General questions about VPNs and computer security

Let's hope you don't fall for that trap. And I'm a little unsure why you think this will hide your activities. I can only guess you haven't read much about honey pots, the FBI Going Dark program and such?
Bob

Infected twice so far? If so, you can have multiples.

Have you checked for that? That may be your real issue.

Hi, here's the deal. A VPN only secures your connection between your computer and some server somewhere. Lets say you have a server at home or at work that you want to access from a coffeeshop or a hotel, then a VPN is the way to do that. But using a VPN by itself isn't going to keep you any safer from viruses while being online.

So now we should walk through some tests to see what the issue might be:

1) Is your Windows Firewall and router firewall set up properly? You can check by using the site Shield's Up (http://lifehacker.com/5511734/shieldsup-tests-your-firewall-for-vulnerabilities) to probe the first 1,000 ports on your computer. It's far from a comprehensive scan, but if you run it and see red or blue, then your firewalls aren't configured properly.

2) It might be worth replacing MS Security Essentials. A recent review rated Kapersky and Avast as the best antivirus products. Honestly, the "best" antivirus changes by day and based on the threat, but it might be worth giving them a try. https://www.nsslabs.com/reports/consumer-avepp-comparative-analysis-exploit-protection

3) How often do your run Malwarebytes scans? Making it part of your weekly routine is a good idea.

4) Have you changed the password on BOTH your router and your machine so they're non-default and strong? If not, do so immediately.

5) The most likely path for malware getting on to your machine is from clicking on a link in an email, opening an email attachment, or clicking on a link on sites like Facebook or Twitter. You really shouldn't click on any links in email, but instead go directly to the site that the email links to. Take this phishing quiz to see how good you are at recognizing attacks in email: http://www.opendns.com/phishing-quiz/. You should research some of your privacy options in Facebook, too -- plenty posted online about that.

6) If you're worried about privacy while browsing, you should use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Also get extensions / add-ons AdBlock Plus, Ghostery, and WOT (Web of Trust). Those three will give you a lot more visibility and control over what websites are doing.

7) Answer this question in your head -- have you installed any pirated software, and downloaded any pirated movies on the internet? If so, that's a very likely way for malware to get onto your machine. Cut it out.
Your ISP can pretty much see everything you do. If you connect to websites using HTTPS (type "https://" in your address bar), then they can still see where you go, but they can't see the content of what you access. If you *really* want to be sure that what you're doing is private, check out ToR (https://www.torproject.org/).

Good luck, hope that helps.
Josh

AdeliaRisk


Note: This post was edited by a forum moderator to remove signature link which is prohibited in these forums on 11/08/2012 at 9:00 AM PT