Safety on Computers

[dew7]

All I am saying is that being off-line will make your PC a lot more secure.  For example, certain pcs in the defense industry are off-line because the information contained in them is highly sensitive information and must be guarded at all costs.  For most users, this level of protection is not needed and and if you are on-line I suggest for a bare minimum level of safety:

Firewall (ZoneAlarm Pro. for 98SE or XP firewall for XP)
Anti-Virus
Anti-Spyware (Adaware by Lavasoft and Spybot)
 

[dew7]

Jeysie was right about IE not being very secure.  Check out the latest hit against Internet Explorer from the folks at eeye.com  It may be time for me to switch to FireFox

http://eeye.com/html/research/alerts/AL20040610.html

[Drunken Chinchilla]

Incredible. I hope they fix it soon, I'd feel alot safer if they did. Thank you for the link Dew  

[dew7]

You are most welcome!  

[racx_00]

All I am saying is that being off-line will make your PC a lot more secure

And if i didnt use the net i would become a mean lean sleeping machine

[Jeysie]

Before I had the Net, I *was* a sleeping machine, no funny about it.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Storm]

I still am! I never let my online activites get in the way of my 12+ hours naps

[racx_00]

Before I had the Net, I *was* a sleeping machine, no funny about it.

Peace & Luv, Liz

I slept all day before i had the net and joined this forum , my record was from 12 midnight to 5 pm , woke up and had dinner almost right away

[dew7]

Certain places use computers that are not hooked into the internet because they cannot afford to let the information on their computers be stolen.  Has anyone read 1984 by George Orwell?  Also, does everyone think the first Matrix was the best or did you hate the whole triology of the Matrix?

[Louisiana Night]

I don't really like the Matrix, and I've only seen the first movie.

Will Smith was going to be Neo, but he turned the job down.

[Yonkey]

I've read George Orwell's 1984!  It's a pretty cool book, considering the way technology's advancing these days.  If you want a more modern day adaptation of it, I suggest seeing "Minority Report" or even "Enemy of the State" featuring Will Smith.

I don't think Will Smith would make a good Neo.  Plus, it might have made The Matrix seem like some serious version of Men in Black.  

[dew7]

Yeah, 1984 by George Orwell really makes one think and the movies you mentioned are good too.  It is amazing how much you and I have in common Neil.  I am glad you have this forum and I consider you an on-line friend.  :> :> :>        

[racx_00]

I really liked the first Matrix , the second one was EXCELLENT (but not as good as the first) and the third was the opposite of the first , instead of learning about the actual matrix you learnt about the real world

IMO The first and last Matrix movies were the best

[dew7]

IMO, the first Matrix was the best and the other two were okay.  BTW, anyone hear about wireless phones being invaded by viruses in Russia and that the Bluetooth wireless technology made by none other than the Microsoft Corporation is now vulnerable!

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/industrynews/34542.html

[Louisiana Night]

That's news?

[Drunken Chinchilla]

Bluetooth has never been stable. One of may favourite things to do on long train or bus journies is to set my phone to scan for blutooth enabled devices and send them wierd pictures. Usually freaks them out and they start looking all paranoid hehe.

[dew7]

That sounds harmless and I could see how you would think it is funny.  I am starting to think that it will be impossible to ever have any kind of security in e-commerce.  Check out this website about problems with on-line banks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5184077/

[Say]

and its exactly the same "offline" the fact that you can actually be there physically or not doesnt mean absolutly anything hence security also relies on the oportunity factor wheter you could be a potencial or attractive target AT ALL, its pretty pointless to asume that even though your pc could be possible of hacking attempt would be, since, who are you to be hacked anyways, its absurd, and the odds of online or offline situations are pretty much the same IMHO and if that being the case you can pretty much risk your life in a real bank if it got robbed rather than online.

nothing is secure in an absolute level, in case you didnt know

[Jeysie]

Another thing they didn't mention... judging from the griping I hear online from Mozilla, Opera, and Safari users, many banks lock out anything but Internet Explorer from their websites, whether through accident or design. Having the majority of people using an insecure browser can't help either.

Edit: I disagree that the odds of offline vs. online "hacking" are equal... it's easier to manipulate data than it is to physically set up fake equipment or rob a bank, and there's a lot less risk of getting caught online. I agree you're never totally safe either way, but still.

And you don't have to be "anybody" to get hacked... a hacker can pick on anyone they come across who seems to have open access, to see if they have anything interesting to offer.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[dew7]

Thanks Say.  That is why I have my faith.  (no worries this is all I will say about that and you can remove it if needed :>)
Jeysie, you have convinced me to use an alternate browser for my surfing experience.  I am leaning towards Firefox but as of yet am undecided and will only use IE 6 sp1 when absolutely necessary.