HelloInsomnia
Elite Member
- Mar 1, 2009
- 1,801
- 3,042
I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so I figured Making Money is appropriate since getting a virus can cost you time and money.
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to say that I started to make a course about browsing the web safely but didn't have time to make the videos for it. I will still make the course to sell one day. But in the meantime I am just going to write it out in parts and give it away for free here on BHW. I hope you enjoy it and please if I make a mistake somewhere feel free to pop in and let me know. As I state in the disclaimer I am not an expert, but I've collected some good info over the years.
Obviously staying safe online is a huge deal for us marketers who sit here clicking away for hours a day. This is a very important part of our lives and you need to protect yourself out there.
Stay frosty,
-HelloInsomnia
===================================
Disclaimer
I am not claimingto be a computer expert of any kind. All of this information issimply my opinion and should not be taken as professional advice.
Introduction
This course is all about preventing all forms of internet nasties out there such as viruses and adware, now about what to do after the fact. If you get a virus then I suggest you reformat your computer.
One thing to keep in mind while reading this is that nothing is 100% secure. I think that even the top security experts in the world would agree with this sentiment. In fact you may be hard pressed to find any security expert who doesn't agree with that. My own opinion is that given enough time and resources anything can be broken into or for that matter any kind of undetectable virus can be created (and they are).It's likely that you have gotten a virus in the past and that you will again in the future. However, if you follow this you should be a lot safer than the average computer user.
One thing to note is that Mac users and even Linux users are not completely "safe"either. So this guide can help you as well - but it is written for Windows users.
There are lots of threats out there, I am not going to go over each one and explain what it is, you can Google what a trojan is or malware and find plenty of information.
If you are not sure if your computer is clean or not then you may want to start off with a fresh slate (reformat).
Part 1: Getting Setup
Before we can get into safe web browsing, passwords, downloads and so on we first have to make sure your current setup is good.
Let's talk about some insecure programs first, ones that are targeted a lot.
Java is one of these programs, it is widely used and therefore it is targeted a lot.Java viruses have been created to infect not only Windows users but Mac and Linux as well.
To be put simply you can go here to see if there is a current java 0 day(if the site says "Yes" then Java is currently insecure)
http://istherejava0day.com/
The funny thing is that you probably don't need Java to be installed anyways. I for one had to give up mind mapping tools as they basically all use Java (or the ones that don't kind of suck). That is it though, all of my other programs run fine.
So head on over to the "add or remove programs" inside of your control panel and scroll down the list and make sure you remove all versions of Java.
The next big target is Adobe products. This can be a bit more challenging since they actually have a few useful products. However, they also have one specifically that you can easily replace. I highly recommend getting rid of as many Adobe products as you can.
Adobe Reader is the easy one to replace.
I personally am currently using this one:
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html
But you can find others as well. This is an easy thing to Google.
Flash is really tricky as most will not want to uninstall it. If this is the case then you should be updating Flash on every single update. I am also going to show you a cool trick later on that will prevent things like flash from loading without your consent.
You want to keep all software up to date. This is a very important thing that a lot of people don't do. Do not neglect this! You should be checking daily for software updates. But this is too hard right? Wrong.
I don't expect you to be looking for updates for all of your software all the time - we can use a program for that.
I personally use Secunia PSI, which will scan your programs and see if there are any updates for them. It's pretty handy and totally free to use:
https://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
Theremay be other tools like this, I've just been using this one for quitesome time now and have been satisfied with the results.
I can't tell you how important it is to keep your programs up to date.This should be one of your top priorities.
The next few parts was going to be me going over how to install an antivirus and make sure Windows firewall is turned on. However, thepeople here at bhw are a lot more tech savvy then those who would normally be taking this course.
Sowith that being said, just make sure Windows firewall is turned on(or if you use another firewall that is fine as well) and make sureyou have an antivirus installed (their not completely uselessafterall)
I suggest this to start out with (it's free):
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
I highly suggest you don't use Norton. I personally don't like AVG bu tI know others who do so I won't comment on that one. There are paid ones out there as well but I won't comment on those either for now.
===============================
Okay that's all for now, I am sick of typing. More parts will come soon so make sure you subscribe to this thread by clicking "Thread Tools" and the top then "Subscribe to this Thread"
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to say that I started to make a course about browsing the web safely but didn't have time to make the videos for it. I will still make the course to sell one day. But in the meantime I am just going to write it out in parts and give it away for free here on BHW. I hope you enjoy it and please if I make a mistake somewhere feel free to pop in and let me know. As I state in the disclaimer I am not an expert, but I've collected some good info over the years.
Obviously staying safe online is a huge deal for us marketers who sit here clicking away for hours a day. This is a very important part of our lives and you need to protect yourself out there.
Stay frosty,
-HelloInsomnia
===================================
Disclaimer
I am not claimingto be a computer expert of any kind. All of this information issimply my opinion and should not be taken as professional advice.
Introduction
This course is all about preventing all forms of internet nasties out there such as viruses and adware, now about what to do after the fact. If you get a virus then I suggest you reformat your computer.
One thing to keep in mind while reading this is that nothing is 100% secure. I think that even the top security experts in the world would agree with this sentiment. In fact you may be hard pressed to find any security expert who doesn't agree with that. My own opinion is that given enough time and resources anything can be broken into or for that matter any kind of undetectable virus can be created (and they are).It's likely that you have gotten a virus in the past and that you will again in the future. However, if you follow this you should be a lot safer than the average computer user.
One thing to note is that Mac users and even Linux users are not completely "safe"either. So this guide can help you as well - but it is written for Windows users.
There are lots of threats out there, I am not going to go over each one and explain what it is, you can Google what a trojan is or malware and find plenty of information.
If you are not sure if your computer is clean or not then you may want to start off with a fresh slate (reformat).
Part 1: Getting Setup
Before we can get into safe web browsing, passwords, downloads and so on we first have to make sure your current setup is good.
Let's talk about some insecure programs first, ones that are targeted a lot.
Java is one of these programs, it is widely used and therefore it is targeted a lot.Java viruses have been created to infect not only Windows users but Mac and Linux as well.
To be put simply you can go here to see if there is a current java 0 day(if the site says "Yes" then Java is currently insecure)
http://istherejava0day.com/
The funny thing is that you probably don't need Java to be installed anyways. I for one had to give up mind mapping tools as they basically all use Java (or the ones that don't kind of suck). That is it though, all of my other programs run fine.
So head on over to the "add or remove programs" inside of your control panel and scroll down the list and make sure you remove all versions of Java.
The next big target is Adobe products. This can be a bit more challenging since they actually have a few useful products. However, they also have one specifically that you can easily replace. I highly recommend getting rid of as many Adobe products as you can.
Adobe Reader is the easy one to replace.
I personally am currently using this one:
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html
But you can find others as well. This is an easy thing to Google.
Flash is really tricky as most will not want to uninstall it. If this is the case then you should be updating Flash on every single update. I am also going to show you a cool trick later on that will prevent things like flash from loading without your consent.
You want to keep all software up to date. This is a very important thing that a lot of people don't do. Do not neglect this! You should be checking daily for software updates. But this is too hard right? Wrong.
I don't expect you to be looking for updates for all of your software all the time - we can use a program for that.
I personally use Secunia PSI, which will scan your programs and see if there are any updates for them. It's pretty handy and totally free to use:
https://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
Theremay be other tools like this, I've just been using this one for quitesome time now and have been satisfied with the results.
I can't tell you how important it is to keep your programs up to date.This should be one of your top priorities.
The next few parts was going to be me going over how to install an antivirus and make sure Windows firewall is turned on. However, thepeople here at bhw are a lot more tech savvy then those who would normally be taking this course.
Sowith that being said, just make sure Windows firewall is turned on(or if you use another firewall that is fine as well) and make sureyou have an antivirus installed (their not completely uselessafterall)
I suggest this to start out with (it's free):
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
I highly suggest you don't use Norton. I personally don't like AVG bu tI know others who do so I won't comment on that one. There are paid ones out there as well but I won't comment on those either for now.
===============================
Okay that's all for now, I am sick of typing. More parts will come soon so make sure you subscribe to this thread by clicking "Thread Tools" and the top then "Subscribe to this Thread"
Last edited:
) I think this might be it: