Thread: Safe Surfing on the Net

1.Passwords
Use a password that contains Capital and small letters, try to use at least 3 numbers of a password at the minimum length of 8 characters
for example:

'Ab3F5d6x'
The above password COULD NOT be guessed, unless the cracker is an Einstein with the ability to read your mind. Try to use multiple passwords for multiple sites/applications/games /tasks.

For the point of my example:

Lets assume you play 'World of Warcraft". By having an unguessable password like 'Ab3F5d6x' which most likely will never be cracked or brute forced EVER... and having a different password for your EMAIL so that IF there is a slight chance that you could be hacked... they can hack your account, but can't exactly change the email, therefore you are still in control.

2. Secret Questions

It is more than obvious. Don't use anything obvious. If you are stupid enough to put your mothers real maiden name then I would like to personally slap you... if you do so, people who may be 'close' to you, or have that available information, may guess your secret question.

I say its best to make it an unguessable word which is not related to the secret question topic or of course you can use a word, with a number on the end of it, or a combinations of letters and numbers. Be sure to write down your secret question, and keep it in a safe area. For future references, just in case you may forget.

3. Anti Virus/Spyware /Firewall

I say this topic is essential to the internet world but what anti virus/spyware/ firewall should I use? In my opinion "Zone Alarm Pro/ Security Suite" is truly the best. It will give you notices of suspicious behavior, programs trying to connect to the internet, programs trying to act like a server, block intrusions, block spyware and viruses. You can set your security settings and much more.

4.Internet browser
If any one even says they use Internet explorer I will seriously kill you because everything targets it. Try using Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is faster, more secure and customizable.

5. Suspicious Files
The net is full of them. Full of weird and nasty viruses/spyware. If your not sure about an .exe or a file use Google. Search the executables name.
For example "I'm not sure what unsecapp.exe is. Err is this a virus? Hmm?
*Goes to google.com and searches unsecapp.exe* 1 of first results I got was unsecapp.exe Windows process - What is it?

6. Downloading / Accepting Files
You scan the file at viruscan.jotti.org or other sites. You scan it with your own virus scanner. Accepting files on MSN is risky. Make sure you can ABSOLUTELY trust them with your life. Things like this can be fatal. Believe me, I've been there.

7. Users
Watch who you let on your computer. Watch yourself when logging on into a public place. The computers may be keylogged or infected with a virus. If you have brothers and sisters / peers you share the computer with, educate them on such errors that may be caused if they do certain things like downloading executables, exposing a 'noob' to p2p programs like Lime Wire. They search for there favorite song, to find that they are downloading an .exe file but since they aren't educated, they have no clue on what this file is and when they click to "play it"....Boom you got a virus.

8. Warez
Yes, piracy is a big factor on the net and I'm sure we've all done it, if your going to do it, I suggest joining a 'FORUM' community / a site with 'comments'. You will always get an idiot' who will post a virus, by having that comment / forum support there, you will know from other posters if the program is infected with a virus or not.

9. Trusted sites
Does the site look legit? Is the site well known? Stick to well known sites. If using Zone alarm, it has a TRUSTED site feature. If the site is not trusted by the ZONE ALARM team, it will notify you if the site is on the 'untrusted' list. Watch when you shop online, some sites look legit.. look for sites with a 'secure' zone (a secure zone is when your browser shows the little padlock).

10. Phishers
You will find them around. Especially on MySpace, people create 'sites' that look like that certain site, such as MySpace, it is critical to make sure that your browser url contains the site domain.

It's really great post I have ever read. Every thing is perfectly describe.

Dont slap me for No1, 2 or 7

But great topic, thank you.

Excellent write up, hopefully it's from your own hands as some people like to mock the nets good work from other article writers.

Good work, rep given.

Very nice post. Useful information.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the info!
These days we see lot of password hacking, should be very very careful.

Great post, thanks!

Great post. Proxies are also a good idea for anonymous browsing, in addition to all of that.