Duchess Wrote:Well, Jesus Christ...How does one stay safe...My last laptop was loaded with security & it was one slooooooooow bitch...I deal with a dial up connection to begin with so, as you can imagine I am not moving at the speed of light here.
Depends on what you mean by 'loaded with security'.
As D said, you want to stay away from McAffee and Norton. They are overpriced, overblown resource hogs that are more liable to screw up your computer than 'safeguard' it. I've removed nasty viruses from computers with those packages on them.
Ironically, when it comes to security software, 'less is more'. One of the WORST things you can do (aside from going online 'naked' - meaning without antivirus protection) is to try and use TOO MUCH protection. You should only have ONE decent antivirus/antispyware program. I like to use Free AVG in combination with Spybot S&D. If you want another layer of protection, you can install a firewall, like BlackIce Defender, but that's usually more than the average person will need.
If you have installed several different antivirus/antispyware programs, not only does it bog your computer down, but many of those programs actually contain viruses and spyware themselves.
As for Conficker, it isn't so much simply being online that puts you in jeopardy for that worm. Conficker will install itself in your computer from infected websites (ie - infected computers that are hosting the websites). You will not know you have been infected until you start having problems. There is also a 'copycat' virus going around (forgot the name of it), but it's travelling by more traditional means, such as email attachments and infected downloads.
I strongly suspect that the link previously posted to 'check for conficker' in THIS thread, leads to an infected website. I began having issues with my computer the same day I went to that site, after rebooting, causing me to have to do a cleanup operation.
***DO NOT*** visit links unless you are certain that they are safe (and sometimes that doesn't even help
It's also important, as D said, to NEVER open those 'forward' chain-letter emails or suspicious looking emails. Never download attachments that you are not specifically expecting (not even from people you trust - contact them first to be sure they MEANT to send you an attachment, since viruses can take control of their address books and send emails without their knowledge) and NEVER use email links to 'log in' to websites. Alway browse to the website directly instead of clicking on a link in an email.
Oh, and ALWAYS do periodic backups of important files (to something other than your hard drive)... because even with those precautions in place, you never know when you may be hit by a nasty virus or when you may suffer hardware/software failure. It sucks to lose important data!!
