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#1
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
Some recent posts in other threads in alt.home.repair indicate that
there is some lack of awareness of the need for browser extensions and applications to manage privacy. Especially evident is that many people never change the default privacy settings on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook leading them to believe that these sites should be avoided. The reality is that the default settings for just about every social media application are designed to maximize revenue for the owner. But fixing this only takes a couple of minutes. The site owners are counting on users being lazy and clueless and they are thrilled that this describes most of their users! There are also simple steps you can take to block tracking on all sites and to prevent redirection to malware sites. Here is what I do. If I have missed anything, or anyone has other suggestions, please post them. 1. Install Adblock Plus: https://adblockplus.org/. This blocks most ads but some ads are deeply embedded. For Android devices you have to sideload it because Google's Play Store has banned it, see https://adblockplus.org/en/android-install. For iOS devices see https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adblock-browser-for-idevices/id537774578?mt=8 2. Modify your Hosts file with the text file at http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt. This prevents browsers from being able to navigate to spam and tracking sites. Many links in web sites are not as they appear and rather than navigating directly to the site that is shown they first go to a tracking site like Google Ad Services. With a proper Hosts file you'll get a "Server Not Found" message. The method for modifying the Hosts file is different for Windows, OS-X, and Linux systems. See http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm for instructions. 3. Block tracking with Ghostery https://www.ghostery.com/en/ and Disconnect https://disconnect.me/disconnect. For mobile devices use Disconnect Mobile https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-malvertising also called "Disconnect malvertising. Google banned it from the Play Store so it needs to be sideloaded. blocks malicious ads that track your activities, blocks malware disguised as ads, and offers protection against suspected malware sites. 4. Install Malwarebytes. The free version is fine, but the automated periodic scanning of the paid version is nice. 5. Install Avast Free or Microsoft Security Essentials; avoid McAfee and Norton at all costs. 6. If you use Facebook, install FB Purity, http://www.fbpurity.com/. "F.B. (Fluff Busting) Purity is a Facebook customizing browser extension. It alters your view of Facebook to show only relevant information to you. It lets you remove the annoying and irrelevant stories from your newsfeed such as game and application spam, ads and sponsored stories. It also hides the boxes you don't want to see on each side of the newsfeed." 7. Be extremely careful when installing any freeware to not accept the default installation which will often try to install malware like the Ask Toolbar and McAfee, and will try to change your search engine. 8. Ensure that Norton and McAfee are completely removed from your system. Even after you uninstall it there can be bits and pieces that remain. See http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/completely-remove-norton-mcafee-computer/ 9. Carefully select privacy settings in social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. The defaults are NOT why you want! Use the following guides: a) Facebook: http://www.sophos.com/en-us/security-news-trends/best-practices/facebook.aspx. Remember to install FB Purity. b) LinkedIn: Privacy & Settings ------------------ ’ Turn off Activity Broadcasts Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Manage Turn on/off your activity broadcasts uncheck box Save changes ’ Specify who can see your Activity Feed. It should not be "Everyone" it should be only "Your network or "Your connections." Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Manage Select who can see your activity feed choose "Your connections" or "Your network" Save changes ’ Turn off notifying others when you've looked at their profile. Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Manage Select what others see when you've viewed their profile select "Totally anonymous" Save changes ’ Select who can see your connections Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Manage Select who can see your connections choose "Your connections" Save changes (there's not much point on being on LinkedIn if you choose "Only you" ’ Choose who can follow your updates Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Manage Choose who can follow your updates choose "Your connections" Save changes ’ Turn off cookie tracking Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Account Manage Advertising Preferences Manage Uncheck Box Save changes Communications -------------- ’ Turn off Partner e-mail Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Account Communications Turn on/off partner InMail Uncheck Both Boxes Save changes ’ Select the types of messages you're willing to receive Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Account Communications Select the types of messages you're willing to receive Make appropriate choices for you Save changes ’ Turn off invitations to participate in research. Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Account Communications Turn on/off invitations to participate in research Uncheck Box Save changes ’ Set push notification settings Account & Settings Privacy & Settings Account Communications Set push notification settings Make appropriate choices for you Save changes |
#2
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 01/30/2015 10:42 AM, SMS wrote:
.... 5. Install Avast Free or Microsoft Security Essentials; avoid McAfee and Norton at all costs. .... Avast works but it's awfully naggy about pushing their for-pay products. I've about reached limits of my patience but haven't taken the time to do anything about it yet... -- |
#3
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
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#4
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:22:27 -0500, Frank
wrote: adbloc on Firefox browser keeps a lot of the trash out. ....also see NoScript https://noscript.net/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzBqnLgOzwM |
#5
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 3:05 PM, Oren wrote:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:22:27 -0500, Frank wrote: adbloc on Firefox browser keeps a lot of the trash out. ...also see NoScript https://noscript.net/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzBqnLgOzwM Looks interesting. All I have is Adblock Plus which keeps out most of the crap and I don't have to interact with it. |
#6
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I want a man
"SMS" wrote in message
... Hello. I am SMS, and I'm a fully gay man who likes to go AC/DC. I want to be your friend. |
#7
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
"Oren" wrote in message
... I ****ed his mother. |
#8
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 1:44 PM, dpb wrote:
Avast works but it's awfully naggy about pushing their for-pay products. I've about reached limits of my patience but haven't taken the time to do anything about it yet... I went to control panel and removed AVG tune up 2015, kept nagging me for money. C cleaner does much same. They just nag me for updates. Sigh. - .. Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .. www.lds.org .. .. |
#9
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 12:24 PM, Frank wrote:
On 1/30/2015 3:05 PM, Oren wrote: On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:22:27 -0500, Frank wrote: adbloc on Firefox browser keeps a lot of the trash out. ...also see NoScript https://noscript.net/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzBqnLgOzwM Looks interesting. All I have is Adblock Plus which keeps out most of the crap and I don't have to interact with it. I think the "ScriptSafe" Chrome extension does the same thing as NoScript on Firefox https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/scriptsafe/oiigbmnaadbkfbmpbfijlflahbdbdgdf?hl=en. The ScriptSafe author also recommends Ghostery, Disconnect, DoNotTrackMe, and Adblock Plus. I haven't used DoNotTrackMe. Anyone's computer that I manage, i.e. kids, spouse, relatives, I install Ghostery, Adblock Plus, Disconnect, FB Purity, and Malware Bytes. Microsoft Security Essentials is really adequate for virus protection. I also always do a full uninstall of McAfee and Norton. Here is some of what's wrong with Norton: http://www.7tutorials.com/security-everyone-reviewing-norton-internet-security-2014 |
#10
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
You don't say what "accounts and settings is. It
looks like settings for a cellphone. given what you said about AV I'd assumed you were talking about Windows. A couple of thoughts: * I'd agree about avoiding anything from Symantec. It's all bloated junk. Avira causes too many false positives. I've installed Avast for friends, as the lesser of the evils. Personally I don't use AV and would never use Malwarebytes. It's not that I don't think people should use them. It's just that they take a lot of resources and don't work very well. The whole idea is outdated. But for people who don't know how to protect from malware, AV is better than nothing. * Cookies: A lot of sites won't work without cookies, but they don't have to be a privacy problem. In Firefox one can block 3rd-party cookies and set it to delete all cookies when FF is closed. * LinkedIn, Facebook: No one who cares about privacy at all could possibly use LinkedIn or Facebook or GMail or Chrome or anything else from Google. That's the simple fact of the matter. You can't live your life online, hosted by sleazy advertising companies, and then expect to protect your privacy. Also, LinkedIn is especially sleazy with spam. They trick members into sharing their address books. A number of times I've got spam from them sayying that someone wants me to join LinkedIn, yet that someone knew nothing about it. |
#11
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 7:20 PM, Mayayana wrote:
You don't say what "accounts and settings is. It looks like settings for a cellphone. given what you said about AV I'd assumed you were talking about Windows. A couple of thoughts: * I'd agree about avoiding anything from Symantec. It's all bloated junk. Avira causes too many false positives. I've installed Avast for friends, as the lesser of the evils. Personally I don't use AV and would never use Malwarebytes. It's not that I don't think people should use them. It's just that they take a lot of resources and don't work very well. The whole idea is outdated. But for people who don't know how to protect from malware, AV is better than nothing. * Cookies: A lot of sites won't work without cookies, but they don't have to be a privacy problem. In Firefox one can block 3rd-party cookies and set it to delete all cookies when FF is closed. * LinkedIn, Facebook: No one who cares about privacy at all could possibly use LinkedIn or Facebook or GMail or Chrome or anything else from Google. That's the simple fact of the matter. They only compromise privacy as much as users allow them to. The default settings are awful and need to be changed but they know that few users will take the time to do so. Tracking needs to be disabled and advertising needs to be blocked. It's not all that different than putting yourself on the Do Not Call list, filtering out the problem posters and tea-baggers on alt.home.repair and other Usenet groups, having an unlisted phone number, and opting out of direct mail advertising. Yes it requires a small amount of effort, but there are benefits to sites like LinkedIn as well. |
#12
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
| * LinkedIn, Facebook: No one who cares about privacy
| at all could possibly use LinkedIn or Facebook or GMail | or Chrome or anything else from Google. That's the simple | fact of the matter. | | They only compromise privacy as much as users allow them to. The default | settings are awful and need to be changed but they know that few users | will take the time to do so. Tracking needs to be disabled and | advertising needs to be blocked. It's not all that different than | putting yourself on the Do Not Call list, filtering out the problem | posters and tea-baggers on alt.home.repair and other Usenet groups, | having an unlisted phone number, and opting out of direct mail | advertising. Yes it requires a small amount of effort, but there are | benefits to sites like LinkedIn as well. | Putting yourself on the Do Not Call list does not involve first publishing details of your private life. With LinkedIn you're voluntarily posting your resume. With Facebook you're allowing an advertising company to host much of your social life. I'm continually astonished that people go along with that. But it's not entirely mysterious. Online ad companies have used two very successful strategies: 1) Bring on the sleaze very slowly. (When Facebook first came out it was presented as just a free, personal bulletin board. Though "Zuck" himself famously said something to the effect that people were idiots for signing up. And that was back in his Harvard days. Google, likewise, started as an honest company that seemed almost heroic in the face of sleazy Microsoft. They made plenty of money running an honest business with contextual ads and no spying.... That was then.) 2) Do everything possible to support peoples' laziness. Most people *want* to not know about the sleaze because they like the service. It's a don't-ask-don't- tell approach. As Herbert Marcuse famously described much of what goes on in American culture, there's a "toilet assumption". If you can't see it, it's not there. Many people want to use these services. That's up to them. If you want to believe you can also maintain privacy that's up to you. But when you start telling people they can maintain privacy just by setting Zuck's ever- changing privacy settings you're misleading not only yourself but also others. First, most people simply can't manage to adjust settings like that. It's not that they're stupid. The settings just tend to be complex, deliberately obfuscated and require some study to understand. Computers in general also require a kind of linear thinking that many people are uncomfortable with. Second, it's nearly impossible to even know what you're dealing with. Did you know that Facebook has buttons on most major websites, and that those buttons are set in invisible iframes? An iframe is an HTML tag. The gist of it is that the Facebook button you see on, say, nyt.com is actually a webpage that you are tricked into visiting. That allows Facebook to run script, set 1st-party cookies, and track your image loading on almost every site you visit. If you're also a Facebook member they'll have no trouble connecting that data to you, so that they know almost everything you do online. They're already working on that as part of their advertising business -- to sell you out to advertisers on a far more broad scale than just in terms of what you actually post to Facebook itself. They want to track patterns between the ads they show you and what you buy, so that they can then claim to have evidence that their ads work.... justifying high ad rates. How do you deal with that? Did you know about iframes? Did you know Facebook uses them? Do you block all frames in webpages? If you do then many sites won't work. If you don't then how can you stop their tracking? The only hope would be to put facebook in your HOSTS file. But you can't do that and still post your vacation pictures for "everyone and his brother" to look at. Facebook buttons in iframes is just one small example of an increasingly ingenious and dishonest trend toward spying on you constantly, selling you out to both business and gov't. The strategy employs some very obscure tactics: Iframes, supercookies, Flash cookies, unique browser ID derived from the accept header that the browser sends to websites.... That's assuming you already block the worst problems: script and cookies. But you clearly don't because if you did you wouldn't be able to use Facebook. What I'm trying to say is that you don't know how much you don't know. Yet you think you're protecting your privacy by having made "a small amount of effort". Most people simply won't make the effort you've made. They'll shoot the messenger, teasing you about tin foil hats. Anyone who does make the effort will be misled by your instructions into thinking that their privacy can be assured given a few minutes of effort. I can at least understand the motives of people who are lazy and don't want to know how bad it all is. But you're lying to yourself more than they are, thinking you're protecting privacy while you willingly have an advertising company host your social life! I have a privacy tips page I make available for people who are interested. But even that is just a start. It's a big topic: http://www.jsware.net/jsware/privacytips.php5 In ending my little diatribe, allow me to leave you with a rather chilling quote from that page. This is something I saw quoted from Sheryl Sandberg, the CEO of Facebook. She said that Facebook "enables brands to find their voices and to have genuine, personal relationships with their customers" ... "to make marketing truly social". She's defining spyware-based corporate advertising as a warm and fuzzy service that makes social connections. In other words, Pepsi and Ford are your good friends, and Sheryl is such a dear that she's going to help you connect with each other, for free! These people are poorly socialized, amoral individuals. If they were just crooks the whole thing would be easier. It's far more insidious than that. They like to think they're doing good while they grab money with both hands. |
#13
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/31/2015 9:59 AM, Mayayana wrote:
She's defining spyware-based corporate advertising as a warm and fuzzy service that makes social connections. In other words, Pepsi and Ford are your good friends, and Sheryl is such a dear that she's going to help you connect with each other, for free! These people are poorly socialized, amoral individuals. If they were just crooks the whole thing would be easier. It's far more insidious than that. They like to think they're doing good while they grab money with both hands. At least Pepsi and Ford don't threaten to send police and troopers with guns, to lock me in jail if I fail to pay my taxes^h^h^h^h^h Pepsi money that someone else decided how much I should send. - .. Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .. www.lds.org .. .. |
#14
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/31/2015 6:59 AM, Mayayana wrote:
| * LinkedIn, Facebook: No one who cares about privacy | at all could possibly use LinkedIn or Facebook or GMail | or Chrome or anything else from Google. That's the simple | fact of the matter. | | They only compromise privacy as much as users allow them to. The default | settings are awful and need to be changed but they know that few users | will take the time to do so. Tracking needs to be disabled and | advertising needs to be blocked. It's not all that different than | putting yourself on the Do Not Call list, filtering out the problem | posters and tea-baggers on alt.home.repair and other Usenet groups, | having an unlisted phone number, and opting out of direct mail | advertising. Yes it requires a small amount of effort, but there are | benefits to sites like LinkedIn as well. | Putting yourself on the Do Not Call list does not involve first publishing details of your private life. With LinkedIn you're voluntarily posting your resume. With Facebook you're allowing an advertising company to host much of your social life. I'm continually astonished that people go along with that. But it's not entirely mysterious. Online ad companies have used two very successful strategies: On Facebook, you're only sharing as much of your life as you want to share. You don't have to give your real birthday or real life history and you probably should not do so just because of the risk of identity theft. Facebook has proven to be invaluable as a broadcast tool for school organizations and you can have closed groups which are open by invitation only. I.e. my son's marching band does most of their communications via Facebook including posting videos of competitions, notices of practices and rehearsals, etc. To do that with e-mail would be a real pain in the butt. |
#15
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
| Facebook has proven to be invaluable as a broadcast tool for school
| organizations and you can have closed groups which are open by | invitation only. I.e. my son's marching band does most of their | communications via Facebook including posting videos of competitions, | notices of practices and rehearsals, etc. To do that with e-mail would | be a real pain in the butt. | They could have a website. They could talk to each other. Facebook, in that case, is being used because the school faculty are just too lazy to set up a website. There's no excuse for setting up children with an advertising company. If they had a website the kids could also learn a bit about doing webpages. I'm not denying that Facebook can be useful. I'm saying it's sleazy and fundamentally disempowering; not a good example to set for kids. It wasn't so long ago that people were playing with having their own websites on space offered by their ISPs. Now, just a few years later, most people think of the Internet as a "consumer" service. Just as kids are growing up in malls instead of in neighbors' back yards or in the town square, they're also growing up in a commercial version of the Internet that doesn't belong to them. You seem to be technically sophisticated. Why not help the kids set up their own website? They can learn HTML, how to manage a server, digital graphics.... and it can be whatever they want, with no corporate spying. I have a friend who's a grade school teacher and is being pressured to start a Twitter account, in order to announce "stuff" daily to kids and parents, so that the parents can feel involved. The lack of both imagination and integrity in such a directive is pitiful. |
#16
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 17:52:42 -0800, SMS
wrote: On Facebook, you're only sharing as much of your life as you want to share. You don't have to give your real birthday or real life history and you probably should not do so just because of the risk of identity theft. Facebook has proven to be invaluable as a broadcast tool for school organizations and you can have closed groups which are open by invitation only. I.e. my son's marching band does most of their communications via Facebook including posting videos of competitions, notices of practices and rehearsals, etc. To do that with e-mail would be a real pain in the butt. I dont agree. Before facebook, email lists were common. All that band would need to do is create an Addressbook for all band members, and send out a notice to all of them at once. JPG omages can easily be sent to the email list also. While I suppose videos can also be sent by email, It's probably easier to just post them to a common website, which almost every ISP have for free. Making a simple website with nothing but the band's name and a few lines of text, and a place to post videos is probably easier than setting up a facebook acct. (and a lot safer). By the way, since Facebook has a link on damn near every website these days, you dont need all sorts of software to block them. Windows has a file called "HOSTS". I have facebook blocked and I never see their crap on websites, I just see a box that says "cannot connect to facebook". Since facebook uses around 25 different links to spam the internet, I have about 25 entries in my HOSTS file, just for them, and have more for Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social network sites, and also blocks for many dangerous sites and advertising sites such as "doubleclick". I'm assuming Windows 8.xx still has a HOSTS file.... My newest OS is XP. The hosts file was used in Window 98 and up (maybe Win95 too). If I had kids in school, I'd be really ****ed if they made my kid use facebook, espacially when I have it blocked. |
#17
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 11:42 AM, SMS wrote:
5. Install Avast Free or Microsoft Security Essentials; avoid McAfee and Norton at all costs. MSE is the BASELINE for other antivirus software! Norton is one of the best antivirus programs on the market. McAfee isn't as good as Norton (IMO), but it is still very good. Some people get Norton or McAfee for free with their ISP. I would use one of those IF you can get it for free. If not, I would go with Avast, Avira, AVG, Panda, Comodo, 360 Total Security.....take your pick. Panda is very good, especially for older computers. |
#18
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
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#19
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 10:20 PM, Mayayana wrote:
A couple of thoughts: * I'd agree about avoiding anything from Symantec. It's all bloated junk. Ummmm, no, it's not. |
#20
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
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#21
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
| I don't agree with you. FB is a LOT easier than what you just wrote.
| That's the same response SMS has: "But Facebook is a lot easier." In many ways it probably is. So what? Is your life only about easy? This thread started with talking about ways to protect privacy. This is a perfect example of how scourges like Facebook get going. We all want privacy and security and blah, blah, blah, but.... you mean I'll have to sit up and make a little effort? OK. Never mind. I guess this spying and ads isn't really so bad. |
#22
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
| * I'd agree about avoiding anything from Symantec.
| It's all bloated junk. | | Ummmm, no, it's not. | You've just posted that to three people without any explanation for your opinion. "Is not!" is not a post. It's an outburst. Norton is from Symantec. Symantec first bought of Peter Norton's system utilities. They started out as a good product, but gradually got badly bloated. That's my opinion, but I did use the product for several years in different versions. Symantec bought Clean Sweep from Quarterdeck. The QD product could back up nearly any program into a single file to be moved to another computer. Symantec gutted that functionality and added Clean Sweep to their System Works as an essentially useless, extra fluff utility. Symantec bought the AtGuard firewall, which was the first software I ever bought and is still the best firewall I ever used. It cost $30 at the time, in 1999. Symantec added 700+- default exceptions for software to go in and out. The result was a useless firewall that nevertheless appeared to work smoothly because one never had to understand it or adjust it. (It just let nearly all software through, so there was no muss or fuss. Symantec then sold that mess for $70, double the AtGuard price, calling it Norton Internet Security. That's their typical strategy: Buy a good program, gut it, wrap it in a pretty, cutting edge, techno-kitsch graphical interface, then market it heavily and sell it for a bundle. Symantec bought Drive Image from Powerquest. It was a good disk imaging program that fit onto a floppy. By the time Symantec was through with it, Drive Image was a bloated, useless backup program based on .Net. (Software reviews for Symantec's DI at the time were as bad as my description. .Net is similar to Java. The absurdity of designing a low-level disk utility to run in Java or .Net -- bloated, high-level languages designed for sandboxed web services and thus designed to prevent access to the kind of low-level operations a disk utility performs -- well, I don't know what to say. Their action was inexplicable.) I owned the latter 3 programs before Symantec got their hands on them. Those programs were so badly ruined that I had to wonder if Symantec might be making a back room deal with Microsoft. (Moving software, stopping corporate spyware and online ads, and making disk images for OS backup are all things that MS would prefer not to encourage. They're all things that potentially reduce "consumer" spending and/or corporate earnings.) I used Norton AV for many years, but eventually found that it just required too much resources. (In any case, the whole idea of AV is out-of-date and of little value. Years ago there were thousands of viruses and new definitions came out monthly. These days there are millions of known viruses. New definitions come out in terms of hours, not months. And AV software is comparing all of the files you touch to those millions of unique byte strings. Meanwhile, many of the attacks that happen are not yet known malware.) If you look around online you'll also find that there's a cottage industry built around removing Norton software. The only product of theirs that I did think was quite good was their "speed disk" defragger. So, those are my reasons for saying Norton is bloated junk. If you're going to claim "Is not!" then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that you'd also have some reason for that opinion that you can explain. |
#23
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On Sun, 1 Feb 2015 09:59:40 -0500, "Mayayana"
wrote: Symantec bought Drive Image from Powerquest. It was a good disk imaging program that fit onto a floppy. By the time Symantec was through with it, Drive Image was a bloated, useless backup program based on .Net. (Software reviews for Symantec's DI at the time were as bad as my description. .Net is similar to Java. The absurdity of designing a low-level disk utility to run in Java or .Net -- bloated, high-level languages designed for sandboxed web services and thus designed to prevent access to the kind of low-level operations a disk utility performs -- well, I don't know what to say. Their action was inexplicable.) You forgot to mention one of my favorite programs. "Partition Magic", also made by Powerquest. Symantec bought that and destroyed it. It's now part of one of their costly packages. I dont know which one, nor do I care. I too dont use anything from Symantec either. Fortunately my registered Partition Magic still works fine on XP, as well as Win98 Win2000 and probably WinME. I think ity also worked on Win95. But I dont know if it works on Viata, Win7, or Win8???? (Since I only use XP and still, Win98 too). Actually, I believe Powerquest went out of business after Symentec bought their stuff. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 6:59 AM, Mayayana wrote:
snip If you look around online you'll also find that there's a cottage industry built around removing Norton software. Sometimes their applications are as difficult to remove as the viruses and malware they claim to be preventing. With improvements by Microsoft in Windows, including MSE, the bigger issue for users is preventing tracking, suppressing ads, and managing privacy settings on social media. Fortunately there's also a cottage industry in all of those, much to the dismay of companies like Google and Facebook. Look for apps that Google has banned from the Play Store because they could affect ad revenue; they must be afraid that they have the potential of becoming popular. When I use someone else's computer I am shocked at how bad it is because of their lack of knowledge of how to suppress ads, prevent tracking, and install other vital browser add-ons. It's not because they're stupid, it's because they just don't know about that sort of thing. I really hate reading Usenet with Google Groups because it's more of pain to do filtering. alt.home.repair has its share of problem posters but it's actually much better than some other groups. There are several newsgroup readers that make filtering them out very easy. It's a little work at first but there's a big payoff in readability of groups. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On Sun, 1 Feb 2015 09:26:56 -0500, "Mayayana"
wrote: | I don't agree with you. FB is a LOT easier than what you just wrote. | That's the same response SMS has: "But Facebook is a lot easier." In many ways it probably is. So what? Is your life only about easy? This thread started with talking about ways to protect privacy. This is a perfect example of how scourges like Facebook get going. We all want privacy and security and blah, blah, blah, but.... you mean I'll have to sit up and make a little effort? OK. Never mind. I guess this spying and ads isn't really so bad. Facebook is easy to open an account. But once the account is opened, it's a major pain adjust the settings, which are what is needed to eliminate much of the spying and "open doors" that allow FB to manipulate people's accounts and track what they do. Of course thay make that tough, because they know mist people will just leave the "doors open" and FB can then do whatever they please. I said in another post that I closed my FB account several years ago, and that was after less than a month of opening it. What I did not say, is that I actually do have a current FB account. But it's listed to one of my pets. I only open it from an old computer that I was no longer using. It has Win98, and Firefox 3.x (3.x is the last version of FF that will work on Win98. There is nothing on that computer except Win98 and Firefox. Plus I have some clipart stored on there. FB can access that computer all they want, because they wont find any personal info. The only reason I haev that account is because there are some local rock bands and a few other businesses that I like to get their schedule, and they dont have websites, only FB. And to get on their FB site requires an account. I have never posted anything on that FB page. I just opened it under the pets name, made up an adddress and faked the birthdate. I do not have any "FB friends" I probably use it 3 times a year at most. It's so boring I doubt FB would have any interest in it. And if they do, I dont care. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
| You forgot to mention one of my favorite programs. "Partition Magic",
| also made by Powerquest. Symantec bought that and destroyed it. It's | now part of one of their costly packages. I dont know which one, nor do | I care. I too dont use anything from Symantec either. Fortunately my | registered Partition Magic still works fine on XP, as well as Win98 | Win2000 and probably WinME. I think ity also worked on Win95. But I | dont know if it works on Viata, Win7, or Win8???? (Since I only use XP | and still, Win98 too). | I didn't know they'd also redone PM. I also had that one. Powerquest was sleazy about that. They carefully divided the functionality between two different, overpriced programs, so that neither was quite fully functional by itself. (They even claimed the software was licensed to only one hard disk. $50 for a hard disk and $70 for the utility to partition it!) When I moved to XP I did some research and found BootIt. (I've also used multi-booting for many years.) I've been very happy with that, and it's been updated to handle the differences in Vista+, while still fitting on a floppy -- though I boot it from a CD. Unfortunately, Vista/7 is a bloated mess. An XP image fits on a CD, and that's with most or all of my software installed. The smallest Win7 image I've been able to make requires 2 DVDs. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 9:59 AM, Mayayana wrote:
| * I'd agree about avoiding anything from Symantec. | It's all bloated junk. | | Ummmm, no, it's not. | You've just posted that to three people without any explanation for your opinion. "Is not!" is not a post. It's an outburst. It's self-explanatory. Norton is NOT "bloated junk". Every person that thinks that hasn't used Norton in the past 2 or 3 years. Now, go write another "book". |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 9:26 AM, Mayayana wrote:
| I don't agree with you. FB is a LOT easier than what you just wrote. | That's the same response SMS has: "But Facebook is a lot easier." In many ways it probably is. So what? Is your life only about easy? This thread started with talking about ways to protect privacy. This is a perfect example of how scourges like Facebook get going. We all want privacy and security and blah, blah, blah, but.... you mean I'll have to sit up and make a little effort? OK. Never mind. I guess this spying and ads isn't really so bad. Well you just do whatever keeps you safe and private. Oh, and don't use Google. lol |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
"Ron" wrote in message On 1/30/2015 11:42 AM, SMS wrote: 5. Install Avast Free or Microsoft Security Essentials; avoid McAfee and Norton at all costs. MSE is the BASELINE for other antivirus software! Norton is one of the best antivirus programs on the market. McAfee isn't as good as Norton (IMO), but it is still very good. Some people get Norton or McAfee for free with their ISP. I would use one of those IF you can get it for free. If not, I would go with Avast, Avira, AVG, Panda, Comodo, 360 Total Security.....take your pick. Panda is very good, especially for older computers. Anyone have an opinion on Vipre? |
#31
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 12:26 PM, Phil Kangas wrote:
"Ron" wrote in message On 1/30/2015 11:42 AM, SMS wrote: 5. Install Avast Free or Microsoft Security Essentials; avoid McAfee and Norton at all costs. MSE is the BASELINE for other antivirus software! Norton is one of the best antivirus programs on the market. McAfee isn't as good as Norton (IMO), but it is still very good. Some people get Norton or McAfee for free with their ISP. I would use one of those IF you can get it for free. If not, I would go with Avast, Avira, AVG, Panda, Comodo, 360 Total Security.....take your pick. Panda is very good, especially for older computers. Anyone have an opinion on Vipre? http://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/...ows/windows-8/ http://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/...ows/windows-7/ Doesn't rate very well. |
#32
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 02/01/2015 10:03 AM, wrote:
[snip] I only open it from an old computer that I was no longer using. It has Win98, and Firefox 3.x (3.x is the last version of FF that will work on Win98. [snip] I have such an old computer. It is running ME, which is similar to 98. I have gotten Firefox 9.0.1 to run on it, using http://sourceforge.net/projects/kernelex/ . I then downloaded Firefox from http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php?o...=7113?download Firefox adds some features like SVG graphics and fullscreen support (although you have to enable the second). -- Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.us "Cannot find REALITY.SYS. Universe halted." |
#33
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
| You've just posted that to three people without
| any explanation for your opinion. "Is not!" is not | a post. It's an outburst. | | It's self-explanatory. This is starting to sound like a discussion with a Jehovah's Witness: "We're going to Heaven, and you're not, and that's that. How do we know? It's obvious." |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 1:23 PM, Mayayana wrote:
| You've just posted that to three people without | any explanation for your opinion. "Is not!" is not | a post. It's an outburst. | | It's self-explanatory. This is starting to sound like a discussion with a Jehovah's Witness: "We're going to Heaven, and you're not, and that's that. How do we know? It's obvious." Have a nice day. And don't forget to update Win XP...oh, wait. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 8:03 AM, Mayayana wrote:
| You forgot to mention one of my favorite programs. "Partition Magic", | also made by Powerquest. Symantec bought that and destroyed it. It's | now part of one of their costly packages. I dont know which one, nor do | I care. I too dont use anything from Symantec either. Fortunately my | registered Partition Magic still works fine on XP, as well as Win98 | Win2000 and probably WinME. I think ity also worked on Win95. But I | dont know if it works on Viata, Win7, or Win8???? (Since I only use XP | and still, Win98 too). | I didn't know they'd also redone PM. I also had that one. Powerquest was sleazy about that. They carefully divided the functionality between two different, overpriced programs, so that neither was quite fully functional by itself. (They even claimed the software was licensed to only one hard disk. $50 for a hard disk and $70 for the utility to partition it!) http://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/ is a good replacement for Partition Magic. The free version is sufficient. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 6:59 AM, Mayayana wrote:
If you look around online you'll also find that there's a cottage industry built around removing Norton software. The only product of theirs that I did think was quite good was their "speed disk" defragger. So, those are my reasons for saying Norton is bloated junk. If you're going to claim "Is not!" then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that you'd also have some reason for that opinion that you can explain. The first thing I look for when someone is having performance problems with their computer is to see if Norton products are present. If they are present, or remnants of them are present, they get removed. What I find really amusing is that some stores now offer to remove bloatware like Norton and McAfee, for a fee, on new computers. What a business! Symantec and Intel pay computer makers to install Norton and McAfee and then retailers want customers to pay to have them removed! I recall doing benchmarking for a new tablet computer being designed by Compaq that was using the processor from the company I worked for. I was getting much better scores than Compaq was getting in their labs. But I was installing Windows then running the benchmark. They were installing their corporate Windows image which included Norton. There was a significant difference in performance, not just a couple of percent. |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, Enhancing Facebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On Sun, 01 Feb 2015 09:13:33 -0800, SMS
wrote: Browser add-ons like Ghostery block things like "Facebook Connect." For giggles I installed Ghostery FF add-on this morning out of curiosity. I'm impressed. Opt-in and allow the purple bubble that shows what trackers were blocked from tracking you. https://www.ghostery.com/en/home |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 2/1/2015 1:21 PM, Oren wrote:
On Sun, 01 Feb 2015 09:13:33 -0800, SMS wrote: Browser add-ons like Ghostery block things like "Facebook Connect." For giggles I installed Ghostery FF add-on this morning out of curiosity. I'm impressed. Opt-in and allow the purple bubble that shows what trackers were blocked from tracking you. https://www.ghostery.com/en/home It's amazing just how many different trackers one web site can have! |
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{OT] Preventing Tracking, Blocking Ads, Stopping Malware, EnhancingFacebook, Managing Privacy Settings on Facebook and LinkedIn
On 1/30/2015 7:20 PM, Mayayana wrote:
You don't say what "accounts and settings is. It looks like settings for a cellphone. given what you said about AV I'd assumed you were talking about Windows. A couple of thoughts: * I'd agree about avoiding anything from Symantec. It's all bloated junk. Avira causes too many false positives. I've installed Avast for friends, as the lesser of the evils. Personally I don't use AV and would never use Malwarebytes. It's not that I don't think people should use them. It's just that they take a lot of resources and don't work very well. The whole idea is outdated. But for people who don't know how to protect from malware, AV is better than nothing. A great many users fall into the trap of renewing their Norton or McAfee "protection" every year and then get very defensive when it's pointed out that equivalent, or better, protection is easily available for lower cost, or free. McAfee actually scores pretty well in independent tests. The independent test labs no longer test Symantec because there is no longer a standalone Norton Anti-Virus program. See: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2372364%2c00.asp and http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/avc_sum_201412_en.pdf I recall having to get my late mother off of Norton. She had renewed it and Symantec was not recognizing the renewal ever though she would call them and read them whatever confirmation they had sent. She asked me to go over there to talk to them, since at the time I could see their headquarters from my back yard (they have since moved). I explained to her that no one there would be able to do anything. Malwarebytes seems to use very few resources except when it's doing an actual scan (which in the paid version you can schedule). |
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