For The Love Of All Things Holy - Don't Use Internet Explorer!!!

GIJoeBob

Shared on Thu, 08/03/2006 - 07:20
Ok people. You may have heard this before but I am going to say it again - using Microsoft Internet Explorer to browse the internet is like playing Russian Roulette with 5 rounds in your six shooter. You are going to have an accident and it will be sooner rather than later.

The great majority of web based exploits out there are written to take advantage of flaws within Internet Explorer. The simple act of not using that browser gets rid of so many problems. There are a lot of other browsers out there that you can use but the most popular by far (and my favorite) is Firefox. It has soooo many features and abilities that I cannot list them here - including the awesome 2old2play plug in that DSmooth wrote for us. Way to go Dman.

Don't believe me about IE? Check out this video that documents a computer getting infected simply by visiting a web site. No links or buttons are clicked on. Simply going to the site results in the computer getting loaded up with malware.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU1gcprFEPU[/youtube]

Speaking of internet security, here is another bad idea. These are the telephone message pads we use in our office:



The inside cover has spots to write down important phone numbers, names etc. along with this:



This is a bad idea. Writing your passwords down in a notepad that everyone uses is just asking for trouble and most likely can be a violation of Federal regulations such as Gramm-Leach-Bliley and HIPAA if those apply to your situation.

DON'T WRITE YOUR PASSWORDS DOWN ON LITTLE STICKY NOTES EITHER. If you can remember phone numbers, you can remember your passwords.

If you have any questions or comments please reply to this post. Thanks.

Comments

codemonkey's picture
Submitted by codemonkey on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 17:34
Gotta love it. I use those tools throughout the day (as a network programmer and such) and to try to figure out what may application is doing sometimes when it goes "wacky." They work well, but are very sensative to activity. So, if you open them while using your PC you'll be bombarded with many activities that may look bad, but are natural. Generating many false positives "ooh, that looks like an output network connection, it might be malware!" and it turns out to be norton checking for new updates, gmail notifier, e-mail client, etc. So, the tools may help you but many of them are so generic in nature (being used by software developers and such) that you may see what you think are BAD THINGS that are natural throughout the life of a process. I suggest something more intelligent like: Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 http://www.trendmicro.com/en/support/product/pc-cillin/pcc2006.htm It understands the signatures of malware, viruses, and will ask you before allowing outbound traffic. So if your sitting on a site and you get a popup requesting an "unknown" outbound connection you can stop it right then and there. CodeMonkey
GIJoeBob's picture
Submitted by GIJoeBob on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 19:34
I use Computer Associates EZAntivirus as well as the freebies Adaware and Spybot:Search and Destroy along with Firefox with AdBlock and I manage to keep the nasties away.
Gatsu's picture
Submitted by Gatsu on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 20:16
I use Firefox for the browser. For anti-spyware - AdAware and Spybot S&D. For viruses - Grisoft AVG Antivirus And to top it off ZoneAlarm firewall. Haven't had any problems since I've been using these as long as I dont touch IE.
Corcki's picture
Submitted by Corcki on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 20:50
JoeBob saves the day. I never knew there were so many loop holes with IE. Now I know and knowing is half the battle.
NewBoyX's picture
Submitted by NewBoyX on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 22:40
Damn Skippy
Brad's picture
Submitted by Brad on Thu, 08/03/2006 - 01:29
Comcast has what appears to be a nifty suite of protection by McAfee - is it good? I always get alerts when a cookie is sent to my computer or if I am visiting a web site with encryption, but I don't know if it's really helping.
GIJoeBob's picture
Submitted by GIJoeBob on Thu, 08/03/2006 - 06:59
In the past we have recommended the McAfee and Norton antivirus products, but recently both have started producing compatibility and performance problems. Just make sure you keep your subscription current and update your virus definitions regularly, like every couple days.
Brad's picture
Submitted by Brad on Sun, 08/06/2006 - 12:27
Thanks, Bob. This computer is very important to me right now. It's the only computer I own and I am an online student - so if this goes down, I'm screwed. The virus software updates on it's own, and I've been using it for over a year (as a student) with no big problems.) It's something you always wonder about, though... sometimes you wander into no man's land on the web and wonder if someone is fuckin' with your computer.

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