yep and that is why I use Linux, plus any thing I need to do, office wise, photo edit wise, all the software is open source... aka Free! why pay for photoshop when ya get gimp free in linux. why pay $200.00 for micro soft office when you can get open office free.
just because it has hacker programs in the software, don't mean I use them. just like if you have a sports car, don't mean you will always drive 150 m.p.h.

also linuxs you can have mutlipule desk tops. trust me you get use to having more then one desk top you will never go back.

Linux. only thing good about norton or mcefee is the marketing, down load avast, it free and it works.

but the best is Linux systems, they do not get Viruses.

Not yet. But like I said there is always a back door. Hackers for the most part do not hack linux out of respect
They can.

Remember PGP? One of the 3 letter Government agencies took the creator to court to force him to give up the key.
I am telling you nothing is secure once it leaves your four walls.

As I said; get a Mac.
Of course they are not impenetrable, but in 30 years of using them, both at home and in the business, I've never had a virus or worm in any way incapacitate my system.
I run a an anti-virus system in the background which picks up stuff in spam emails which I don't open anyway.
Macs just work, always been plug and play, system software updates simple - yup, they just work.
Unlike my one PC I have to run in the office, upgrades always a nightmare, hours of tech support etc. Just never understood those masochistic PC people.

I've bought two because my son and daughter wanted one. "The Macs are better." They became disillusioned with them.
They built themselves a PC each. They were so much better I had them build me one.
An out of the box PC comes loaded up with a lot of crap you don't need that slows them down.

In an earlier post... the question of how to have a secure computer was asked...

Here is something I am watching:

A friend (who makes his living online), found a program he downloaded and is fiddling with: It is just a simple outbound firewall... that allows you to literally monitor EVERY port individually, and monitor everything that attempts to go out of your box.

The idea seems good... however I am sure there is a hole in it somewhere...
Anyone have any thoughts on this?

BTW: Something I have noticed: Since this 'cloud' thingy came along... most of the security suites no longer have outbound firewalls... it kinda gets in the way of the cloud....
YET it also gets in the way of hackers getting data from your box... whether those hackers are from Romania or DC... (ooops).

I have it from a best friend way up in the US cybersecurity echelons that there really is no way to secure your system, whether from the guys in DC, Romania, or China. (If you read a book Worm: The first Digital World War by Mark Bowden of Black Hawk Down fame, the book is largely about this high school buddy of mine).
Clearly if huge defense and civilian corporations are unable to, then none of us are.The key concept according to him is to have one separate basic computer that gets turned on and only gets used for banking and nothing else - no other email, no other internet use. It is then turned off after use. Of course follow good practices with Passwords and use of programs like 1Password. At least in this way one can best secure access to your money online. Of course this is also not infallible. Everything else you do online is a total crap shoot. If you are a about it you are better off keeping your money under your bed or you will go down in flames and you will be crying

Yeah, I have heard that you shouldn't leave your computer running 24/7 if you can help it, and not connected to the net all the time if you are away from it for extended periods (personal home computers) because hackers can fiddle with it while you are away and it is unattended.... and don't have your puter connect automatically on start up.... have a password to connect.... a pain in the butt.... but hackers cant get your computer to start and connect while you aren't there....

Loftus and Muz...

On the separate box... I am gonna do that soon. Did it in the past... have let my computer software go downhill in the last year or so.
Maybe a Linux box for financial stuff? A thought to investigate... online trading is part of financial stuff for me.

On the powering down the computer: My box is set so the screen saver comes on in 5 minutes with no activity. When the screen saver comes on, the internet is locked out (well, according to Windows). This is part of why I am looking at the separate outbound firewall... to control what goes out, and when.

Any input anyone knows... would be most appreciated!

GA

For online trading I have Visa debit card and only put in what has to be sent right then.... might leave $50 or so in it.... I wouldn't be happy to give anyone my credit card details. .. I do enough damage to that myself. ... don't need any help thanks

You have to assume your box is accessible to others, no matter what Windows, Mac, or Linux say. That's why a box with minimum bells and whistles that never does anything besides communicate with whatever financial institutions you have to deal with, and is only on when you are dealing with them is the safest approach. Unfortunately hackers have even been able to interface between institutions like banks and clients by inserting themselves between the two and falsifying the certificates.
As far as personal info is concerned it's highly likely that for most of us our personal info with social security number etc, etc is already out there.
The cybersleuths in gubbamint have pretty much moved on from trying to protect personal info, their obsession these days is with cyberwarfare.

yeah Obama don't like it when you expose his crimes or look into his real past. just ask Snowden about that one.

I support Anonymous,because they do try and make a differance, at least most do. I first heard about them on fox news several years ago when the exposed a bunch of rapists in a town in Ohio that was protecting their foot ball team. they found and recovered the rape videos and then went after the cops for trying to cover it up.

since then they have gone after and exposed many other bad people. now that said, there are some Anon's that support things I don't believe in. But Anonymous is a hacktivist group, using hacking skills for activism. the bad hackers are the nigerians, and Romainians and our own U.S. government.
My only involvment with them is following them on twitter and retweeting info.

I have learned our Government has hidden more things then you really ever want to know about. Snowden is only one of many that has exposed the coruption and pissed off the Government.

I also think these reports of a lot of the hacking from other countrys are not as much as the Government wants us to think. I think some are false flags to get more anti hacking laws passed,so they can go after people that have been exposeing them.
think about it, our government must have a lot to hide if they are going after 15 year old hackers for doing file dumps that expose them. or doing DDOS attacks that knock out the websites.

IMO THE most anger you can incur from someone... is when they think they have it all working (illegally, of course)... and you expose them and their empire is compromised.

IMO the federal govt (well all govts) fall under this role...
Which is why we should never trust polecats...
And change them often... like we did last week...