Any Vulnerability, in any form, for being connected to AVSIM for long periods of time, even though I am done with the tasks of reading, commenting, downloading etc....? Appreciate any advice.Thanks. Abe

Not really, since the odds are you won't be downloading any data from it unless you are downloading a file or you keep refreshing your page, but even then, no viruses on avsim

Hi Abe. I usually log off from the forums when I am finished there, but stay logged on to the library, . . . . , for so long I tend to forget my password. Never once had any malicious or inappropriate intrusions. I don't even give it a thought. On a 0 to 10 scale of things to worry about, I would give this about a .005.Regards,Mel

Hello,Hmmm ......You are vulnerable immediately as you are connected at internet .. So .. take care ! Regards.Gus.

Thanks guys. Very comforting.Abe

Thanks guys. Very comforting.Abe

I just wanted to also say I've never had a negative experience here. These days the risks of surfing tend to be greater if you "fat finger" a url and land on a site designed for such typos that tries to dump malware on your system. The other risk is found if you visit sites or are lured into sites that traditionally target gamers or people who surf for other types of material normally associated with malware. And finally, there is risk in downloading and opening any executable, which is why I won't download freeware unless it is in a zip format or from a trusted member here.It's most important just to be familiar with your system, and use a tool like Hijack this which can detect changes to your system over a period of time. Also take a few hours and learn the vectors malware uses to infect a system, so you know how to manually scan your system from time to time (some malware disables popular tools, even Hijack this). Also, if you receive a suspicious popup while Surfing such as "Your computer is infected with a virus, please download our protection program now", do not click ANYTHING on the popup. Don't click OK, don't click Cancel, don't click the "X" in the upper right corner. Go to task manager and kill all instances of your browser and in the case of Firefox or similar browsers, restart them in safe mode since they can try to open back up where they were. Malware is designed that no matter your response to such popups, infectious code can infiltrate your system. You think you've been smarter than the designer of the Malware, but they are always three steps ahead. Last, a malware hijacking is not the end of the world. Many users reformat and destroy months or years worth of data--often the goal of Malware authors. What they do is terrorism, and unless their Malware is meant to collect data from your system, their goal is to disrupt your computer experience and terrorize you from enjoying your system again or even surfing sites like this one out of fear. An experienced tech can destroy malware if they are patient. I recently removed a massive infestation from a colleague's system which saved him a very expensive day's worth of bandwidth. I am not as current as most techs since I moved into software development, so what I did was nothing special. So just remember, there is ample help out there.Regards,John

Well heeded, John.Regards,Abe

Try running your browser in a sandbox. If you run a sandbox, it will help save you from time to time. Comodo seems to have the most effective in tests. Also run stuff like scriptblock, which will save you often. Most malware attacks that are web based are executed from Flash, Java, or PDF.

Try running your browser in a sandbox. If you run a sandbox, it will help save you from time to time. Comodo seems to have the most effective in tests. Also run stuff like scriptblock, which will save you often. Most malware attacks that are web based are executed from Flash, Java, or PDF.

As much as I really hate to expose my ignorant side to anyone (except my wife). Peter could you please explain what you mean by,"running your browser in a sandbox". I have not heard / read that phrase before and today is my learn something new day for this month. Your contribution to my education will be greatly appreciated.I have a once a month routine: I make a backup of my Sim on a external, protected hard drive; empty all my temp files; update and run SpyBot; run HighJack This; run a manual scan with my AV; defragment the hard drives. I use ESET Nod32 by the way and even though I limit my browsing to FS related sites and news articles the only attack I have experienced in two years was by my local newspapers site, a PDF that was stopped by my AV before it got in. The point is, have a backup plan and be careful who you trust.Regards,Mel

As much as I really hate to expose my ignorant side to anyone (except my wife). Peter could you please explain what you mean by,"running your browser in a sandbox". I have not heard / read that phrase before and today is my learn something new day for this month. Your contribution to my education will be greatly appreciated.I have a once a month routine: I make a backup of my Sim on a external, protected hard drive; empty all my temp files; update and run SpyBot; run HighJack This; run a manual scan with my AV; defragment the hard drives. I use ESET Nod32 by the way and even though I limit my browsing to FS related sites and news articles the only attack I have experienced in two years was by my local newspapers site, a PDF that was stopped by my AV before it got in. The point is, have a backup plan and be careful who you trust.Regards,Mel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(computer_security)

Thanks Peter.Mel