This is odd to ask, but...

[Giga Man]

:D:

Yellow, second post here! The people on this forum seem mature and friendly, and I hope you guys don't mind me sticking around. :grandpa:

I have a speech to deliver tomorrow, and my topic was to be "Crystal Clear". So I decided to do the most simple and clear thing possible: keeping your computer clean! I'm delivering to people anywhere from 1 month - 90 year olds, so I'm wondering if anyone has tips for anyone to protect themselves. :police: I checked the sticky though! :eek:

The reason why is that it needs to be 4-6 minutes, and I timed myself at 3 minutes. :sad:

[Giga Man]

Warning: Big Bad Wall of Text: ctrl+f 455 to get past!

Thank you Toastmaster and hello everyone. Technology has made great advances in the past few years, and is becoming more prodominate in our daily lives. An increasing number of people are carrying cell phones and using home computers. The Pew Research Center states that 62% of Americans go online at least once a week to check email. This has lead people to see a pile of gold waiting for them, whether through legitimate or fraudulent means. According to F-Secure, more malicious software was created in 2007 than the past 20 years combined. Malicious software, or Malware – things such as worms, viruses, spyware, keyloggers, rootkits, adware, and Trojan horses, are becoming increasingly more common. Most of these are more annoying than anything, such as slowing down your computer or changing your browser. Others will turn your $400 dollar machine into a paperweight. Today, I’d like to give some advice on how to avoid getting an infection.

Most malware is now created by professional criminals and either sold or used by companies. Spyware, for example, monitors your activities and sells the information to companies. Other programs can control your computer to hide contraband and send spam. Much of the malware is gotten by simply visiting a website, which then uses a loophole in a computer to install something. These programs can do anything from stealing passwords to corrupting hard drive data. The main way to defend against malware is to avoid suspicious websites, emails, and files. Websites that offer free things like computer games, music, and videos are often plagued by unwanted programs. It’s becoming a common tactic for infected computers to send out messages to people on their contact lists, whether through email or instant messenger. They normally have a link to a website, which infects your computer, and the cycle continues. It would be a good idea to message the friend to make sure they knowingly sent it.

If you scarcely browse the internet and only open safe emails, you probably don’t have a problem. For those who do, such as me, we are in a bad spot. I saw a spyware threat while researching this speech, and while researching for another project. Because Internet Explorer is most popular browser, using browsers such as Firefox and Opera are excellent because there are less land mines designed to infect them. It’s important to check for updates weekly for your computer, whether it’s for the operating system or the firewall. However, the most important thing is to be careful; no amount of virus protection can protect you from manually downloading an infected file and running it.


455

[drragostea]

Wouldn't mind. No bother.

What kind of speech? Where is this going to take place?

Simple: To make a long story short.

Safe hex. Firewall. AV. Microsoft Updates.

I could elaborate into pages, if you would like... :laugh:

[Giga Man]

Wouldn't mind. No bother.

What kind of speech? Where is this going to take place?

Simple: To make a long story short.

Safe hex. Firewall. AV. Microsoft Updates.

I could elaborate into pages, if you would like... :laugh:


Kind of speech? Not sure, it's just meant to be "Crystal Clear". It's a Leadership Club at my Church in front of all the members. I haven't added firewall though; and what is AV? Thanks for the reply. :red:

[drragostea]

Much of the malware is gotten by simply visiting a website, which then uses a loophole in a computer to install something...

Not always. You don't get hacked just by visiting a site with high traffic.

Also, that "simply" visiting site is called drive-by-download.

No offense, but the article seems to be biased toward IE. As saying "Firefox" is the most popular. I have to say IE does have many vulnerabilities.

To add to that... you can also say that, just because IE comes preinstalled doesn't mean you have to use it.
--
The ending seems alright. You can add that, no matter how expensive or promising the IS (internet security) you have, it's always user decision and careless mistakes that end up with malware on the victims machine.

[drragostea]

Kind of speech? Not sure, it's just meant to be "Crystal Clear". It's a Leadership Club at my Church in front of all the members. I haven't added firewall though; and what is AV? Thanks for the reply. :red:

Oh I see. I was typing at the same time, while you were too.

AV is anti-virus. Firewall does not prevent viruses or malware. Just as a note.

[Giga Man]

:bigthumb:Thanks for the reply again, and I suppose I did sound a bit biased. The Club promotes very high quality, so I want to get all the facts.

I editted a few parts!

"Much of the malware is gotten by simply visiting an unfriendly website, which then uses an array of loopholes in the system to cause a “drive-by-download”. "

"Because Internet Explorer is the most popular browser, there are more programs made to infect it. There are alternative browsers, such as Firefox and Opera, which in theory are safer. "

Edit: By the way, I googled an estimate on how many viruses were created daily. Every website had large differences, so what is your opinions? :D:

[Giga Man]

Apparently you can't edit messages after awhile, 15 minutes I believe. I was going to edit my Big Bad Wall of Text, but alas, I cannot.

Thank you Toastmaster and hello everyone. Technology has made great advances in the past few years, and is becoming more involved in our daily lives. An increasing number of people are carrying cell phones and using home computers. The Pew Research Center states that 62% of Americans go online at least once a week to check email. This has lead people to see a large pile of gold waiting for them, whether through legitimate or fraudulent means. According to F-Secure, more malicious software was created in 2007 than the past 20 years combined. Malicious software, or Malware – things such as worms, viruses, spyware, keyloggers, rootkits, adware, and Trojan horses, are becoming increasingly more common. Most of these are more annoying than anything, such as slowing down your computer or changing your browser. Others will turn your $400 dollar machine into a paperweight. Today, I’d like to give some advice on how to avoid getting an infection, and tips on treating them.

Most malware is now created by professional criminals and either sold or used by companies. Spyware, for example, monitors your activities and sells the information to companies. Other programs can control your computer to hide contraband and send spam. Much of the malware is gotten by simply visiting an unfriendly website, which then uses an array of loopholes in the system to cause a “drive-by-download”. These programs can do anything from stealing passwords to corrupting hard drive data. The main way to defend against malware is to avoid suspicious websites, emails, and files. Websites that offer free things like computer games, music, and videos are often plagued by unwanted programs. It’s becoming a common tactic for infected computers to send out messages to people on their contact lists, whether through email or instant messenger. They normally have a link to a website, which infects your computer, and the cycle continues. It would be a good idea to message the friend to make sure they knowingly sent it.

If you scarcely browse the internet and only open safe emails, you probably don’t have a problem. For those who do, such as me, we are in a bad spot. I saw a spyware threat while researching this speech, and while researching for another project. Because Internet Explorer is the most popular web browser, there are more programs made to infect it. But using alternative browsers, such as Firefox and Opera, can reduce the possible number of infections. Besides other measures, it’s important to check for updates weekly for your computer, whether it’s for the operating system, the browser, or the firewall. It is estimated that However, the most important thing is to be careful; no amount of virus protection can protect you from manually downloading an infected file and running it.

Besides financial security, it’s important to be careful simply because of how hard removing an infection can be. Some pre-installed trial programs from companies such as McAfee and Symantec have scanners and infection removers. But for some deep rooted problems, generally from worms and viruses, you may need to get out a jackhammer to have a chance of flushing it out. There are many credible online sites that offer free searches, such as Symantec. The results can tell if a computer has a serious infection, any may link to other websites which can provide more steps to solve the problem. But with proper avoidance and protection, hopefully no one will need to go through that hassle.

[drragostea]

Apparently you can't edit messages after awhile, 15 minutes I believe. I was going to edit my Big Bad Wall of Text, but alas, I cannot.

...This has lead people to see a large pile of gold waiting for them, whether through legitimate or fraudulent means.

@Giga. I liked the "paperweight" part, and your first paragraph gives some good information. Of course, the Internet is a wealth of information. Much like gold, >:D. However, compared to the Internet in modern times, malware in 2000-2003 were a joke!


Most of these are more annoying than anything, such as slowing down your computer or changing your browser.

That will be fine, if you would like I can "tweak" it a bit. Just some words added to it.

Actually, I wouldn't say it was only annoying... but just infuriating. It'll drive you crazy! :laugh:
Not only slowing down your computer, but eating away resources and bandwidth. Also, the malware can be considered [well to me that is] an invasion of privacy.
--
This is my story: Some users assume that they have nothing valuable on the computer, so why bother purging that malware? Well the malware loves to root deep into your computer. Some log keystrokes. Others bombard your desktop. Many create panic. While most loves leeching your bandwidth.
--

Also Giga, don't use... (2nd paragraph) malware is sold and used by companies. I think that would really inaccurate.

Oh, here's another myth. The myth is that AV (anti-virus) companies create viruses so that their products will sell more. That's FALSE. {>:P that was just a "tiny something" you can add if you wish}.
--
Second paragraph: Actually spyware can sell your information. But most commonly it sends it back to the creator first. 3rd party software, some, can sell your E-MAIL addresses, thus is an breaks the contract of "privacy". I would say it's more like theft.

NOT ALL FREE SOFTWARE IS PLAGUED WITH MALWARE!

Also, Giga you can also say that no AV (anti-virus) or AS (anti-spyware) is invincible.

Note: A "Spyware Horror Story" about malware spamming friends and contacts: http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9949668-12.html?tag=keyword

Other stories: http://www.download.com/Spyware-Horror-Stories/1200-2023_4-5157398.html?tag=dir
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Third paragraph: Giga, to me it sounds like you're promoting a sense of paranoia. Scarcely browse the web? Is this prison? :laugh:
--

@Giga, well done. Nice speech. Of course, I'm not a big fan of Symantec's Norton or RAM intense security suites like McAfee.

Suggest some other AV's if you wish. Like avast! or AVG.

Also you can include that:

"An ounce of prevention is worth an ounce of cure".

[tazdotnet]

you could also mention that you could surf the net with a descent BartPE disk setup with netwrk drivers, your browser of choice, your browsers plugins, Spybot (a must), and any other apps you need. while running under BartPE any BAD progs will install only to a ram disk and be gone after shutdown, if they can install at all...:D: there are plenty of plugins for BartPE and the best one is the Spybot plugin