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2003-08-12 -Short Attention Span Theater-

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Posted by raptor 2003-08-12 7:36:25 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 No problem here, I've had to be careful when looking for stories on overseas sites, Arab News, etc. Lot's of programs there that try to load themselves.

Posted by Steve 2003-8-12 8:23:49 AM|| 2003-8-12 8:23:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 try Zone Alarm free fire wall...works for me and it's free...did I mention? it's free. that's the price I look for being the cheap bastard that I am lol

Posted by Frank G 2003-8-12 9:01:34 AM|| 2003-8-12 9:01:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Hi Raptor,
You should use both a firewall like Zone Alarm (I use Zone Alarm pro) AND a worm/trojan detector like AdAware at a minimum. AdAware also has Ad Watch available for its plus version ($) that watches for any and all writes to the registry. Zone Alarm and Ad Watch run all of the time; AdAware runs when you tell it to. All three depend on you not to just let anything through, though. Also, an ad blocker like AdSubtract blocks popups. Lastly, Panda Platinum contains yet another firewall that works differently from Zone Alarm; they don't fight. I also have a hardware firewall. I use all of them. Layered approach. I'm not paranoid; it's just that there are a whole lot of people trying to kill me. And you.

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2003-8-12 9:41:06 AM|| 2003-8-12 9:41:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Hi Steve, see my comments for Raptor. Everyone has these problems until they takes the corrective/preventative action steps.

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2003-8-12 9:42:26 AM|| 2003-8-12 9:42:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 These kinds of discussions are just never complete without a plug for Mozilla. Alternate browsers are more secure and block popups. I haven't seen a popup window in over a year.

Posted by obligatory Mozilla plug 2003-8-12 9:48:37 AM|| [http://www.mozilla.org] 2003-8-12 9:48:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 I use EMS Free Surfer and Popup Stopper on my machines and seldom see a popup. I use IE 6 almost exclusively -- it's what I design for at work, so everything has to work on it. I don't have MSN Messenger installed (nor AOL Messenger for that matter). I have AdAware and should have AdAlert, and I have McAfee Virus scan at work, Norton on one of my home machines, and BitDefender on the others, to include our Rantburg server. I've started running Spam Assassin on all my e-mail clients.

Friday we had some down time because QuackAx the hacker boy was pounding at the gates. I'd left FTP turned on. The system slowed as he was trying his (probably millions) of passwords, and he managed to upload a raft of games before I finally threw him out at 1.30 a.m.

Computers and the internet and e-mail are a great thing for all of us, but some people just delight in pooping in the punchbowl. Make's 'em feel important.

Posted by Fred 2003-8-12 10:42:21 AM|| 2003-8-12 10:42:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 These kinds of discussions are just never complete without a plug for Mozilla.

While I also stand by Mozilla's pop-up rejecting features, it's worth repeating that regardless of usage, in order to avoid your machine being infected with spyware, never, NEVER, open an attachment you didn't ask to receive or download something you aren't 100% sure of. People that happen to use Outlook (ugh) need to turn off the preview pane.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2003-8-12 11:01:00 AM|| 2003-8-12 11:01:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 As I was saying...

Posted by Fred 2003-8-12 11:39:18 AM|| 2003-8-12 11:39:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 I'm no networking whiz, but I think having a cheap cable/dsl router installed between the internet and your PC should help for those with a cable or dsl connection. Just don't enable port forwarding on the router. But of course you'd still be open to nasty websites and downloads.

Posted by Raphael 2003-8-12 12:12:55 PM|| 2003-8-12 12:12:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 I'd go with that recommendation. Since getting my router (and its hardware firewall) for around $100, I haven't caught a single virus at home. Just before I got it, I was fdisking four machines, thanks to a little present from somebody.

Posted by Fred 2003-8-12 2:02:56 PM|| 2003-8-12 2:02:56 PM|| Front Page Top

14:07 David A. Garrett, Jr.
10:53 Fred
10:00 Daniel King
09:28 raptor
08:58 Craig
08:33 raptor
01:10 David A. Garrett, Jr.
00:32 Old Patriot
00:00 11A5S
23:13 David A. Garrett, Jr.
21:42 Anonymous
21:27 Mark IV
21:26 Anonymous
21:18 Dar
21:12 Secret Master
21:11 Frank G
21:08 Frank G
21:04 11A5S
20:51 Ptah
20:36 Frank G
20:29 Barbara Skolaut
20:27 Barbara Skolaut
20:03 A Jackson
19:55 Raphael