[Racegal20]

Something else I found that may be of interest.

http://testmy.net/

Not sure if that will show as a hyperlink. If not, just type testmy.net. It will tell you how fast your connection speed is.

[Aethelbert]

Racegal55, on Apr 13 2007, 06:14 AM, said:

Something else I found that may be of interest.

http://testmy.net/

Not sure if that will show as a hyperlink. If not, just type testmy.net. It will tell you how fast your connection speed is.

Racegal.
Your hyperlink worked and the program also worked and beautifully.

Many thanks!

[Aethelbert]

stokstad, on Feb 27 2005, 11:35 PM, said:

shadow, on Dec 24 2004, 03:51 AM, said:

I use both of these and they work great for me. I tryed spybot before i got ad aware. I must say ad aware is sooo much better. spybot doesn't catch nearly as much and it doesn't even work at all sometimes. The first time i used ad aware i was really supprised about how much was on my computer. nortons will find things and won't be able to remove them so i do still have about 7 things that nortons finds and can't remove...i wish nortons would fix this.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually its better to use both Adaware and spybot or even more if you can find good programs. One will catch stuff the other misses and vise versa. I use both and it seems to work well. Also I would like to recomend a free antivirus program called AVG. It seems to be working great for me and its free. Go to download.com and search for it. Zone alarm is a great firewall and a free one

I use Ad-Aware, SpySweeper, Window Washer and avast! Anti-Virus. Work quite qell as a sort of anti-spyware/anti-virus 'cocktail'.

[mavrick16o]

i use avg free anti virus just search it on google

[nalioth]

If you don't play Windows games, Linux is now a viable alternative to Windows. (Windows game compatibility is coming along, but isn't there yet)

Its license allows it to be freely used (no authorization or piracy checks involved).

There are no known viruses or trojans or malware for it.

Every program you use in Windows is available in linux (aside from the Windows games). You can find a list that matches them here: http://www.linuxrsp..../table-eng.html and here: https://wiki.ubuntu....indowsUsersWant

Games? Oh yeah, there are lots of games that run under Linux. The game company that makes Quake releases linux versions and so do some other companies. There are also may games written expressly for linux (no, not just solitaire )

Now for the evil truth (or "why i use linux instead of windows")

I've used linux (or some other unix type OS) since 2000. I just got tired of windows and all the crap.

I personally feel that spending 10% of my time keeping up with firewall, antivirus, antimalware, etc and between 15% and 30% of my computers available power running those programs is a waste.

Did you know that if you run XP or Vista, Microsoft controls your computer? Every day your computer 'phones home', reports its information and the Microsoft server gives it the "Okay" to continue running for another day. It's called "Windows Genuine Advantage" (but it's not). What happens when the server goes down, and your computer can't reach it on the daily call? Why, your computer stops running in the way you are familiar with.

Do you really want an operating system on your computer that depends on a large corporation saying how long you can use it?

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showAr...cleID=201802447

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&saf...amp;btnG=Search

Viruses are known to exist for Linux, but mostly they exist in laboratory environments as "proof of concept". Linux uses a 'limited user' arrangement, where no user has all the privileges. The linux user can gain privileges temporarily to install programs or perform other system maintenance, when necessary. Windows installs in such a way that everyone has "superuser" privileges all the time. This allows malware to take advantage of Windows.

http://en.wikipedia....omputer_viruses

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&saf...amp;btnG=Search


Oh, here's a final lovely thought: Do you folks who use Windows like having your activities monitored and catalogued by Microsoft? Your machine is uniquely identified by the network card chip or CPU ID in it. Microsoft catalogues all sorts of data from your computer and stores them against this number.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-abou...oft-58752.shtml

Linux doesn't 'phone home' at all, w/o your knowledge. None of your information is tracked (unless you allow it).

Ubuntu won't make you jettison Windows immediately. The installer allows you to have a "dual boot" system. What this means is that you can choose Windows or Linux when you start your computer. I dual booted windows and linux from 1997 and finally I'd figured out enough of linux to dump windows. Todays Linux is much more user friendly than it was 10 years ago, and many more programs exist for it.

http://www.ubuntu.com Linux for human beings.

This post has been edited by nalioth: 11 November 2007 - 04:22 PM

[vjor]

What nalioth says is the Truth, I usually run windos xp on the pc Because of the wife, but if not
just plain Linux on the box, by the way give your self a favor and if you have to use windows
drop vista and get a copy of XP and drop explora for good, get at list Firefox http://en-us.www.moz...en-US/products/
or opera http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/ or get both life is a lot better after you do that.

[-Shooter-]

So Linux is less vulnerable to viruses/spyware/adware and all that other fun stuff? Sounds great. I might have to check into it. I've never used anything besides Windows .

[nalioth]

22_Shooter, on Nov 11 2007, 05:50 PM, said:

So Linux is less vulnerable to viruses/spyware/adware and all that other fun stuff?

So long as you don't log in with the superuser account, I'd say the chances of being bothered by malware would be around .01% on linux (or Apple OSX)

[-Shooter-]

nalioth, on Nov 11 2007, 07:01 PM, said:

22_Shooter, on Nov 11 2007, 05:50 PM, said:

So Linux is less vulnerable to viruses/spyware/adware and all that other fun stuff?

So long as you don't log in with the superuser account, I'd say the chances of being bothered by malware would be around .01% on linux (or Apple OSX)

Damn, that's awesome.

[Azrial]

mavrick16o, on Nov 11 2007, 02:06 PM, said:

i use avg free anti virus just search it on google.

Yes! I use AVG free for several machines with good results. It is updated almost every day. I like Tread Housecall as well, but the on-line version will not protect you, it will simply find out if you are infected. The free download is time limited.

I also use Adaware and have had very good luck with it. But I also highly recommend AVG AntiSpyware, it is available as a free version as well and works quite well.

I also recommend free download CCleaner. It will pull a huge amount of crud off your system and also has a good registry cleaner.

Google will find any of this software, and remember, you can run more then one antispyware but only one antivirus. The exception being trend Housecall on-line, in conjunction with an installed antivirus program.

I have had great luck with all of this software on dozens and dozens of machines.

[BVamp]

just an FYI - the unofficial reason linux has almost no virii, is because that is what the coders use to write them with 95% of the time

glad to see this thread is alive still.

keep it real guys, and stay cool! we are all in this together, after all.......

[Verlore Boer]

mavrick16o, on Nov 11 2007, 02:06 PM, said:

i use avg free anti virus just search it on google

Ditto - I've used it for about 5 years now without a hitch. I may actually break down and buy a licensed version one of these days - to show appreciation!
http://free.grisoft....w-tpay/us/frt/0

[lastlaugh]

I think this actually may be my first post on the forum (even though I have been a lurker here for some time), but I had to post in this thread.
I am a Network Infrastructure Technician / Network Security Administrator for the USAF (active), and have been into computer and networking since the DOS days. We provide network access to almost every government agency at some point. The AF has sent me to just about every networking and network security training available, and I try to share that knowledge whenever possible. I am open to any computer/networking questions anyone on the forum may have. Just msg me and I will provide email addy.
To get to the point of this thread, I see alot of good advice here.....and some not so good. I'm not claiming to be the burning bush of knowledge, but I refuse to put anything with Norton, McAfee, or AOL on any of my computers. Norton and McAfee are such big memory hogs that they would slow even the fastest computer, not to mention they haven't been even in the top 5 in detection tests done by the DOD. (Even though alot of the military still uses a heavily modified version of it, for now). Don't even get me started on AOL!

Let me break down what I run on all my windows computers:

ANTIVIRUS: AntiVir Free Edition- Equal or better in detection to AVG, but far surpasses it in memory usage. I stopped using AVG with the ver 8 update due to the memory leaks and massive hit on system resources. (Avast is also very good)

BROWSER: Firefox- not as fast as opera, but I like the security and plugins avail.; stopped using IE years ago and will never go back. Think about it. Virii are programmed to affect the most people possible. What do you think most people use to access the internet? There has been a major improvement with IE7, but still not enough to convince me (Opera is very good alternative to Firefox...and faster)

SPYWARE: AdAware free edition/Spybot - as was previously mentioned, use both for the best protection. I also recommend Ccleaner for general system cleanup.

Those 4 pieces of software alone will correct 90% of most people's problems.


For general users, Nalioth hit the nail on the head by recommending linux, and yes, what he is saying about Windows is true. The best advice i could give a basic user (someone who just uses computer for internet email, and office documents, definitely try linux. You will have no more virus, pop-up, spyware issues, (and no more defragging!).

This post has been edited by lastlaugh: 02 December 2008 - 09:31 AM

[ProgCoder]

Verlore Boer, on Nov 29 2007, 03:25 PM, said:

mavrick16o, on Nov 11 2007, 02:06 PM, said:

i use avg free anti virus just search it on google

Ditto - I've used it for about 5 years now without a hitch. I may actually break down and buy a licensed version one of these days - to show appreciation!
http://free.grisoft....w-tpay/us/frt/0

I've used AVG for years with good results along with Comodo's Personal Firewall (free and much better than ZoneAlarm).

Comodo recently combined their Firewall and their AntiVirus, now called Comodo Internet Security. I've switched several of my PC's over to this application and I'm very pleased with it. It's also free for personal use.

http://www.personalf....com/index.html

[Azrial]

I tried a new Anti-Spyware program the other to get rid of a nasty bit of spyware (Really Malware) that Spybot would find but not remove. It was MalwareBytes. I am very dubious of new anti-spyware but this stuff has really impressed me with the 15-20 machines I have tried it on!

It is a free download and will work in manual mode if you decide not to upgrade to the paid version.

I suggest that you try it!

[-Shooter-]

I just downloaded and used "CCleaner" for the first time, and WOW! It removed 81MB of junk .

Or at least I hope it was junk . Everything I've read about it said that in it's default configuration, it only deletes temporary type files, so I think I'm safe.

[Wotan1105]

Eset Nod32 seems to be my new favorite AV. AVG always annoyed me, so does Symantec. And anything "Norton" stay away from. Needed something 64 bit to run on Vista and Windows 7. Nod32 working great so far. Can check it out from http://eset-nod32-free.blogspot.com and is worth buying.

Tune Up Utilities 2009
Like it for the registry cleaner/defrag among other things, also worth buying.

ConvertXtoDVD
Use this probably more than anything, convert avi dixv xvid among others into DVDs.

And yes Windows 7 kicks ass, Vista was a steaming pile I never even bothered using. Seems like they finally got it right this time around.

[Juggernaut]

Good Anti Virus
http://www.free-av.com/en/download/1/avira..._antivirus.html

Good Registry Tool
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Recovery

restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer

http://www.recuva.com/

All free

[WaffenSchmied]

For excellent free anti virus software I like "Avast": http://www.avast.com...avast-home.html

Zone Alarm is a great and FREE firewall program - requires user interaction - not for noobs: http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/fr...rm-firewall.htm

Finally - for great spyware removal, it's hard to beat SpyBot Search And Destroy at any price. Fortunately, its free. From Herrn Professor Dr. Ingeneur Kolla (really).
http://www.safer-net...g/en/index.html

Long live the open source movement!

WS

[WaffenSchmied]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Give Steve (Shreck) Ballmer, and Microsoft the boot, lighten the load on your wallet, empower your kids and download OpenOffice.org at http://www.openoffice.org . This FREE open source office suite beats the pants off Microsoft Office for cost and ease of use. Excellent versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux all available for download, fully MS compatible and best of all FREE, FREE, FREE!

Take that, you spyware loving money grubbing Microsoft would be hegemonists!!!!

WS

[WaffenSchmied]

Oh - and this is really for geeks - If you want to surf the web safely without endangering your Windows installation download VMware Player for free, and run Ubuntu Linux from a file on your WinTel machine. VMware Player... http://www.vmware.com/support/player25/doc..._player253.html

The Ubuntu Linux virtual machine can be downloaded at: http://www.quotrader.../ubuntu904.html

WS

[chupa]

Juggernaut, on 03 April 2007 - 07:19 PM, said:

AVAST good free anti virus.

http://www.avast.com/

I've been using Avast (free home edition( for the past 2 years, no problems and updates daily. I have tried most and this is what I prefer and it is free...

[kencrawleysc]

WaffenSchmied, on 04 September 2009 - 10:15 PM, said:

Oh - and this is really for geeks - If you want to surf the web safely without endangering your Windows installation download VMware Player for free, and run Ubuntu Linux from a file on your WinTel machine. VMware Player... http://www.vmware.com/support/player25/doc..._player253.html

The Ubuntu Linux virtual machine can be downloaded at: http://www.quotrader.../ubuntu904.html

WS

WS - I am running VMware Fusion 3.01 under SnowLeopard 64-bit. What is the safest way to surf the seamier sections of the web: using Safari on the Mac, or Ubuntu under Fusion, or in my Windoz Vista Ultimate 64-bit with firefox in VMware? I have the Vista part of the box certified as a VPN box. Ok, I just answered my question..... Can't play games like that on the VPN. Ok, so create a "playground" VM??

definition of "seamier section of web: anything after http://www............

ken

This post has been edited by kencrawleysc: 14 December 2009 - 06:53 AM

[nalioth]

kencrawleysc, on 14 December 2009 - 06:52 AM, said:

WS - I am running VMware Fusion 3.01 under SnowLeopard 64-bit. What is the safest way to surf the seamier sections of the web: using Safari on the Mac, or Ubuntu under Fusion, or in my Windoz Vista Ultimate 64-bit with firefox in VMware? I have the Vista part of the box certified as a VPN box. Ok, I just answered my question..... Can't play games like that on the VPN. Ok, so create a "playground" VM??

definition of "seamier section of web: anything after http://www............

ken

You can surf where you want to with OS X or linux (virtualized or not). So long as you don't fall for the "you must install this s00per-sekrit codec to see your pR0n - please enter your super-user password now" gambits, you'll be fine as frog's hair.

Windows stands to be infected, no matter if it's "live" or "virtual", with the slight advantage going to "virtual", as you can restart it from a known clean image.

[TacSat]

Linux the way to go. I have puter set so i can duel boot. it is so easy my 5 yr old has no problem switching back and forth from win to ubuntu. plus ubuntu comes with clam shell anti-virus in it . we spend 95 % of the time in ubuntu (linux). Just my .00002 cents.

[Juggernaut]

An OUTSTANDING firewall companion for the PARANOID!!!!!
Watch who's watching you!!!!!!

http://www.peerblock.com

IP blocker....

[nalioth]

Juggernaut, on 22 December 2009 - 11:11 PM, said:

An OUTSTANDING firewall for the PARANOID!!!!!
Watch who's watching you!!!!!!

http://www.peerblock.com

This isn't a full firewall, Juggs

It's a program that restricts access from known addresses (ones that spy on p2p/torrent users) from your machine.

It's similar to peerguardian, and is aimed at folks who just have to have the latest movies, but don't want the FLAs suing them. .

As far as "watching who's watching you", ZoneAlarm, Tiny Personal Firewall and others all have that facility built into them.

This post has been edited by nalioth: 22 December 2009 - 11:22 PM

[BVamp]

I use command line stuff for that......cool for the newbs....but fail....

[Juggernaut]

nalioth, on 22 December 2009 - 11:20 PM, said:

Juggernaut, on 22 December 2009 - 11:11 PM, said:

An OUTSTANDING firewall for the PARANOID!!!!!
Watch who's watching you!!!!!!

http://www.peerblock.com

This isn't a full firewall, Juggs

It's a program that restricts access from known addresses (ones that spy on p2p/torrent users) from your machine.

It's similar to peerguardian, and is aimed at folks who just have to have the latest movies, but don't want the FLAs suing them. .

I forgot to type in the word companion....

[Diamondback]

Search engines: dump M$ Bing and Google, go with Ixquick/StartPage. Much better on privacy, if you don't mind using a metasearcher...

Oh, for Firefox there's a bewildering array of security and privacy addons you can download. I'm running:
Application: Firefox 3.5.6 (20091201220228)
Operating System: WINNT (x86-msvc)

December 24, 2009

Total number of items: 56

- 1-ClickWeather 1.1.8
http://www.weather.com/services
Firefox 1.0 - 3.5.*
Instant local weather, alerts, radar in motion, satellite maps, and forecasts.
- Auto Shutdown - InBasic 3.6.1A
http://inbasic.mozde.../home/index.htm
Firefox 3.0a1 - 3.6b1pre
Add feature Shutdown computer after all downloads are finished to Firefox built-in Download Manager.
- Bandwidth Meter and Diagnostics 1.2.5
http://www.dsl-speedtest.us
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
Meter the bandwidth of your broadband connections
- Battlefield Heroes Updater 4.0.15.0
http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/
Firefox 1.5.0.1 - 3.*.*
Installs and updates the Battlefield Heroes game.
- CLEO 4.3
http://customsoftwar....com/extensions
Firefox 3.0 - 3.7a1pre
Create multi-addon install package (Cleopack)
- CookieSafe 3.0.5
http://addons.mozilla.org
Firefox 2.0 - 3.6a1pre
Control cookie permissions.
- Download Statusbar 0.9.6.5
http://downloadstatusbar.mozdev.org/
Firefox 3.0a8 - 3.7a1pre
View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar
- DownThemAll! 1.1.7
http://downthemall.net/
Firefox 3.0 - 3.6.*
The mass downloader for Firefox.
- eQuake Alert 3.5.0
http://www.freebookzone.com
Firefox 1.0 - 3.6a1pre
eQuake Alert!!!
- Extension List Dumper 1.14.4 -- the tool used to create this list
http://sogame.awardspace.com/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.6.*
Dumps a list of the installed extensions.
- external IP 0.9.9.5
http://www.ermodev.s...xExtensions.htm
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
Shows your current external IP address
- FEBE 6.3.2
http://customsoftwar....com/extensions
Firefox 3.0 - 3.7a1pre
Backup your Firefox data
- Feed Sidebar 4.1.2
http://www.chrisfink...addons/feedbar/
Firefox 3.0 - 3.6.*
Displays the items from your Live Bookmarks in a sidebar.
- Finjan Secure Browsing 1.314
http://www.finjan.com
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
Secure Browsing by Finjan
- Flagfox 3.3.19
http://flagfox.net/
Firefox 2.0 - 3.6.*
Displays a flag depicting the location of the current server
- Forecastfox 0.9.10.1
http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/
Firefox 2.0 - 3.6
Get international weather forecasts and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable extension.
- FoxyTunes 4.0.5.1
http://www.foxytunes.com/
Firefox 2.0 - 3.6.*
Control any media player from Firefox and more...
- HostIP.info Geolocation Plugin 0.4.3.9
http://www.hostip.info
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
Displays Geolocation information for a website using hostip.info data.
- ICQ Toolbar 1.1.4.1
http://start.icq.com/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.*
ICQ toolbar for Mozilla
- IDND 1.5.3
http://traduku.net/idnd/
Firefox 1.0 - 3.6.*
IDN detection for Firefox.
- IsoBuster Toolbar 3.5.0.144
http://www.ask.com/
Firefox 2.0 - 5.*
Convenient tools and links to make your web surfing more enjoyable
- Ixquick Toolbar 1.64
http://www.ixquick.com
Firefox 0.7 - 3.*.*
The World's most powerful Metasearch
- Java Console 6.0.02
Firefox 1.0 - 3.5.*
- Java Console 6.0.03
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.04
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.05
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.07
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.10
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.14
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.13
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.16
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Console 6.0.17
Firefox 1.0 - 5.0+
- Java Quick Starter 1.0
Firefox 1.5 - *
- Keepcash Coupon Toolbar 1.0.0.12
http://www.keepcash.com/
Firefox 2.0 - 3.5.*
Light-weight Firefox extension to notify you when online coupons exist for a site that you are currently shopping on.
- KeyScrambler 2.5.0.0
http://www.qfxsoftware.com
Firefox 1.5 - 3.6a1pre
KeyScrambler protects you against keyloggers
- Lexmark Toolbar 0.2.3
http://www.lexmark.com/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
Lexmark printing toolbar for Firefox.
- Link Alert 0.9
http://linkalert.googlepages.com/
Firefox 3.0 - 3.5.*
Changes the cursor to indicate the target of a link.
- Locationbar² 1.0.4
http://en.design-noi...a/locationbar2/
Firefox 3.0 - 3.7a1pre
Formats and linkifies addresses in your Location bar.
- McAfee SiteAdvisor 2.9
http://www.siteadvisor.com/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.9
- Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.1
http://www.windowsclient.net/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.*.*
Adds ClickOnce support and the ability to report installed .NET Framework versions to the web server.
- Network Tools (Router Status) 0.2
http://www.undermine...projects/view/5
Firefox 3.0 - 3.5.*
Shows the current status of your local network and devices.
- PhishTank SiteChecker 4.2.3
http://www.phishtank.com/sitechecker
Firefox 1.0 - 3.5.*
Tests the current website to see if the site is a known phishing site and then protects you from it.
- PriceAdvance 1.5.2
http://www.priceadvance.com/
Firefox 2.0 - 3.5.*
A step forward in comparison shopping
- RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin 1.0
http://www.real.com
Firefox 1.5 - 3.*
Detects all recordable content on the browser
- RetailMeNot 2.3
http://www.retailmenot.com
Firefox 2.0 - 3.6.*
Automatic notification of when coupon codes are available for the current site.
- Samucaya Dynamic Search Engine 5.0.2
http://www.samucaya.com
Firefox 1.5 - 3.7a1pre
Web Application Search Engine
- Secure Login 0.9.3
https://blueimp.net/mozilla/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.6a1pre
A login extension similar to Opera's Wand login
- TrackMeNot 0.6.291
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~dhowe/TrackMeNot
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
- Update Notifier 0.1.5.5
http://www.longfocus.../updatenotifier
Firefox 1.5 - 3.5.*
Notifies you when updates are available for your extensions and themes.
- Upromise TurboSaver 6.2.2.1363
http://www.upromise.com/
Firefox 2.0 - 3.5.*
Upromise TurboSaver for Firefox
- US Department of Homeland Insecurity Idiocy Level 0.1.2.4.44wot001
http://www.taupehat.com
Firefox 1.0 - 3.6.*
Displays the current Idiocy Level in the status bar.
- WebMail Notifier 1.5.5
http://webmailnotifier.mozdev.org/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.7a1pre
Notifies your webmails
- WeFi Toolbar 1.5.48.0
(Disabled, Incompatible)
http://www.conduit.com
Firefox 1.0 - 3.0.*
More than just a toolbar.
- Winamp Toolbar 5.6.11.2
http://www.winamp.com
Firefox 1.5 - 3.*
Winamp Toolbar for Firefox
- WOT 20091028
http://www.mywot.com/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.7a1pre
Web of trust.
- Yahoo! Toolbar 1.6.5.200812101546
http://us.toolbar.yahoo.com/
Firefox 1.5 - 3.*.*
Get more out of Yahoo! and the web!

Note: Battlefield Updater's for a game, and I keep most of the toolbars disabled. Other than that, almost everything I'm running is either Media Control, Weather/Geographic Monitoring, Updating/Downloading or Security/Privacy. Also, if you use a theme like LittleFox or MicroFox and can still read the menus, that'll free up some screen-space inside your browser window.And there's a catch with this many plug-ins relying on their own connections: if you log on from a hotspot, you'll have a lot of "Invalid Security Certificate" errors as these extensions try to connect to their databases and are turned away by the logon requirement through the portal.

This post has been edited by Diamondback: 24 December 2009 - 06:25 AM