ChristiansUnite Forums

Oklahoma Howdy To All,

Shields Up is a great place to find out about security on your computer and get quite a few excellent and free programs to help you secure your computer.

Shield Up is famous for the on line security scan of your computer that lets you know about the security or lack of security about your specific computer. It is completely safe and free. You can also read some excellent security topics written by Steve Gibson. Steve Gibson is the security guru that Norton, McAffee, and others listen to. In fact, Microsoft is beginning to listen to him after he identified numerous gaping holes in the security of Microsoft products. Some of his tiny and free programs close some of these gaping holes.

Please do Steve's free security scan with all of your security related programs running. I think you will be surprised. I do this once every month or two, as Steve continually improves his Shields Up security scan.

http://www.grc.com/ (http://www.grc.com/)

GRC stands for Gibson Research Company. Everything Steve writes is free, except his one program that pays all of the bills, Spinrite. So, you will see advertising on the site about Spinrite.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Kewl Tom!! Now if I knew how to use it LOL ;D

Love ya,  \o/

Thanks Tom I will give it a try.

Well this is what they had to say about my computer beeps.

Your system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet — solicited or otherwise — was received from your system as a result of our security probing tests. Your system ignored and refused to reply to repeated Pings (ICMP Echo Requests). From the standpoint of the passing probes of any hacker, this machine does not exist on the Internet. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system wisely remained silent in every way. Very nice..

MsGuidedAngel,

I assume that you are talking about the results of the security scan. Any result less than complete stealth indicates problems. Most of those problems can be cured with a good firewall and a few changes in your system configuration. If you can't afford a firewall, don't worry. There are several excellent firewalls that are completely free, and they are reviewed on the same site. I currently use Norton's Firewall, and it came with a suite of Internet Security programs. It's great, but it costs $50. For free, I recommend ZoneAlarm, but Steve Gibson recommends several, including the free version of ZoneAlarm. I hope this helps some.

Love In Christ,
Tom

DreamWeaver,

Brother, that's the best rating and what you want to hear. That means you should be immune from most of the bad things the Internet can do to your computer.

There is a completely free program that I highly recommend that closes some of the other "exploits" that can do all kinds of bad things to your computer. First, use of Christians Unite is completely safe, but you have to use the INTERNET to get here.

"SpyBot Search and Destroy" is an excellent and free program you can download from many safe software distributors (i.e. CNet, Tucows, NoNags, WebAttack, and others.

SpyBot Search and Destroy scans for and destroys trojans, hijackers, and other very dangerous uninvited guests that come into your computer from the Internet. There is an immunity option in the program that I also recommend. It actually blocks your computer from accepting most of the dangerous programs you can download from the Internet and not even know about them. Some of them are embedded in advertising and pop-ups. Again, I can say with certainty there is nothing dangerous on Christians Unite, but you do have to use the Internet to get here. I've used SpyBot Search and Destroy for over a year and have never had a single alert coming from Christians Unite. So, I must brag on ADMIN and say that he has done an excellent job in making Christians Unite completely safe to use.

Love In Christ,
Tom

LOL, I use Sygate5.5 firewall, and Adware 6.0. Both are free, so I like the cost. They do an excellent job, which is what I like. Zonealarm I use to use but, I had some problems with it. I had to turn my computer off using restart, and catch it while it was reloading memory.

uh huh,

I use Spybot software and Lavasoft too!


(http://www.opera.com/graphics/logos/opera.png) (http://www.opera.com/products/)

"Opera's Software - Free Downloads" (http://www.opera.com/products/)



(http://www.mozilla.org/images/mlogo.gif) (http://www.mozilla.org/)

"Mozilla Browser - Free Downloads" (http://www.mozilla.org/)





Here are some Free AnitVirus Programs that are good and Free.  

Yep, Stay away from IE too many Viruses going around.




Use Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) and Lavasoft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) to block out unwanted issues. I have both plus Norton AntiVirus Professional 2004 (http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_pro/) on my computer.  They have free downloads for Lavasoft and Spybot, try them, I think you'll love them as much as I do!

Blessings, \o/

Oklahoma Howdy to DreamWeaver & MsGuidedAngel,

I used the free version of Sygate Firewall for a time, and I think it was excellent. Further, I think that Sygate Freeware always gets some of the highest ratings of the industry. I've also used the free and commercial version of ZoneAlarm. Both were great.

I found a HUGE sale on Norton Internet Security recently and bought it for my new computer. It has anti-virus, email, and firewall built in. I actually got it for about the price of the Anti-Virus portion of it, alone. If I hadn't found this, I might still be using Sygate or ZoneAlarm. It appears that Sygate, ZoneAlarm, and Norton are always fighting for the top rating on firewalls. Reference anti-virus, Norton and McAfee appear to always be top contenders.

Reference LavaSoft AdAware, I've used it and think it is great. It does stop some of the hijacking and exploit type programs (i.e. trojans). It also has a top rating, but it doesn't offer all of the features of SpyBot. I know that they try to keep both up to date, but I think that you need the commercial version of AdAware to get most of the features of SpyBot. SpyBot is free, so my WALLET made the choice.

I've never used a free anti-virus program, but I understand there are some pretty good ones. I can't remember the names, but I think that McAfee has a freeware version. For whatever reason, I've always thought that I at least need excellent, commercial virus protection. However, I would really be interested in hearing from anyone who is using good or great freeware virus protection.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Awesome! Thank you for sharing that!  :D

Please See my Links above his too Lavasoft and Spybot, they're free downloads!!


"Beam me Up Scotty!!"


Blessings,  \o/

Here's the list of good freeware programs for many different types of protection for your computer. Most of these programs I have either tried and am using or have installed on other's computer's (helping others get their systems clean and secure is one of the things I do as a pastime):

Antivirus Software (free versions)

- Grisoft AVG  Antivirus (good!) - http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ (http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/)
- Avast (fairly good) - http://www.avast.com/eng/free_virus_protectio.html (http://www.avast.com/eng/free_virus_protectio.html)
- AntiVir (not quite as good) - http://www.free-av.com/ (http://www.free-av.com/)

Firewall (free Versions)

- Kerio Personal Firewall (for the more experienced) -  http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_download.html (http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_download.html)
- Sygate Personal Firewall - http://smb.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm (http://smb.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm)
- Agnitum Outpost -  http://www.agnitum.com/download/ (http://www.agnitum.com/download/)

Anti-trojans (free versions)

- A2 - http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/ (http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/)
- TrojanHunter (not free, but a free trial for 30 days, so if you are infected it will clean you up) - http://www.trojanhunter.com/ (http://www.trojanhunter.com/)

Spam Filter (for outlook express)

- Frontgate MX (free and awesome) - http://www.presorium.com/en_au/products/fg/index.shtml#features (http://www.presorium.com/en_au/products/fg/index.shtml#features)

Other Security Softwares:

Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html)
Spywareguard - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html)
Spywareblaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html)
StartPage Guard -  http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads/spg/ (http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads/spg/)
IE Spyad (for internet explorer users) - https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm  (https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm) (also some ad blocking add-on lists for Norton softwares and Outpost softwares)
HijackThis! - www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/ (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/)
Registry Protect & IRC Clean - http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=products (http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=products)
DSO Stop & HTA Stop -  http://www.nsclean.com/freebies.html (http://www.nsclean.com/freebies.html)
Adaware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/)
Kapersky Virus Removal Tools - http://www.kaspersky.com/removaltools (http://www.kaspersky.com/removaltools)

Places to get help:

Net-Integration - http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php? (http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?)
SpywareInfo -http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ (http://forums.spywareinfo.com/)
Wilders Security - http://www.wilderssecurity.com/ (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/)
PacsPortal (a list of .exe programs and what they do, including some that are virus related) - http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm (http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm)

Just one thing of note: some of these programs are specific to the protection of Internet Explorer. If you are not using IE as your brower (but it is likely still installed) you should probably still run DSO stop. Even though you are not using IE, the fact that it is still installed opens you to the same infections/problems you would have if you were using it.

Hopefully this list will help.

Gracey

You are right that the free version of Ad-Aware does not stop anything. But it does remove maleware from your computer. It picks up things that Spybot S&D does not, and Spybot picks up things that Ad-Aware does not.  So it is a good idea to use them both to scan your computer for maleware.


Gracey, excellent list. The only thing I would add is that if you use Hijackthis, don't FIX anything until you consult an expert at a spyware related forum. Like the ones in Gracey's list. It could severely damage your system if you don't know what you are doing.

Yes, I use Hijack This also, but if you don't understand what the log means, it's kind of useless unless you go to the security forums and post it - or take the time to learn it. Using it without knowledge can cause some real damage, but I do rely on it most often to tell me what's going on.

(I did post it, but I wasn't sure this forum would be ready for it, lol)

 ;D

Gracey

(for about a year net-integration was my security classroom)

Hijack is a very valuable tool. I use it often to check on things.

I have been at SWI and Tom Coyote forums for about 8 months. I learn in their classrooms but don't have much time for posting to practice logs, so I haven't any status at either one.

Glad to see a fellow spyware warrior around.  8)