Help!

[touchingcloth]

I'll just chime in to emphasise how important it is to back up your important data!

Personally I don't run any antivirus software as I find it easier just to reinstall my operating system in the rare case that I do get bitten by a nasty virus (I find AV software in the main to either be effective but too resource-hungry, or light on resources but ineffective...) - I would hate to be in the position where I had to both reinstall my OS and face the fact that I'd lost my entire music collection.

Back up, folks!

[Byblos]

I'll just chime in to emphasise how important it is to back up your important data!

Personally I don't run any antivirus software as I find it easier just to reinstall my operating system in the rare case that I do get bitten by a nasty virus (I find AV software in the main to either be effective but too resource-hungry, or light on resources but ineffective...) - I would hate to be in the position where I had to both reinstall my OS and face the fact that I'd lost my entire music collection.

Back up, folks!

Yep, that's the ticket. I have an external drive connected to my wireless router directly. This way all laptops and PCs in the house are backed up to (and can be recovered from) a single source. My next step is to have a 2nd backup off site, in case God forbid there's a fire or flood.

[touchingcloth]

I'll just chime in to emphasise how important it is to back up your important data!

Personally I don't run any antivirus software as I find it easier just to reinstall my operating system in the rare case that I do get bitten by a nasty virus (I find AV software in the main to either be effective but too resource-hungry, or light on resources but ineffective...) - I would hate to be in the position where I had to both reinstall my OS and face the fact that I'd lost my entire music collection.

Back up, folks!

Yep, that's the ticket. I have an external drive connected to my wireless router directly. This way all laptops and PCs in the house are backed up to (and can be recovered from) a single source. My next step is to have a 2nd backup off site, in case God forbid there's a fire or flood.

You've got a better back up policy than most small businesses! (I work in the storage industry, sadly enough)

[DannyM]

Main things are this..


4. Do not use Windows Internet Explorer (IE) for web browsing. Use a browser like Firefox.

6. If you can manage it, get your server behind some kind of proxy server.

Gman, thanks for the tips. Could you tell me why #4, and what you mean with #6? Thanks...

[touchingcloth]

Main things are this..


4. Do not use Windows Internet Explorer (IE) for web browsing. Use a browser like Firefox.

6. If you can manage it, get your server behind some kind of proxy server.

Gman, thanks for the tips. Could you tell me why #4, and what you mean with #6? Thanks...

There were recently issues with old versions of MS IE. A weakness was found in it that made it trivial for hackers to exploit your PC, and MS were slow to release a fix for it. Newer versions of IE should be fine, though. (Interestingly within the past couple of days a vulnerability has been found in Firefox - so I guess the lesson is just to be really careful about what you click on when using the web, and extra super careful when doing anything that involves your credit card details.

I'd be interested (as a self confessed geek) to know what Gman has in mind with proxy servers...
Danny - to give a simplified definition a proxy server acts as a kind of tunnel for all your internet traffic; so all your data will pass first through the proxy server before going out to the web. Some proxy servers enable, for example, the blocking of web addresses that are known to harbour viruses...so I guess this is what Gman has in mind?

[DannyM]

Main things are this..


4. Do not use Windows Internet Explorer (IE) for web browsing. Use a browser like Firefox.

6. If you can manage it, get your server behind some kind of proxy server.

Gman, thanks for the tips. Could you tell me why #4, and what you mean with #6? Thanks...

There were recently issues with old versions of MS IE. A weakness was found in it that made it trivial for hackers to exploit your PC, and MS were slow to release a fix for it. Newer versions of IE should be fine, though. (Interestingly within the past couple of days a vulnerability has been found in Firefox - so I guess the lesson is just to be really careful about what you click on when using the web, and extra super careful when doing anything that involves your credit card details.

I'd be interested (as a self confessed geek) to know what Gman has in mind with proxy servers...
Danny - to give a simplified definition a proxy server acts as a kind of tunnel for all your internet traffic; so all your data will pass first through the proxy server before going out to the web. Some proxy servers enable, for example, the blocking of web addresses that are known to harbour viruses...so I guess this is what Gman has in mind?

Cheers TC. In my security components I have 'Link Scanner'... This scans websites I enter; does this cover what you mean by blocking unsafe web addresses?

[touchingcloth]

Cheers TC. In my security components I have 'Link Scanner'... This scans websites I enter; does this cover what you mean by blocking unsafe web addresses?

Should do. If you keep up to date with the software on your computer (e.g. if you use Windows make sure you install the updates whenever Windows pops up a notice about them) then the odds are that your browser will maintain a list of known bad websites, and warn you when you try to visit one.