GageEndal
10-05-2006, 10:08 AM
I would like to start out by saying that this process I am about to tell you is NOT foolproof, it's easy to get confused and miss things up if you aren't careful. I have been going nearly two years now without a single piece of spyware on my computer and I never get viruses because I know what to look for. (my wife doesn't though, heh)
The trick is that spyware resides in cookies. 98% of the online population doesn't even know what a cookie is, but basicaly they are used to store your information. When you went to this site and clicked the "Remember Me" button, you told a cookie to remember your login, password, and a few other things, but luckily these things are all on your computer. Now the problem with this is that some cookies know that you are going to certain sites and will flag you down and activate certain happenings. That is why they are called spyware, they are watching where you're going and ticking off each time you go there.
Cookies can also activate backend programing to put files on your computer though. That is where all of these obnoxious pieces come into place. These tips will fix you so you won't experience the lag of spyware and it will seem like your computer is actualy new... even if it's four years old, like mine is.
The trick to stopping these bad cookies is to set your cookies to prompt, you can do this in your options. I know Firefox has a cookies tab in privacy that you can set it simply, but internet explorer (which I don't suggest anyone ever use for any purpose) is a bit harder to find. Prompting for cookies will tell you who the cookie is from. I generaly accept anything that is from the site I'm going to unless I know that the site may be harmful (Any site with nudity is generaly harmful). Some sites will also require that you have cookies activated, Sites like GMail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and a few others need them so they can keep track of what you are doing. This is for both their security and yours. MySpace is also one of these, but that is something you will have to decide since they do have a lot of the harmful spyware in their site. Well, that's not fair, the harmful spyware is in their advertisements, but still, they host it.
As for not getting viruses, don't download any .exe files unless you are 100% sure that they are not viruses. I don't get anything from someone I don't trust and I will never run them if I am suspicious.
I do not have any spyware or antivirus programs on my computer. I do have the latest versions of McAfee Virus Alert in case the wife gets one on accident, but I haven't used it in a good long while.
The trick is that spyware resides in cookies. 98% of the online population doesn't even know what a cookie is, but basicaly they are used to store your information. When you went to this site and clicked the "Remember Me" button, you told a cookie to remember your login, password, and a few other things, but luckily these things are all on your computer. Now the problem with this is that some cookies know that you are going to certain sites and will flag you down and activate certain happenings. That is why they are called spyware, they are watching where you're going and ticking off each time you go there.
Cookies can also activate backend programing to put files on your computer though. That is where all of these obnoxious pieces come into place. These tips will fix you so you won't experience the lag of spyware and it will seem like your computer is actualy new... even if it's four years old, like mine is.
The trick to stopping these bad cookies is to set your cookies to prompt, you can do this in your options. I know Firefox has a cookies tab in privacy that you can set it simply, but internet explorer (which I don't suggest anyone ever use for any purpose) is a bit harder to find. Prompting for cookies will tell you who the cookie is from. I generaly accept anything that is from the site I'm going to unless I know that the site may be harmful (Any site with nudity is generaly harmful). Some sites will also require that you have cookies activated, Sites like GMail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and a few others need them so they can keep track of what you are doing. This is for both their security and yours. MySpace is also one of these, but that is something you will have to decide since they do have a lot of the harmful spyware in their site. Well, that's not fair, the harmful spyware is in their advertisements, but still, they host it.
As for not getting viruses, don't download any .exe files unless you are 100% sure that they are not viruses. I don't get anything from someone I don't trust and I will never run them if I am suspicious.
I do not have any spyware or antivirus programs on my computer. I do have the latest versions of McAfee Virus Alert in case the wife gets one on accident, but I haven't used it in a good long while.