How I prevented bad stuff on my XP machine
Bad a couple of yrs ago, I still has XP. I would document the number of processes going on. Check occasionally to see if there was something there that shouldn't be. Worst case was having to reload OS...
Forum Discussion
DogFatherFL wrote:
Win 7 is much more complex, many many processes going on. I don't think that will work. I don't store any info like passwords. Accept in the desk next to my PC. They are in hand writing. So, no password is stored in a browser. I'm still a little worried. There's so much media hype, it's hard to tell what is real and what is not!
Actually, I have far fewer processes loaded in WIN 7 than I've ever had in Windows XP. And I use Firefox for virtually all my saved passwords except for financial sites such as bank accounts and PayPal. I do use the Secure Login extension which basically allows a one click login to sites. It also prevents some common malicious Javascript from stealing or intercepting your passwords from the clipboard.
Firefox actually does a decent job of encrypting passwords so long as you use a long enough master password. I don't use one, so technically my passwords are not stored encrypted.
However, Firefox allows you to easily locate its profile file folder, which contains its password database pretty much anywhere. So I've placed mine in a 256-bit Two Fish AES encrypted Truecrypt virtual container which acts like an HD or partition when mounted. Files are encrypted/decrypted in real time. The browser's password database is protected as well, if not even better than most stand alone password utilities, or even better than many SSL webpages.
I've also encrypted my Chrome browser password database in a similar fashion, though not as straightforward to setup. Doing so also enables securing your browser's data, bookmarks, history, etc. which are also encrypted.
