Account Security

[vinx]

has anybody used/tried System Mechanic?

[choklo]

So is malwarebytes anti virus, anti spyware or both? I use it and adaware together. Adaware finds alot of spyware if I use internet explorer, but malwarebytes seems to ignore those(like doubleclick).

[Striiker]

Another thing to consider doing to further protect your system is to "blackhole" traffic which you want to avoid. I do this via the hosts file. It's a very simple thing to do and can save your system when it can't access known spyware, tracking, etc. sites. Here's a link to the site which I use to get the file from They update the hosts file regularly.
Hosts File Site

[Asfasfos]

So is malwarebytes anti virus, anti spyware or both

It's just an anti spyware, so don't use it as antivirus. Try Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast or Avira

I've been running just Microsoft Security Essentials on my main machine. Is it worth the time to run scans with anti-spyware software as well?

Yes, it is worth

[Striiker]

While we're at it, I thought I'd offer some additional advice.
1) UPDATE all of your software on your computer. This means the stuff other than the Microsoft software. Typical vectors which are used include Adobe software such as flash and reader, java, etc. With the flash vulnerabilities, you can infect your computer by just visiting a website which has the malicious code in it. This can include visiting trusted websites as they often serve up ad images from ad servers and some of these images have been infected with the code which in turn can compromise your computer.
2) Avoid running your computer as a user with admin rights. Difficult to do with Windows but worth it.
3) Never click on links in emails (ever).
4) Install plugins in your web browsers such as those mentioned
5) Avoid using Internet Explorer. It's much more tightly integrated into the operating system than third party browsers and is often a target for compromising systems.

[Asfasfos]

While we're at it, I thought I'd offer some additional advice.
1) UPDATE all of your software on your computer. This means the stuff other than the Microsoft software. Typical vectors which are used include Adobe software such as flash and reader, java, etc. With the flash vulnerabilities, you can infect your computer by just visiting a website which has the malicious code in it. This can include visiting trusted websites as they often serve up ad images from ad servers and some of these images have been infected with the code which in turn can compromise your computer.

To achieve this you can use the following application (Secunia PSI)

2) Avoid running your computer as a user with admin rights. Difficult to do with Windows but worth it.

It's the same difficult in Windows, Unix, Linux or MAC. It's just a question of not loggin on computer as Administrator, not a problem of the OS

5) Avoid using Internet Explorer. It's much more tightly integrated into the operating system than third party browsers and is often a target for compromising systems.

Yeah avoid using Internet Explorer 6 or 7 like Firefox 2. You can perfectly use IE8/9 without any problem.

[Lucia Moonglow]

I would like to throw in my two cents.


In addition to getting a good scanner, use Firefox and get the NoScript addon. I will warn that NoScript does become somewhat annoying when you visit sites for the first time, since it literally blocks all scripts. Your first visits to sites like YouTube will require you to add both youtube.com and ytimg.com to the exception list (which is as easy as clicking the NoScript icon and saying "Allow <insert address here>").

For me, the security benefits of NoScript far outweigh the minor inconveniences (many sites work fine with all scripting disabled), and I haven't had a single piece of adware or malware on my system since I started using it.

[Pringles]

One thing thats been helpful to me as well is to use opendns.org for my nameservers. They block many malicious websites dns lookups. You could still run into hacks etc that they dont block (eg: stuff thats specifically targetted to p1999 perhaps) - but for the most part they block all the big stuff.

Its especially great for kids etc who you dont want to stumble on to pr0n

[Dozey]

Originally Posted by Pringles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Its especially great for kids etc who you dont want to stumble on to pr0n

Meh that just saves me awkward talks later.

Some things that haven't been mentioned yet. Be extra wary of public computers. God knows what the idiot before you did. This includes family computers used my multiple people. This is especially true if they also play on the server and the infection vector is something associated with community resources or otherwise aimed at p99. As an example, my wife uses the computer I'm on now. She tends to download any and everything that even mildly sparks her interest. That makes the computer she uses for that a very poor choice for playing. Scanning BEFORE logging into ANYthing is something I've done since we started sharing computers and i ran my first weekly scan.

Also any community resources or sites that ask for permission to do things to your computer should be told no. Wiki's and guide sights should not need permission to run scripts on your computer, if they ever do that's a huge red flag to gtfo that site. As real as silent install or sploit install malware and virsus threats are, far more often I see people who clicked yes to "Prz let our script faceroll your computer". Just like in real life, if they're asking for trust they shouldn't need to fulfill your interactive needs DON'T give it to them. Would you give your credit card to a stranger to prove you're not a robot / 18? Then why would you do that online? A good test is to mentally put "have credit card" wherever the action they're requesting is. If that makes you uncomfortable, click no.

[tristantio]

I like ClamAV.