Hey, i am just starting out and before i begen, what should i have on My comp for my securty so others cant get my info and to prevent from getting cought after i have done what i have done? thx

AIM on 24/7 (if not then i am restarting)
onemessedkid0170

Well honestly i had some trouble understanding what you said but i think i have the jist of it. You want to know how you can secure your system right? Well there is no way to make your computer totally secure, unless you have it turned off and unplugged. Things that can help increase security on your computer are software firewalls, hardware firewalls, virus scanner, and a good configuration of those. As well as having security updates installed. Firewalls that filter out some information that is sent and recived. They close ports, monitor traffic, and more. There is a software firewall built into windows XP if you have that. Hardware firewalls are hardware such as modems, and routers that have certain filters that you can set.

Norton Personal Firewall 2004 is a pretty good software firewall. And if you want to make sure you have you internet connection firewall enabled(for Windows XP) Go to start, settings, network connections, right click on the connection you use to connect to the internet, go to properties, go to the advanced tab, and click on the check box.

Some routers with filters built in:
Linksys BEFSR41
Dlink 604

There are also some modems that contain filters in which case you would have to find the specific way to access the configuration for that.

Security testing is also another way to identify problems with your configuration so that you may fix them.
Some security testing tools: Shields Up
Symantec Security Dsl reports.com

Remember there is no way to be totally secure unless you have your computer turned off, and unpluged.

LIke what i realy want to know if i were to hace someone how would i prevent them from tracking me or getting my ip address?

No Offence, but if you really dont know, chances are you will be caught right away...

Start reading, and then do more reading...

好

well can anybody recomend any links of were to get started i mean i haved looked but just dont know were to start

In my opinion, to have a great sence of "security", you sould study security engineering, because, you will not gonna be as "secure" as you think using preconfigured software, without any knowledge about them.

Cheers
Dancing_GalaxY

Well MOST people bounce their IP off a public proxy. Or Connect through some easy machine and do whatever it is they are doing from that computer. In theory the more proxys you bounce it off in differnt countrys the better because they actully need a search warrent to gain the logs of who connected through there. So they need to have search warrents in all the countrys that the proxys are in in order to gain the needed info. Unless they willing hand the info over. So thats one way to do it. There is no way to be completely safe if you do something illegal always be ready to be caught because chances are that you will be caught if someone wants to catch you.

Well, this is the 3rd time I've lost my post...
Long story short: You've seen too many "YOUR COMPUTER IS BROADCASTING AN IP ADDRESS!" pop-ups. You really only need an anti-virus program and a firewall to protect your home Windows computer (just assuming) from 90% of "hackers" on the Internet. Check out http://www.download.com
I use:

Agnitum Outpost Firewall 1.0 (FREE)
http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html

and

Avast! 4 Home Edition (FREE)
http://www.avast.com/i_idt_153.html

Both are just as good (actually better than most) commercial software on the market and have all the same (or more) features. Highly reccommended.

P.S. You actually need to read up about the software and configure them to suit your needs. Don't be afraid to play around.

k now lets tern it arround if someone was in my comp (not sure how i would find out) but if there was someone in my comp how would i track him

Well if you had a software or hardware firewall it would most likley log anything that it thought was an attack or intrusion attempt. This depends on the firewalls logging capiblities. The event might also be logged in the event viwer (if you have windows xp or 2000). If an attack or intrusion attempt was noticed by the firewall log or event log, then it would give you an IP address and you might be able to contact their ISP about the issue.

Go to
http://nsa2.www.conxion.com/
a mirror of
http://www.nsa.gov/snac/index.html

Basically that is the National Security Agency's (NSA's) guide on securing your operating system.

In all actuallity the most secure machine is not connected to the internet, doesnt allow any physical access and never turns on, probably locked in a vault with an unknown location. That is secure. You need to find a balance between usability and security.

The best security...well cert advises somewhat on that imo, and rootshell. Linux/unices are nice. But in general, a computer with no plug, no o/s, no hardrive, and that is sitting in a safe at cia langley headquarters. Still, someone could hook that [censored] up with some phatness, plug into a wall rj45/48x, and then a whole world of [censored] comes from it.

Really, there is no best security. A generally good one, is a firewall hardware and software. A good o/s, with a great structure/file system, and little bugs. With many bugfixs, and updates in general on a basis. Security tools to snoop on users(which is illegal to my knowledge from a bit ago, so heh), and trapping tools. That will trap trys at access from ppl not suppose to be doing that. Like intrusion detection systems. The military has a bunch of nice contracts with software firms that make great apps for that. Then um, control your network/connection, o and be the only one accessing your system.

But in general...that's just how it is...most people that stay around long enough just fall into a system of security, knowing nothing is un-crackable un-hackable, secure, or how it seems in the real. There's always rules to break, breaks for the rules, and holes in the system. That's chaos theory for you.