Are you protected?

I have Kaspersky Anti-Virus running, I've updated it twice this week to keep up. I also run Ad-aware frequently to get rid of spyware and what-not. And I went to Microsoft's site to download the patches. I'm not terribly concerned with viruses, though my boyfriend is a lot less techie than I am, so I need to keep on top of things to keep him from mucking up the machine.

They were talking about one of the viruses on the news the other night and he said, 'we're fine because you put on the anti-virus right?' I said well no, I need to update the definitions. He thought you just install anti-virus software and you're done with it. Probably why his machine died.


Now Playing :The Cure - Never Enough:

I don't currently have anti-virus software, so you might want to classify me in the camp that's playing Russian roulette.

Although I think my risk is very low (someone please tell me if I'm making a dreadful mistake!!!) because I use a Mac, so I don't have all the Windows-associated problems, and I don't use Outlook for email either.

In probably 10 years of using a Mac, both here at home and at work, I have never ONCE been affected by a virus, nor have I ever found one on my computer when doing a virus scan (I did have Mac anti-virus software on my computer where I used to work). I also know better than to click on suspicious Word attachments received in emails, or for that matter any attachment that I'm not expecting or that I don't trust. A couple of times suspicious .exe files have turned up on my computer, but .exe files won't run on my Mac anyway.

(I'm reminded of an old Bolle sunglasses advert here in Australia, a couple rolling on the beach in "From Here to Eternity" fashion.

"No, wait," the girl says breathily, "do you have... protection?"

Guy slips pair of sunglasses on.)

*Kia drapes pair of sunglasses over the top of her laptop screen, and hopes for the best...*

(no, seriously, I'm a little less clued-up than some, but like brownie I don't use Outlook for my email, and here at my folks' place the entire network is behind a firewall, so I'm not as unsafe as perhaps I could be...)

Well...if you don't open unsolicited attachments, I can't see how you'd get a virus. Except that latest one but that doesn't affect me as I'm running Windows Mongrel Edition!

I still don't understand people who open every attachment that hits their inbox. What the??

If any of you have Windows XP, you can actually enable a firewall setting associated with your internet connection. PM me if you have any questions, but it's only for those who have Windows XP.

I have quite a bit of stuff protecting me.

1. I use MSN and their browser to read my e-mail, not Outlook. That way all my mail is already scanned with McAfee by MSN before I even see it.

2. I use a free firewall software called Zone Alarm. It's constantly running, and not only blocks things getting to your pc, it gives you the opportunity to stop communicating with sites you aren't familiar with. You can read about and get this free stuff HERE.

3. My last job gave me a copy of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition which never expires, and was free.

4. The afore mentioned Windows XP firewall.

5. Something that I'd recommend to everyone is a free package called Ad-aware. This program scans your system for known advertising, and tracking components that are downloaded to your pc when you surf around. It basicly protects your privacy. You can read about and get this free stuff HERE.

Thanks for the info Geddy. Anyone who doesn't have any protection is at risk. Not all viruses come in email attachments although it is the most common way these things are spread.

A lot of internet providers have emailed customers with advice on what to do regarding recent attacks but my guess there will be more and more in the future which are sneakier in how they are spread.

A friend suggested an easier way to limit the amount of viruses that spread this time of year would be to cut down on on the kids holidays....they are obviously getting very bored

I'm doing a bunch of things that ensure that I don't get a virus. And I don't!

1) I run and update Norton AntiVirus. I have it checking emails, and I have it doing a full system scan every other day before I wake up.

2) I'm running McAfee SpamKiller, which not only kills spam, but will specially accept or kill emails based on rules you can create. I can tell it to kill everything that has "re: approved" in the subject for example. Any email it kills stays in the spamkiller app until I delete it or "rescue" it, which makes it available in my email. So when this virus first hit, I was killing 1000 of them a day.

3) I use Eudora. Right there, I'm saved from propagating many viruses as once you have one, they are often written to send themselves out using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. So if I get one, I'm probably not infecting anybody else.

4) I have Eudora set to NOT download any attached file or email over 20K. That's a low trigger, but it gets nearly everything, including the "attached text file" going out right now. So these attachments stay on the mail server until I specially tell it to download them.

5) But I've written a filter in Eudora to automatically delete these attachments from the server based on text in the email. So should some slip through the spamkiller, Eudora kills the attachments and I can just delete the message.

Sounds like a lot, but is easy to set up and maintain once you know what text or subject line to look for.

I like techie people who tell the rest of us their secrets in words the rest of us can understand, complete with hyperlinks... Thanks, geddy

I always wear a condom while using the Internet.
So far, so good.

Paul.

Just make sure you put it on before you even touch the keyboard....

WOW......what a mental image I have right now!!

Gen

quote:

Originally posted by kia kaha:
[qb] I like techie people who tell the rest of us their secrets in words the rest of us can understand, complete with hyperlinks... Thanks, geddy [/qb]

Sure thing.

I use Zone Alarm too, good stuff. Thanks for the other recommendations, Geddy!

Free anti virus for personal use can be found here. I use Norton and my friend uses the free one - he promises me it's just as good, provided like with any anti virus software you regularly download the updates.

Now there's no excuse not to be fully protected!!!

My office gets viruses coming in all the time (we have really good scanning software, so they don't actually get through, but we do know when the system finds them), but the art department doesn't usually have to worry anyway. Even our very pro-PC techies admit it's so much easier knowing they don't have to worry about the Macs.

We were attacked last week, were down most of the week. It was very trying... If you are on Windows 2000 and above, make sure you get the patches. Stupid MS...