Stay safe and anonymous while working online with free software.
While not technically a survival topic, I feel that knowing how to better protect yourself while on line to be essential in today’s would of ID theft, hackers and government spies. The first thing you should understand is that there is no way to make your computer 100% safe from all potential threats while on line. The best we can do is to slow them down and make it difficult for attackers to apply there trade.
Download the latest version of Firefox here You can import all your Internet Explorer Favorites, cookies, etc. so you can start exactly as you were before you switched, but with lot more safely.
The second thing is to dump Outlook it is insecure and full of security loopholes. Don’t use it. Outlook and Outlook Express both use Internet Explorer to display some types of email messages, so they share Internet Explorer’s security risks. And you cannot make them use another browser.
Just about any Email client is safer then Outlook, but the one I use is Mozilla Thunderbird , since I started using Firefox and Thunderbird together my system has performed much better than before and avoiding any spyware to speak of.
Next you will need an effective Anti-Virus program, don’t go out and spend $49.95 here, I use AVG which is free to download and offers protection equal to the paid programs available. AVG has been continuously refined since it was first released in 1991 and now offers very impressive protection capabilities.
Additionally, it’s relatively small, light on resources, has regular automatic updates and handles email scanning. The most important thing is to keep it updated with the latest virus definitions.
Next you need spyware protection. Here again I use a free program which are just as effective as other paid programs. I use Windows Defender which is available free to users of Windows 2000 and later. It offers very impressive spyware protection and detection. It also has excellent real time protection against browser hijackers, auto-dialers and other security threats.
I don’t trust windows firewall. Instead I use ZoneAlarm , this product seems to cause few problems for users and it is also an excellent firewall, offering far better protection then the standard windows firewall and again it is a free product.
There are lots of reasons survivalist and folks in general could have for wanting to surf anonymously, ranging from simple paranoia to possibly being spied on by government snoops. One of the best free programs available is called Tor .
The main disadvantage to using Tor is that this is slow, if you are on dialup expect to craw. Keep in mind nothing is 100% secure, if a government agency wants to find you they will likely find a way…
What’s Your Experience?
What have you done to keep your computer and information safe while online? Please let us know in the comments.
Keep Surviving
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I must agree with you on the Firefox and the Thunderbird issue for I absolutely loathed Internet Explorer and Firefox is so much more pleasant to use. I should mention that Comodo is the Antivirus I use which also comes with Firewall and other features that are customizable to your personal level of security. It’s free and in all honesty the first of all antivirus/firewall programs that I haven’t found to be a total pain in the arse. The only issue I faced when attempting to attain it was finding that many of the older links to download were not available or functioning any longer but with a little research and leg work I did locate it and haven’t looked back. One more thing I should mention is that those not accustomed to Firefox should know that it comes with a selection of add ons in a directory that is massive to many of the other browsers, so whatever your surfing preferences are you can tune and tweak to your personal delight, when wanting to surf in privacy and not have a trail follow you can also switch easily in the Tools tab to “Switch to Private Browsing” Easily turned off and on for times that may require additional caution… ; )
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