Personal Computer Security and Privacy Questions

[sugar land dave]

If you want a blacklisting host file: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

[Thomas]

QUESTION 1: Other than upgrading to Windows 7 and staying current with all updates, what other precautions can I take to protect my computer?

Reformat the drive and install Mac OS X.

That's called "Security through Obscurity", and that my friend is not security.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/S/secur ... urity.html

Macs are just as vulnerable. The fact that they're increasing in market share means they will be targeted more. In fact, you already have a 1 in 20 chance of already being infected by a single trojan (http://gizmodo.com/5899352/mac-flashbac ... 0-infected).

[RPB]

I have to chuckle when someone asks me to help them with their computer, and I sit down to this:

I just tell them there is nothing I can do...they need to return the machine to the store and go take a class at the local college before they buy another computer. There is a reason I don't work in any end-user support capacity anymore.

You know it! It's going to be a long day when you sit down to something like this...

What? no Prepper toolbar?????
<insert zombie facepalm here>

http://iprepperpodcast.ourtoolbar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Annoyed Man]

QUESTION 1: Other than upgrading to Windows 7 and staying current with all updates, what other precautions can I take to protect my computer?

Reformat the drive and install Mac OS X.

That's called "Security through Obscurity", and that my friend is not security.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/S/secur ... urity.html

Macs are just as vulnerable. The fact that they're increasing in market share means they will be targeted more. In fact, you already have a 1 in 20 chance of already being infected by a single trojan (http://gizmodo.com/5899352/mac-flashbac ... 0-infected).

You're right....Macs are less likely to be attacked simply because there are fewer of us using them. Why go to the effort of writing something nasty to infect a 10th of the market when the same amount of effort can infect 90% of the market? On the other hand, even running antivirus software on both platforms (I was a PC user for as long as I've been a Mac user) I've never had any of my Macs infested, and I did have my PCs infected. So as long as Mac users remain a small segment of the total market, as a practical matter there actually is some security in obscurity.

BTW, none of the 5 Macs I own got infected by that most recent attack. I run antivirus software on all of them. The news about that trojan infecting Macs was a big deal exactly because those stories are rare. The whole issue of whether one prefers one platform over the other aside, those stories are a dime a dozen in the PC world. It doesn't matter to me that I obtain a quotient of security from owning a more obscure platform. Yes, I prefer the Mac platform to the PC platform. Others are free to prefer the other. Either way, for a practical matter, I do enjoy a modicum of security that PC users have to work harder to maintain.