Yay security!

[azurelunatic]

Besides AdAware, SpyBot S & D, and using a modern browser like Firefox, what are people's favorite security tools? Naomi's making up a toolkit CD, and she's not sure what she wants to put on there besides those three things. (She's got those burned already, and she feels very grown-up.)

(And yes. She's getting herself a copy of Phlak, because that's what some of the grown-ups at the DeLUG meeting suggested. After they told their war stories about pretending the network printer was doing the port scan and swapping the printer test page on a HP printer for the Epson printer test page.)

Comments

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I also use Spywareblaster, it works with Spybot to stop things from getting in. Instead of PHLAK, try Knoppix. It's a larger Linux download but it will still run on a CD and its much more capable.

[simoncion.livejournal.com]

Hijack This!

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

Is this a toolkit for herself to use in the case of an emergency or something she's making up to pass on to other people who need to set up routine security software?

A firewall is a good thing to have. ZoneAlarm is a good one that is relatively easy for users to understand. AVG is a good, free anti-virus program. I'll second the recommendation for Hijack This as well. I'd also choose Opera ahead of Firefox, but both are good.

If this is an emergency kit, there are some tools for dealing with specific problems that I'd include as well. One that comes to mind is a tool called LSPFix that fixes LSP problems in Windows. This is important to have because if you do get hit by something that screws that up, you can't connect to the internet to download a fix.

[azurelunatic]

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm glad I have broadband.

[azurelunatic]

For herself in context of her part-time hobby of helping people with computer problems. She generally storms in like an avenging angel, smacks hardware and software around, and departs, either leaving devastation or a smoothly-running system in her wake.