computer security

[Ynir]

My home network sits behind a Netgear firewall router. It operates 24/7 when Comcast is up, which is most of the time. I use two computers for WoW only. The only other installed programs are Firefox, Ventrilo, and Irfanview.

I don't use a software firewall because those I tried created problems. My online activities are low-risk, but some concerns remain:

I browse many websites, and it is hard to tell which links might install malware.

I don't like being hijacked by companies such as doubleclick or tribalfusion when I click a link.

I want to block advertisements, and prevent sinister scripts from executing when browsing a site.

The WoW launcher has its own snoopers, and I don't want to interfere with that.

I asked my friend how to tighten up without causing myself a lot of work. His comments are in italics.

First, because you use Comcast internet, you can get a free McAfee suite from Comcast. I don't like McAfee because it is a resource hog. Also, some computers really hate McAfee; others don't care.
http://security.comcast.net/index.aspx

I won't use software firewalls for a number of reasons. The hardware firewall seems to work fine.

Sunbelt's VIPRE is pretty good.
http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/VIPRE/

A lot of people like Comodo's free software. I use it on some of my computers.
http://www.comodo.com/

There are many malware detectors, take your pick. I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't fuss over whatever Blizzard installed with WoW (a rootkit, perhaps).

VIPRE is easy to install and configure. You can buy a single license for all the machines on a home network. It found a trojan on my machine at work but my WoW machines at home are clean, which reinforces my faith in the hardware firewall.

The three most important things you can do (and they don't slow down your computer) are:
1. Change your DNS server to OpenDNS. Doing this redirects any "evil" sites to a warning page.
https://www.opendns.com/smb/start

This was easy, just replace your DNS servers in the TCP/IP config menu.

2. Replace your hosts file. Any "evil" sites and any ad sites get silently ignored. Sometimes the hosts file blocks sites you want. You just edit the file and comment out the redirection. I didn't realize how many ads the hosts file blocked until I switched computers.
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

A batch file in the ZIP replaces the host file in XP and earlier. VISTA causes access issues unless you are admin. Complete install instructions are on the site and in the readme file.

3. Use NoScript. It blocks all scripts and flash until you tell it otherwise. Until you approve all of your favorite sites in NoScript, it is somewhat of a pain.
http://noscript.net/

Noscript is a Firefox plugin (you shouldn't use IE, as everyone knows) that is configurable, site by site. Huffingtonpost isn't useful without the images, obviously, and you can't use Wowhead at all without the search scripts. Noscript always shows configuration options at each site, and a click or two will bring up what you want and hide the rest.

Loading site content is very fast with these fixes in place, and the incredibly annoying animated ads are gone. Great payback for an hour's work.