Aside from my weight, I have been a little scared lately about how secure the internet is...

I have a friend who recently got hacked and all of their computers (they were network sharing on windows 7) were broken into. I don't know a lot about what virus software works best and what firewalls are best, but I found out that a lot of times if you have high speed internet your cable company may provide free softwars so you don't have to shell out that 80 bucks, and I found a free firewall by a company called zone alarm. it sounds good, but does anyone else here know anything about it? When it comes to trying new things, I like to hear some feedback first.

What I have read is that it is easier to use than the winxp firewall.

Maybe one of you can help me out, it would really mean a lot to me!

I highly highly recommend Avast! as an antivirus solution. Always keep your antivirus software up to date.

Practice safe computing:
If you get an email from your bank/paypal/etc and it says 'click this link'. Do not click that link.

If you get an email from someone saying they are going to give you a million dollars if you 'click this link', do not click that link.

If someone you know or don't know sends you a file (executable, word document, etc), don't run the executable and verify with them that they sent you the word document.

If you are using Windows XP, don't run as admin. Use a secondary user account.

The windows firewall should be enabled but most dsl/cable providers now provide you with a hardware firewall as well, usually built in with the modem. If they don't, I'd recommend investing in one.

If you use wireless, use WEP AES. Do not use WPA. If your wireless device doesn't have WEP, either upgrade the firmware for it or buy a new unit.

That's weird that you bring this up.

For the first time ever, my e-mail account was hacked and I just don't know why. I've been sick and I haven't even really been on- but Sunday morning at around 3:00am, everyone in my hotmail address list was sent a message (all different) with some link on how to make money from ME. I don't get it. I have a Mac at home and the computer I use at work gets scanned regularly.

I changed my password and deleted all the messages but... is this enough? I'm honestly not even sure what to do- I've never had that problem with my Mac.

Antivirus software is good - I'm on a Mac so I can't recommend what's best for Windows, although I've heard good things about McAfee.

I'm sure you already know this stuff, but just to drive the point home, the basic rule of safe Internetting is: if you aren't sure, don't do it. This goes for clicking on links, downloading files, responding to messages, etc. - on email or anywhere else on the web (Facebook, Twitter, 3FC, anything). If it seems too good to be true, IT IS. If it seems strange or out of character, IT IS.

GreenTeaYum - Do you have your email address publicized anywhere on the web? If you've given your email to sites that use it just to contact you periodically or use it as a login username, that probably isn't the problem (unless you've signed up with an untrustworthy site who might give your personal info away...), but if your email is publicly visible anywhere on the web, it's possible it got harvested by a crawler. Fun fact: access to your email account is NOT required to send out messages that look like they came from you. It's an unfortunate bug in the way the email protocol works. Then again, if the message went out to everyone in your address book, it sounds like someone must have gotten all the way into your account to get that data - I don't use Hotmail so I'm not sure how it's structured, but I assume you're the only one who can see that information.

If you've changed your password that will probably deter future attacks... just make sure to change your passwords often and make them strong: http://www.passwordmeter.com/

ZoneAlarm is a decent, reputable firewall program.

Also, if anyone is looking for free antivirus software, AVG is good. http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free

Just remember to keep your software up to date.

I'm not sure if they have improved it but I have heard a lot of criticism in the antivirus community about AVG. Specifically, that they were lagging behind in virus updates compared to other AV products. Again, they could've improved lately. My parents ended up getting a virus with AVG despite being up to date, I had them install Avast! and they didn't have any problems.

everyone in my hotmail address mailing list was send a viagra ad....so embarrassing...my husband blames facebook...he says it's evil, I deleted everyone and set up a new account that I am not putting on anything..I will leave the hacked one for email lists..or sites you have to have an email for...

Am I the only one who will not follow a link provided in a random post on a weight loss forum-the first post from someone who just joined??? ODD

Troll selling a system at best. Bad link karma ..

One reason we don't allow new users to post links.

Angie and my daughter and some of their friends had their yahoo e-mail hacked a while ago

I got a virus and lost total control of my computer. I had AVG and it had been updated and ran that morning. I try and go to trendhousecall and run the free scan often.

I've had my hotmail account hacked several times. I only use it for junk mail, but it's amazing the amount of bounced mail I'd get periodically usually in a foreign language to people I've never heard of. My other hotmail account I only use for "mypoints' was hacked. It only had a couple of people's email address and one day dh called and said, 'why'd you send me a like to penis enlargement? It looks like it went to your mom and sister too." Quick call to both of them not to click on those links. Changed my passwords yet again. and hope for the best.

This is coming from a computer tech (me) I don't recommend avast or AVG doesn't really catch anything. I do recommend Microsoft security essentials its free and its the better one thats out there. For anti-virus Kaspersky Internet Security or the Anti-virus. If your running an older system go with the Anti-virus if your running a new system go with internet security. TREND,NORTON, McAFEE=crap. Norton and mcafee are the ones that love to stick around on your computer even after you remove. I hate those two, it does nothing but slow down your computer...

I suggest using Antivir. When I was around 15 my first computer had a hacker/stalker. What I mean is that this person would hack into my messengers, pretend to be me, and say mean things to boyfriends I had. They would change my email passwords were I couldn't get into them anymore, and change the password on certain sites, and then rewrite the information on it. At one point they even tried to use my screen name (I had aol at this time) to purchase 80 dollars worth of roses! Then after several months they just stopped. It was really weird. I still have no idea who did it. Also I was new to using the internet back then and didn't have any kind of firewall or anything.