Recommend me software for safer browsing

MR.B

MR.B

MR.B

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11 Aug 2004
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London
Right, i have an extremely stupid and gullible sister when it comes to getting viruses and falling for scamming emails and them pop up ads "your computer has 50 bajillion viruses, click here to install anti virus software!" she not only fell for this but actually PAYED for one of these that then installed malware! Funny how someone who gets the highest A Level results in the whole of the U.K can lack so much common sense... shes thinking of getting a Mac because "they dont get viruses" ... even though they do like any device with an OS can, and they are less secure than Win7 as every hacker convention has proven, it's just no one bothers to write viruses for such a small market. I dont want her wasting money on Apple junk either.

So what i want from you guys is anything that can help block and protect her from this kind of stuff.

I'm going to put Chrome on her laptop with Adblock, and Avast anti-virus... any other suggestions? like a good but simple free firewall? other Chrome extensions? port blockers? Vista's UAC is on high, which has not helped.
 
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Have her run as a Standard User and run IE8 in Protected Mode. IE8 is the most secure browser in this configuration. You can also try PeerBlock which blocks a lot of IPs of known Ads sites and more. Though it can block legitimate software too, so you may have to add exclusions now and again.

You do not need a firewall, Windows has one built in and is perfectly capable of protecting her computer.

Unfortunately there is only so much you can do to prevent stupidity. If your sister willing clicks on every shiny thing that pops up, she is destined to get a malignancy on her computer. Just explain everything to her and tell her she is being graded. She might make the effort to learn if she thinks she might bag another A :p
 
*shakes fist at SiriusB"

In her situation you should drop the user account to a standard user - combined with UAC this will provide pretty ample security. I assume when you say UAC hasn't helped you mean that she has accepted the UAC prompts and the malware has done its task?

1: Standard User account privilege only, a separate admin account can be created and anything that needs installing can be ran as the admin account for that time only.

2: A resident shield such as AVAST with the web shield configured to her kind of usage.

3: You could install another firewall if she's connecting to public wireless networks but it's not really going to be essential with the above in place and Windows firewall enabled by default anyway.

4: Out of habit see to it that the machine has a Malware Bytes and full AV scan at least once a month. It's good practice to do regular scans.
 
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Khaaan! said:
I assume when you say UAC hasn't helped you mean that she has accepted the UAC prompts and the malware has done its task?
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Yep! :rolleyes:

Malware Bytes
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Forgot about that program!... i've found it to be the best around, always finds stuff others dont.

So i'm going to use a standard user, with IE8 in protected mode + AdblockIE + PeerBlock + Malware Bytes. Already had Avast installed.

Should atleast help with her...
 
Even a Mac can't protect you from a servere lack of common sense. :D

As said, password the admin account and give her a standard one, and if she still manages to trash it just delete the account and create a new one for her. Rinse and repeat.
 
1) Install Spywareblaster to protect you from sinister cookies (Works by updating your browsers 'block cookies' list based on a database, doesn't run in the background etc)

2) Install Spybot and immunize your system against threats :).
 
Meatball said:
2) Install Spybot and immunize your system against threats :).
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Spybot isn't worth using these days, and read rumours of the makers being payed to let specific malware go undetected.

Couple of weeks ago i tried loads of spyware/malware software on a friends laptop. Malware Bytes was by FAR the best and found so many things other didn't, in second place was Spyware Doctor, then Windows Defender, followed by Ad-aware and Spybot.

Spywareblaster seems useful though, thanks!
 
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I might trade, mine just uses my internet bandwidth watching iplayer most days ¬_¬
 
You two would hate me staying over!

I rarely get to watch what I want on Sky, so I use iPlayer and Sky Player a fair bit! :D
 
MR.B said:
Spybot isn't worth using these days, and read rumours of the makers being payed to let specific malware go undetected. !
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Interesting, do you have any links to back this up? :)

MR.B said:
Couple of weeks ago i tried loads of spyware/malware software on a friends laptop. Malware Bytes was by FAR the best and found so many things other didn't, in second place was Spyware Doctor, then Windows Defender, followed by Ad-aware and Spybot.
Click to expand...

Malwarebytes is a great bit of software!
 
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