17 replies to this topic

[Leonardin]

Hi! Can anyone suggest how can I secure my computer when I surf the Internet. I would like to try something really good and if it works to buy it further on. Please advise!

[Tyler R.]

I like HotSpot Shield to encrypt my connection and MSE for a/v.

[+littleneutrino]

best method to secure yourself online is the ability to look at what is and is not safe to click on beyond that there is not much else to look into. and plenty of amazing free software out there.

What where you thinking as far as protection? Firewall, Antivirus, Spyware protection, script blocking?

[Guth]

Most basic is a proxy https://en.wikipedia...ki/Proxy_server
then a VPN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vpn
best is TOR but its very slow. https://en.wikipedia...onymity_network)

VPNs are the fastest but you have to pay for most, you do get free ones though.

[Intrinsica]

Yeah, that's quite an open question you've posed. What do you mean when you say you want to secure your computer?

[LUTZIFER]

Like someone above basically stated... I was gonna say the best tool is your own brain.

[+CrossCheck]

what os are you running?

if its vista, win 7, and/or win 8. there is a built in firewall.

Are you visiting questionable sites that would need a secure connection?

Are you on a router, wireless or wired?

need more specifics!!!!!

[Guth]

Intrinsica, on 06 December 2012 - 14:46, said:

Yeah, that's quite an open question you've posed. What do you mean when you say you want to secure your computer?

yeah good point, the title seems like its from a security standpoint, but the post seems more like AV/firewall

[ChuckFinley]

What are you worried about is what I ask people? Most people are worried about things they should be when it comes to computer security. Its the same way people used to go out and buy shredders for documents, What self respecting criminal is going to go through your bins when he could sit in his nice warm cozy home and have more personal details than he could wish for within 30mins doing a bit of online scamming.

What are you doing on the internet that you should be worried about?
Are you generally worried about drive by attacks, Use your common sense and visit reputable sites?
What is it with the sudden onslaught of VPN questions??? Again people getting into things they dont really understand but they think a VPN will protect them...Again against what???

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I am ill at the moment!!

[TPreston]

If by secure your internet you mean protect yourself against the torrent of tracking domains, sleazy third party adverts that can install malware by exploiting java etc then a secure gateway or some cisco gear will do the job.

[SuperKid]

Use HTTPS where possible on every website, a good antivirus if you download a lot of files, and a hardware firewall like a Router and if you so wish have a software firewall to monitor outgoing from applications. There is also possibility to use a proxy or some VPN but if you still want your full connection speed then really those things can, slow down your connection.

[+BudMan]

"Can anyone suggest how can I secure my computer when I surf the Internet"

"Most basic is a proxy https://en.wikipedia...ki/Proxy_server"

Could you please explain your logic here where a proxy or vpn or tor secures your computer? Secures it from what? Now with the use of the proxy, if it was doing filtering - then sure it could secure your computer from bad sites. Code can be verified by the proxy, ie any viruses, bad sciprts, etc. So DEPENDING on what proxy your using this could be the case where your computer is more secure than not using one. But then again if your using some fly by night proxy to hide, it could be even the opposite. They could inject crap! They could be tracking everything your doing, they could be redirecting you through other sites for your searches, etc. etc.. So that sort of blanket statement can be very misleading to a user - just because your using some proxy does not by default make your computer more secure. What proxy are you using has to be asked - are you using a company run proxy as the only way out of a network? Or some random one you found by searching on the internet so you could bypass some restriction based on ip, etc.

As to VPN - this normally does nothing then route your traffic differently. Can it hide your traffic from the local network/isp - sure. But not sure I would consider that securing his computer. He would still be open to bad code on sites for example. And depending on the vpn service in use - you could be opening up yourself up to privacy concerns - since you might be hiding your traffic from your local/isp network, but your also now routing ALL traffic through some VPN provider - do you trust them?

Tor is would be the same a vpn in this case - only your routing your traffic through many different connections, but there is nothing securing your computer from what you hit when you come out the other end of the tor network.

The OP post is so vague that it makes it almost impossible to answer with any sort of actual useful advice. Secure his computer from WHAT is the piece of information that is missing.

[+warwagon]

This is quite a broad question. Let’s assume for a moment that you are referring to securing your home connection.

• Make sure you are using a router and not just a modem which is giving your computer an internet IP.
  
• Make sure your wifi is secured with a WPA2 password.
  
• When logging into to web sites make sure you are using https

A part from those 3 things I really don’t know what else you need. If you are using the router then you would already have a good hardware firewall, so I don’t know that you would need a software firewall.

Now let’s assume you want to secure your connection on your machine when using public wifi. In this case a VPN makes sense as it encrypts your internet traffic, so other people can’t sniff your traffic. You could pay for a VPN service or you could create your own using this guide I wrote for Neowin a while ago.

How to create a VPN for secure web browsing using Hamachi.
http://www.neowin.ne...-using-hamachi/

[Guth]

BudMan, on 06 December 2012 - 17:21, said:

"Can anyone suggest how can I secure my computer when I surf the Internet"

"Most basic is a proxy https://en.wikipedia...ki/Proxy_server"

Could you please explain your logic here where a proxy or vpn or tor secures your computer? Secures it from what? Now with the use of the proxy, if it was doing filtering - then sure it could secure your computer from bad sites. Code can be verified by the proxy, ie any viruses, bad sciprts, etc. So DEPENDING on what proxy your using this could be the case where your computer is more secure than not using one. But then again if your using some fly by night proxy to hide, it could be even the opposite. They could inject crap! They could be tracking everything your doing, they could be redirecting you through other sites for your searches, etc. etc.. So that sort of blanket statement can be very misleading to a user - just because your using some proxy does not by default make your computer more secure. What proxy are you using has to be asked - are you using a company run proxy as the only way out of a network? Or some random one you found by searching on the internet so you could bypass some restriction based on ip, etc.

As to VPN - this normally does nothing then route your traffic differently. Can it hide your traffic from the local network/isp - sure. But not sure I would consider that securing his computer. He would still be open to bad code on sites for example. And depending on the vpn service in use - you could be opening up yourself up to privacy concerns - since you might be hiding your traffic from your local/isp network, but your also now routing ALL traffic through some VPN provider - do you trust them?

Tor is would be the same a vpn in this case - only your routing your traffic through many different connections, but there is nothing securing your computer from what you hit when you come out the other end of the tor network.

The OP post is so vague that it makes it almost impossible to answer with any sort of actual useful advice. Secure his computer from WHAT is the piece of information that is missing.

the post title is "Which tool secures my internet connection?"
so I told him what I use to secure my connection. not my computer.
a vpn, or tor would secure his connection from prying eyes as long as he used https also. (https everywhere comes with tor)

[+Fus10n]

^^ he would need to disable cookies and java script to get the most effective from "prying eyes", along with VPN, tor, etc