<p>Well, this question isnt really related to Duke, but Im gonna be a student so I figured yall could help me out.</p>
<p>I just got my laptop, and I was wondering, do laptops also need internet security programs (i.e. Norton Antivirus, etc), like PC's do? You know...for the wireless internet I'm gonna get at Duke and all. If so...that seems to be a heck of a lot to pay again since I already have to pay yearly for my home PC.</p>
<p>Any help? And if this is a blantantly obvious question, sorry. I'm not a tech kind of guy hahaha</p>
<p>Yes they definitely do. BUT I believe you can get McAfee for free through OIT. Can you not just use the account you have at home to download it on your laptop? Because that's what I do.</p>
<p>My suggestion is that you also use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, if you don't already. Much safer.</p>
<p>Wired or wireless, its still the internet, and it still has viruses galore. As loveduke said, you can get free antivirus protection from OIT : <a href="http://www.oit.duke.edu/site/software/mcafee.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.oit.duke.edu/site/software/mcafee.html</a></p>
<p>Other protections include regularly scanning with Adaware and Spybot S&D: <a href="http://www.security.duke.edu/security-tools.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.security.duke.edu/security-tools.html</a></p>
<p>And if possible, use Firefox or Opera instead of Internet Explorer, and avoid using Microsoft Outlook for email.</p>
<p>Haha thanks for the heads up...especially with the free antivirus software.
And viewing the website and the responses kinda opens up another set of questions I have haha...</p>
<p>Under the free (woohoo!) software section of Duke OIT (<a href="http://www.oit.duke.edu/site/software.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.oit.duke.edu/site/software.html</a>) it has the "Security, SSH/SFTP and Firewalls" section with a bunch of security links. Any in particular I should download for a regular laptop? Keep in mind I really don't know what they mean haha...I just know its good to have a firewall or whatever.</p>
<p>By the way, what makes the Firefox browser so much better than IE? </p>
<p>And no worries, I dont use Outlook for mail</p>
<p>...Sorry for the questions again...just wanna make sure with a $1500 investment in my laptop, that its well protected :D</p>
<p>Okay.</p>
<p>1.) Get the Kerio Firewall software from OIT.</p>
<p>2.) I personally use Trend Micro's Housecall for antivirus - always up to date, very fast, and no software running on your computer. Also 100% free.</p>
<p>3.) Use Spybot S&D. Also free, available for downloading at cnet.com. Do NOT use this with Lavasoft's Ad-Aware - pick one or the other (either works), otherwise they will partially neutralize each other and neither will be 100% useful.</p>
<p>4.) Find a "Registry Cleaner" if you can. I use "Registry Mechanic", but I forget whether I had to pay for it or not.</p>
<p>
[quote]
1.) Get the Kerio Firewall software from OIT.
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</p>
<p>Ok, I have to disagree. It came pre-installed on my TAP laptop from OIT and it works horribly for me. I have to shut it off if I want to be able to browse the internet at all.</p>
<p>My personal favorite for firewalls is ZoneAlarm (the free version), but it takes a bit of technical knowhow to keep it from blocking things you want to not be blocked. I honestly don't know any others well, though.</p>
<p>Trend Micro for virus scanning is great, too, just you have to remember to go here: <a href="http://housecall.trendmicro.com/%5B/url%5D">http://housecall.trendmicro.com/</a> and run it every once and a while.</p>
<p>Registry cleaners are overrated, Spybot S&D and Adaware should take care of any registry problems. I disagree strongly with the assertion that they'll somehow nullify each other - using both should get you the union of their respective sets of capturable spyware.</p>
<p>Firefox is better than Internet Explorer because more viruses and spyware are designed to work in Internet Explorer due to its higher popularity and lower quality code.</p>
<p>You don't need any of the other security software aside from the firewall, the SSH clients and FTP clients aren't relevant to keeping your computer secure, they're for making connections to other computers.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the $1500 you invest in a laptop won't be lost because of a virus. The worst any publically released virus has ever done is delete all of your files - meaning you just take it in to have everything reinstalled, and start from scratch. The hardware of the laptop won't be damaged in any realistic circumstance.</p>
<p>Can we only download the free Duke software once? What if we get a new computer and need to download it again? Thanks</p>
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have to shut it off if I want to be able to browse the internet at all.
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Heh. Kerio needs some customizing, it's true. Just double click the icon and set it to allow the software you want it to allow.</p>
<p>
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using both should get you the union of their respective sets
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I suppose that it's not personal experience speaking here. This is what Spybot's Readme says (said?), and I never actually tried it.</p>
<p>Sorry, last post wasn't clear. I should have said:</p>
<p>"Yes, I suppose I should have qualified my last post: I don't have any personal experience to speak from. Spybot's Readme says not to use both, and so I never tried. They might well work just fine together."</p>
<p>
[quote]
Heh. Kerio needs some customizing, it's true. Just double click the icon and set it to allow the software you want it to allow.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Even then, it wouldn't let me do stuff like check my email through Gmail. I called OIT about it. They said it was a known problem and that I should turn it off and use something else. I use Sygate, but that was recently bought out by Symantec, so I don't know if their firewall is still free.</p>
<p>Oh, I think what the readme is saying is that, when scanning, one of them may detect the other as spyware because they keep copies of 'fingerprints' of spyware in their directories, so you just need to make sure you don't have one of them delete the other during scanning. I've never had a problem with them erroneously marking anything.</p>
<p>the best firewall is look n stop <a href="http://www.looknstop.com/En/index2.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.looknstop.com/En/index2.htm</a>. it is just as secure if not more secure than all the leading brands, and its memory footprint is tiny.</p>