steve wilson Posted June 8, 2003 Posted June 8, 2003 A few questions: 1. What is the best program for viewing downloaded vids? Ive been using Real one player but keep having problems so i use win media player. 2.I dont think i have a virus checker. What do i get? 3. Ive heard people talk about fire walls. What does it do and which one do i get? And do either of these stop these block messenger adverts Quote
crayfish Posted June 8, 2003 Posted June 8, 2003 1. I only use Real Player to view .ra, .ram, .rm files etc. I use Media Player 6.4 for everything else. Press Start>Run and type mplayer2. Press OK. It's the best player there is. 2. I use AVG 6.0 Anti-Virus System. It's free and can be updated for free and it really works well. I downloaded a file last week which was virus infected and I opened the folder to use it and the AVG kicked in and told me to delete the file. Get it here. 3. To the best of my meagre knowledge on the subject, a firewall allows you to control which programs on your computer can access the internet and which can't. It also allows you to give certain IP addresses and network cards permission to use the internet or your home network. Again, I use free software called ZoneAlarm and you can get it here. 4. More free software to control pop-ups is available too. Again free, go to here to get it. Quote
S8ight Posted June 8, 2003 Posted June 8, 2003 i'm sure there was something posted on here for stopping pop ups ? Quote
S8ight Posted June 8, 2003 Posted June 8, 2003 oooh ! oooh! i can say it at last------- do a search Quote
steve wilson Posted June 8, 2003 Author Posted June 8, 2003 Tried downloading No. 4 and when it d/l the library pat it gets half way and stops. I left it for an hour then tried again and still no joy. Quote
Messer Posted June 8, 2003 Posted June 8, 2003 The way to stop the popup ads is to go on to a search engine such as google and run a search for a "free popup stopper" and download it on to your computer. I have a kerio personal firewall on my computer ( again free off google), rightly said they control inbound and outbound connections to your computer. Hackers can easily get access to your files without a firewall. When you have a firewall installed, a message pops up on your screen every time your computer is trying to establish a connection via the net, asking if you want to permit or deny the request. A must have if you have got broadband!! Quote
CharliePsycho Posted June 9, 2003 Posted June 9, 2003 WARNING: LONG POST!!! As soon as you connect your PC direct to the internet you have potential hacking issues - messenger popups are the thin end really... The best way really is to have a separate broadband/dsl router which you connect to using a home/office network (ethernet) - modern home routers often have firewalls built in, but you can always get an extra firewall as well. Essentially a firewall blocks TCP/IP ports - ports are communication channels - http/web is usually on port 80 (or 443 for https) and it is very rarely that you need any other port, so effectively you block all others unless you specifically need them - then you can enable them one at a time (messenger needs different ports for instance) There are specific exploits that use different ports, there are also specific bugs in the operating system that use open ports - Keep up to date and patched!! In terms of home systems - Microsoft XP has a rudimentary firewall built in that appears to be quite effective (this is why firewall software is often free now) As an added benefit routers hide the ip address of your PC and allow multiple PC's to be connected - meaning a hacker cannot directly attack your PC. Your final defence is your virus detection - I use symantec, mainly because it is easy to keep up to date and is the least intrusive to the rest of the system - but everyone has their favourites... The most important thing is to keep it up to date!! (really this is very important... can't over-stress it really) Microsoft Media player - easiest and most compatible of all playback... in fact a lot of other 'players' simply shell media player! - all except the real-media stuff which has always been a pain in the ar$e... I refuse to install it - but one of my kids PC's has it on... I usually have to fix it every few months. At home I run: Nildram broadband (supplier) -> Zyxtel Broadband router (Supplied by Nildram) -> 2 Hardware firewalls (Seperate in series with SMTP intrusion alerts) -> MS ISA server (Proxy and firewall) -> Home PC's Nildram also filter some ports - so thats 5 layers of protection (+ up to date virus detection) but I still know I have holes in my system that could be exploited by someone who really knows what they are doing... Hopefully I can slow them down and get an alert before they got too far! Just because your not paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!!! ...© Quote
steve wilson Posted June 10, 2003 Author Posted June 10, 2003 Ive just d/l and installed avg 6.0 and it found 3 viruses. 1. Trojan horse 2. Dialer 3. Worm/Winur No wonder ive been having problems Quote
Stuart Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 I've also found AVG and ZoneAlarm to be good. I have a popup preventer called FreeSurf and also something called Ad-Aware, but I'm not really sure what that one does It's all freeware but I ran AVG a couple of days ago and there ain't any viruses (viri?) on my machine. Quote
Graham.J Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 Ad-Aware gets rid of all of the useless ad gumph on your computer that the virus checker will gloss over, I like to think of them as mini viruses, you'd be better off without them. Quote
smayo Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 Ad-aware checks for any Spyware on your system, and removes the components that allow the related pieces of software to "Spy" on your surfing habits. Many pieces of software do this, for "market research purposes" so that they can "better target you for other products". When you install software and accept the terms and conditions you are often agreeing to allow information to go to them as well. I for one get a bit miffed that so much software does this, and run Ad-aware all the time. If the software manufacturers want information about my computer habits then they can request that I fill out a survey. All out in the open. A quick check in your cookies folder will undoubtedly reveal at least 1 cooky with "doubleclick" in its name. This is one of the most well known bits of Spyware. Get Ad-aware. Stop them spying. Si Quote
JimNoble Posted June 13, 2003 Posted June 13, 2003 Quicktime is good for non-realvideo/windows-media and free to download from the apple website (PC or mac). Jim Quote
westy Posted June 13, 2003 Posted June 13, 2003 read my last post: http://wscc.ggr.net/cgi-bin....irewall without the boring stuff essentially: get a branded name virus checker installed and keep it upto date use the windows update feature and download all security realted items use a firewall, be it the built in one for dial up connections on xp etc or zone alarm etc. but make sure you have something any router that offers NAT translation is great for protection. problem is it works on the basis that no body can get through it because it works on a stealth mode to people on the outside, but if you have virus/breech coming FROM your computer your stuffed as it will let communication flow freely if you can, ideally set aside a machine for for kazaa/dodgy downloads and rebuild it frequently Quote
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