Tip Straight talk about protecting PC from virus and trackers

[Joe Hogan]

Granted this is a nerdy topic, keeping your digital world healthy is becoming increasingly important. Most daily activity is conducted with the aid of computers. For the moderately informed person here is an interesting tutorial on some useful tools to keep a PC clean.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

I have over 40 years of active engagement/employment with technology.
Here are some things to consider:

How/why are applications free? Nothing is truly free. At the very least information about you is being monetized/sold.

And the worst case scenario of the free apps being malicious is no longer just some corner case. Just do a search for “VPN malicious” to see what is happening with free VPNs. I do not believe we have yet seen the full impact of what “free” apps are going to ultimately cost us.

Be sure to do your research on any free apps you find or are recommended. I would recommend understanding who wrote it, what else they wrote, how long has it been available (allow others to take the first risk) and NEVER download software from one of the websites that aggregates “free” software as it has a good chance of being a Trojan horse.

Stay alert and cautious.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Yes, agreed, nothing is free.
Most of these have paid subscriptions as well as the free basic versions. Again many virus blockers also guide (direct/block) your internet experience, possibly from paid sponsors.
Consequently why I look for recommendations from people and do my own research.
Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to know all of the consequences of using these tools. I feel the ones used and recommended by this video are reasonable and do work.
For instance, the Malware scan turned up Lbrynet. A know resource heavy program that does report back to unknown servers. It is debatable whether this is malware or not, but I do not need it using bandwidth on my system.

Just finished watching a video on hacking into WiFi networks with Hashcat. This stuff is all over Youtube.
Scary stuff, Cracks a 10 character password in seconds with no physical access to equipment, just sniffing the airwaves.
Beware of plain white vans sitting on the street with antennas.

FBI surveillance van.

 

[Boat Bum]

When a product is free, you're the product.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Glad to see you'all running from FREE! Good case of MK!

I instead look at convenience. One of the absolute safest systems is "No Cost", there are distributions that are compromised in the name of convenience, but most are secure. It is likely your favorite, highly compromised application won't run on such a machine, but that is the convenience issue isn't it?

I am talking about Linux! There is no reason a tech dummy can't use it. I trained retired folks how to and installed it for them.

However I use another approach nowadays. I have two chromebooks(very compromised version of Linux). One for financial stuff, the other to play.

Guess life is a compromise and everyone must make choices!

 

[Joe Hogan]

Do you use a dual boot method or just straight Linux installation? Or a VM to run Linux?

 

[AbdRahim]

Biggest thing is to disconnect from the internet when not actively using it. So many people I see just leave the computer connected continuously. This makes for easy target. It cannot send out information, or be a target for intrusion, if it is not connected to the internet. And yes good reputable antivirus, anti- malware and a reputable vpn are all essential tools for internet traffic these days. It will really get to be fun when AI gets in full swing.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Do you use a dual boot method or just straight Linux installation? Or a VM to run Linux?

I have always fought that crook gates, so never got hooked on MS software. . I put the whole hard drive to service Linux!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Biggest thing is to disconnect from the internet when not actively using it. So many people I see just leave the computer connected continuously. This makes for easy target. It cannot send out information, or be a target for intrusion, if it is not connected to the internet. And yes good reputable antivirus, anti- malware and a reputable vpn are all essential tools for internet traffic these days. It will really get to be fun when AI gets in full swing.

I'm with you on the home PC but the server is another situation. But then I don't have to service that!

 

[DennisT]

A while back I read an article about one of the “free” anti virus programs.

They were slapped with a large fine since they were gathering all the information about their users and selling it. This fact was hidden from those using their software.