Go Back   I-Mockery Forum > I-Mockery Miscellaneous Forums > Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Perndog Perndog is offline
Fartin's biggest fan
Perndog's Avatar
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Snowland
Perndog is probably a spambot
Old Nov 1st, 2007, 10:47 AM        Free wireless, security question
It turns out the house where I'm staying has no Internet connection because the guy's cheap, but I can leech some unidentified unsecured wireless connection (it's labeled "default") at intermittently high speeds while sitting in my room. I'm just wondering what I need to do to make sure my computer is safe.

I have Avast Anti-Virus Home Edition and Spybot Resident active at all times, and I have the option of turning on part or all of Windows Vista's vast and sometimes obnoxious array of security measures. I have NoScript for Firefox and have to manually approve domain names that are allowed to run scripts or give me cookies. I use Gmail on the web exclusively so no e-mail ever hits my hard drive. Could someone tell me what is the minimum amount of protection required while using the Internet over an unsecured wireless connection? I'm not worried about leaking sensitive data, just about something getting into my computer without me knowing about it.

I like to think I'm pretty competent about these things, so to save performance, I want to leave off the extra bits that just mitigate user error. If I click the button that secretly means "install virus now," I should just have known better.

Thanks.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Fathom Zero Fathom Zero is offline
frappez le cochon rouge
Fathom Zero's Avatar
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: cancer
Fathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contestFathom Zero won the popularity contest
Old Nov 1st, 2007, 07:52 PM       
Well, it's not your connection, so don't worry about it. Regard it as if it were your own and take the similar precautions. Unless, of course, they discover you're hogging bandwidth and block you. Not much else they can do, unless you allow access to your computer while on a network.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

   


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:25 AM.


© 2008 I-Mockery.com
Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.