porn goes, if you stick to the main sites you shouldn't get anything. Pornhub won't give you a virus.

Post: #5

Quote:If your fat-ass beta (or charlie, or delta) classmate offers you his homework and hands you his thumb drive, don't do it. He has probably been downloading porn without prejudice and you will likely get all the nasty viruses that he has on his computer.

Post: #6

Use ad block plus browser extension. Also, download peer guardian and make sure to use the botnet block lists and keep them updated. Stay away from p2p sites and apps, and avoid porn sites too. You can also install openDNS on your router for additional protection. You're welcome!

Post: #7

*2 on adblock plus.

Almost all instances of malware come from hijacked ad servers delivering up trash.

Post: #8

Are Macs still safe from
Viruses?? I understand that Mac anti virus software only prevents an Apple computer from passing on a virus. But is it still true that Macs cannot be infected??

Post: #9

(04-29-2016 03:20 AM)Guitarman Wrote:  Are Macs still safe from
Viruses?? I understand that Mac anti virus software only prevents an Apple computer from passing on a virus. But is it still true that Macs cannot be infected??

It's more muddied these days. Short answer is no, running a Mac is no safer than running a PC. I've seen Mac adware heck i've even seen Android malware.

We've come a long way from the old days where one PC infection would ruin a network. I remember I got a virus on an XP computer which infected every computer in my house. That came from a stupid pop up.

Nowadays, i'd look more at possible vectors for infection than the platform itself. Every platform is vulnerable to something. Vectors include:

1. Browser
2. LAN networking
3. Adobe Flash Plugins
4. Java plugins
5. USB drives
etc etc

I don't run any anti virus software. I think they're bloated and stupid applications. Instead, I do a combination of ad blocking via a Chrome plugin and hosts file blocking of ad content. As a child, I always got viruses from browser the internet via IE. Ads were the bane of my existence. On PCs I keep Microsoft Security Essentials and Malware Bytes. These are hold over applications from my days working in desktop support.

Post: #10

(04-28-2016 08:37 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  And if you want to watch porn use your smartphone, Ipad etc.

Android devices are still quite susceptible to viruses, but iPhones and iPads are a brilliant way to go. They do not get viruses nearly as easy.

Post: #11

(04-29-2016 02:02 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  Use ad block plus browser extension. Also, download peer guardian and make sure to use the botnet block lists and keep them updated. Stay away from p2p sites and apps, and avoid porn sites too. You can also install openDNS on your router for additional protection. You're welcome!

Adblock was sold to a marketing company. Ublock Origin is better.

Post: #12

For home computing, I switched all of my Laptops/Desktops to Ubuntu about a year back and haven't had any issues since.
If for any reason I want to reformat, its done in MINUTES!
I haven't had a reason to do it though, shit is just rock solid.

Year after year I put up with Windows for Home Computing and it drove me nuts.
Constant bugs, crashes, slow down, spyware, viruses, worms etc...
Reformatting Windows takes FOREVER!
TOO many issues to list.

Right now my crew is still using legacy Windows 7 machines at the office I rent and it feels like a fucking dinosaur compared to my Ubuntu machines at home.

Definitely will be transitioning my entire business over to some form of Linux over the next couple years.

Post: #13

(04-29-2016 02:02 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  Use ad block plus browser extension. Also, download peer guardian and make sure to use the botnet block lists and keep them updated. Stay away from p2p sites and apps, and avoid porn sites too. You can also install openDNS on your router for additional protection. You're welcome!

You know, its kind of funny but religious sites have more malicious content and drive-by downloads that porn sites do.

Post: #14

(04-29-2016 03:20 AM)Guitarman Wrote:  Are Macs still safe from
Viruses?? I understand that Mac anti virus software only prevents an Apple computer from passing on a virus. But is it still true that Macs cannot be infected??

Apple gets undo credit for this on a regular basis.

The major reason that Apple is less susceptible to viruses is because they are smaller. From a malicious coders perspective, writing code that will affect Apple computers is not nearly as profitable as writing the code for Window operating systems.

Post: #15

(04-29-2016 12:01 PM)ScrapperTL Wrote:  For home computing, I switched all of my Laptops/Desktops to Ubuntu about a year back and haven't had any issues since.
If for any reason I want to reformat, its done in MINUTES!
I haven't had a reason to do it though, shit is just rock solid.

Year after year I put up with Windows for Home Computing and it drove me nuts.
Constant bugs, crashes, slow down, spyware, viruses, worms etc...
Reformatting Windows takes FOREVER!
TOO many issues to list.

Right now my crew is still using legacy Windows 7 machines at the office I rent and it feels like a fucking dinosaur compared to my Ubuntu machines at home.

Definitely will be transitioning my entire business over to some form of Linux over the next couple years.

Linux is a wonderful thing. The only downside is contending with all the compatibility issues. However, compatibility is becoming a smaller problem because of all the cloud accessible applications that are taking over the IT industry. Maybe one of the most important examples is Office 365. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are an absolute necessity for most folks in the business world or even college. You can't install Microsoft Office on a linux box, but you can access Office 365 which effectively removes the need for having it on your computer.

Post: #16

(04-29-2016 12:26 PM)god Wrote:  

(04-29-2016 12:01 PM)ScrapperTL Wrote:  For home computing, I switched all of my Laptops/Desktops to Ubuntu about a year back and haven't had any issues since.
If for any reason I want to reformat, its done in MINUTES!
I haven't had a reason to do it though, shit is just rock solid.

Year after year I put up with Windows for Home Computing and it drove me nuts.
Constant bugs, crashes, slow down, spyware, viruses, worms etc...
Reformatting Windows takes FOREVER!
TOO many issues to list.

Right now my crew is still using legacy Windows 7 machines at the office I rent and it feels like a fucking dinosaur compared to my Ubuntu machines at home.

Definitely will be transitioning my entire business over to some form of Linux over the next couple years.

Linux is a wonderful thing. The only downside is contending with all the compatibility issues. However, compatibility is becoming a smaller problem because of all the cloud accessible applications that are taking over the IT industry. Maybe one of the most important examples is Office 365. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are an absolute necessity for most folks in the business world or even college. You can't install Microsoft Office on a linux box, but you can access Office 365 which effectively removes the need for having it on your computer.

You totally hit the nail on the head.
This is the main reason why I haven't switched my office over to Linux yet - all my employees use Microsoft Excel as our main spreadsheet program.
I have grown fond of Libre Office (comes free with Ubuntu) but after 10+ years of Excel use, I haven't figured out how to do certain things in Libre yet - that I already know how to do well in Excel.

Also, although Outlook has a total piece of shit file management system (.PST .OST etc...) it is extremely user friendly and I imagine will be hard to switch people to whatever the Linux equivalent of Outlook is.
I love Gmail for light personal use, but for a high-volume office setting, I imagine it would be a total clusterfuck.

Post: #17

Computers are pretty cheap. Why not get two (one for general browsing, other one for just a few trustad sites where you exchange personal information such as email and banking.)