Put WOT (Web Of Trust) on people's computers?

[JW The Computer Guy]

I install Web Of Trust on all the computers that I work on, to help prevent viruses, spyware, and to worn people of scams, do you do this aswell?

 

[i.t-works]

I do this aswell, many customers are appreciative for the extra protection against malware

 

[PatrickB]

Absolutely! Be sure and turn off the one built into IE so you don't double up.

www.mywot.com

Also, this list may be of interest -- Layer of Security
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=81167&postcount=6

-- Patrick B.

 

[mekon]

Always! Although I am often contacted by clients requesting instructions on how to remove it. What is it they say "you can take a horse to water"?

 

[NickCat11]

I just started doing this as well. I've gotten nothing but positive feedback from customers in regards to this.

 

[Tweak]

Clients tend to like the added safety they feel I find, just a bit of concerned they get too relaxed on things though...time will tell, no matter what you try to teach them somehow they'll make a mess eventually.

I use WOT and Dr. Web as well, scans links before download and easy Firefox addon.

 

[JosephLeo]

Whenever I see a customer who doesn't have a third party web browser installed I always recommend either Firefox or Opera (and soon, Chrome...once it leaves beta). With firefox I install Web of Trust and Adblock Plus. I never really used Opera- so I don't know what to addon for those few customers who pick it. (Tweak, care to give me some suggestions?)

 

[Tweak]

Whenever I see a customer who doesn't have a third party web browser installed I always recommend either Firefox or Opera (and soon, Chrome...once it leaves beta). With firefox I install Web of Trust and Adblock Plus. I never really used Opera- so I don't know what to addon for those few customers who pick it. (Tweak, care to give me some suggestions?)

Opera can use both WOT and Dr Web link scanning, but honestly with Avira installed many times I find that it finds things while surfing in Opera and kills for me, it seems to scan Operas cache folder "on the fly" while surfing i guess, I add in urlfilter.ini which blocks adds and otherwise I have no issues after years with Opera as it does not have builtin support for activex or vbs scripts the way IE would it is thus already more secure "out of the box". Hope that helps some, I'll do my best to help with more questions in this area, I don't like to use FF personally and prefer ONLY to use Opera, FF & IEI use to make comparisons on occasion though.


urlfilter.ini-Opera: http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/opera/

WOT-Opera: http://www.mywot.com/en/blog/wot-bookmarklet-for-safari-and-opera

Dr Web-Opera: http://www.freedrweb.com/linkchecker/opera/
IE/FF/Opera: http://www.freedrweb.com/linkchecker/

I posted a few apps as an all in one solution that would suit most people a few weeks back which included these as well.

 

[ComputerClinic]

I install this after every malware removal. Customers love the guidance it provides as well as the simplicity. However, I make sure that they understand that it is not perfect and it shouldn't be the only thing they rely on. I tell them that if the MUST visit a red or yellow site to be sure to do a scan with MBAM after wards.I explain that unrated sites are risky as well and to stay away from them unless its a local business.

Basically I go out of my way to explain as much as I can to every client after a malware removal or tune-up. Since these services are flat rate I'm not making any extra money for doing so. Once my podcast is up I won't have to spend extra time teaching these things and I will just refer them to my podcast.

 

[Tweak]

To expand on the post I made above I was free to sit around today after routine surgery yesterday and found some interesting and somewhat useful things I figured I'd share...

http://www.linkextend.com/

http://toolbar.netcraft.com/

http://www.mywot.com/ already known, just in the list

http://www.requestpolicy.com/

http://interclue.com/

Unsure but interesting...sadly only for 32bit....

http://www.artificialdynamics.com/content/products/personal-edition.aspx

 

[NickCat11]

Thanks for the links Tweak. Hope you're feeling better today.

 

[Tweak]

Thanks for the links Tweak. Hope you're feeling better today.

Thank you Nick, hopefully someone finds the info useful, I think if you were to install them (WOT, Linkextend, Netcraft) and show the client how to use them after you have used them enough to offer them info you'll probably find that they have less issues and an overall more pleasant experience, I also like the preview option offered by Interclue, for the first time since ever I like FF a little more, but still not more than Opera.

I find that a malicious popup in Opera I can fairly easily close without any damage done but with IE or FF the same action is either not possible in the same way or results in more of an issue.

 

[PatrickB]

Thanks for the pointer to SafeSpace by Artificial Dynamics, Tweak. I did not know about it. After reading up on it, it appears to have the same functionality as Sandboxie, http://www.sandboxie.com/. Neither of them works with 64-bit Windows due to the Microsoft "PatchGuard" technology. You can read a little more about this in the transcript of the Security Now podcast #175.

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif,MS Sans Serif]Steve: Everybody who is interested in 64-bitness has been concerned about this. In the second case, Peter is using a 32-bit system, but he can foresee the day that he'll be migrating to a 64-bit platform, probably Vista. And so he's unhappy that he'll be unable to use Sandboxie there. And our first questioner says he's already on Vista 64 and can't use it at all. It causes a - first of all, we got a huge amount of our listeners who wrote in, said wait a minute, how can this be? How can it not work in 64 bits? And over in Sandboxie's own forums this is a real sore point.

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif,MS Sans Serif]I've discussed it with Ronen. And he's not at all happy with Windows, or with Microsoft over this. But it is an absolute fact of what PatchGuard does. In order for Sandboxie to do its sandboxing, which is completely different from the way Windows operates, Windows has no inherent capability to, like, to create sort of this forked caching area, which as I described Sandboxie is the way it works, is when it opens a file or even a registry region where it wants to make some changes, those changes are caught and written instead into the so-called "sandbox," which is just a set of files sort of off to the side. And then any reads are intercepted and fed back from the sandbox. So the application sees that it's written, even though it's only written to a private copy, essentially. It creates like a little private fork off of the operating system where all the changes go. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif,MS Sans Serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif,MS Sans Serif]To do this you absolutely, because there's no facility built into Windows to allow this, you have to intercept Windows, the API, the Application Programming Interface in the kernel and essentially filter, is the term, filter those things like file reading and writing, and registry key opening and reading and writing, and all the various things that applications might do to modify the system. You have to insert yourself down there and intercept those. Well, that is also, unfortunately, exactly what rootkits do, is hook the kernel in order to hide themselves. So exactly what PatchGuard is designed to prevent, and it does very effectively, is what Sandboxie needs to do in order to do its job. So there's a complete collision. [/FONT]

-- PatrickB

 

[Tweak]

Thanks for the pointer to SafeSpace by Artificial Dynamics, Tweak. I did not know about it. After reading up on it, it appears to have the same functionality as Sandboxie, http://www.sandboxie.com/. Neither of them works with 64-bit Windows due to the Microsoft "PatchGuard" technology. You can read a little more about this in the transcript of the Security Now podcast #175.



-- PatrickB

Glad you found it interesting...I am hopeful GesWall or someone does eventually create a useful tool along these lines for 64bit systems as well. GesWall as i understand it I think have plans for this, I eagerly await that time.

 

[neoezekiel]

I tend towards WOT and Dr. Web also, I prefer to ask customers before I install them though. They really like the added security and love that I ask permission first, I guess it helps with building rapport with the customer which is really important because I work on a referral only basis.

I usually recommend Ice Weasel over Fire Fox because of the speed differences, Ice Weasel for those who do not know is based on Fire Fox after a lot of cleanup.

 

[Tweak]

I usually recommend Ice Weasel over Fire Fox because of the speed differences, Ice Weasel for those who do not know is based on Fire Fox after a lot of cleanup.

Care to provide more info on Ice Weasel? Where in WS are you or what business are you with, my doctors are based in WS so I am there often throughout the year (and past 20 yrs).

As a side note I like K-Meleon over FF in that it seems stripped down and faster than FF, but again as so many times before I primarily use and prefer Opera.