[TUTORIAL] How to Stay safe on the Internet

Introduction

Hello Sythe/RuneScape community!!
Today i'd like to bring you a little tutorial how you can stay away from the viruses/malwares on the internet.
Ways to get infected
Nowdays, there are a lot of ways to get infected. Your computer can get infected by opening a file & allowing Java to run on your browser. (There are more ways)

Keyloggers & RATs
Keyloggers and RATs are the two most common things that you'll get infected by.

A keylogger is a program that will record all your keystrokes and send to the hackers email address for example - He will get every single key stroke you've entered on your keyboard. (If you're using the On-Screen Keyboard he will not get the strokes)

A RAT, also known as remote administrator tool is little more complicated virus. If you've been infected by one of these monsters you will have to remove it immediately or something bad will happen. Some RATs are more complicated then others, therefore they have different functions. A RAT also contains a keylogger as well as a ton of other features that the hackers love. They can for example do all the following things without you noticing:

• View your desktop
• View your webcam
• Listen to your mic
• Get access to all your process
• View your keystrokes live
• View all your saved passwords within programs
• View everything about your computer (MAC-address, IP-address, IPv4, IPv6, Windows Porduct Key, etc.)
• Transfer files WITHOUT you noticing
• Lock or shutdown your computer
• Disable your mouse, keyboard & sound

Quick Tip! If you know that you've been Ratted, disconnect from your network. This will make it so the RAT can't connect and send the information to the hijacker, because you will obviously need internet for that.
There are sooo many more features but I can't be listing them all here.
There are ways to make .exe files look like .jpg, .png, .mp3
Some people think "If the file isn't a .exe file I can open it without being infected." This is completely false. There are ways to make a .exe look like it's another file format. For example (.jpg & .mp3) This is called file spoofing. Both of the examples down below are .exe files.

• imagesexe.jpg
• images.exe

Let's say you downloaded something really cool from the web. You open the program and it actually works. Please don't get fooled by this! There may be a virus bound to the actual program. It doesn't matter if the program is working or not, it's so easy to bind a virus to a working program.
You can crypt your virus
Have you ever downloaded a file, scanned it and there are 0/54 anti-virus programs that thought the file contained virus? Crypting a file means your change & add a bunch of junk code to the program. What does this do you may ask? This actually makes it harder for the anti-virus programs to detect whether it is a virus or not. This is very useful, if you wish to bypass anti-virus programs thinking it's a virus. Please note that there are some websites. E.g. (Virustotal.com) that distributes the file. This will make the crypted file become detected one day. Example of website that does not distribute the file. E.g. (Refud.me) If you think that you found a virus, please scan it on Virustotal.com to ruin their stub. (So it becomes detectable for anti-virus programs much more quicker)

Antivirus

Even though having a anti-virus/anti-malware program sometimes doesn't help you should have one anyways. There are always stupid hackers who doesn't know how to crypt their virus. You'll at least secure you against those. Antivirus programs can also warn for damaging code on a specific website. (For example phishing sites, pop-up sites.) I would highly recommend you getting malwarebytes. If you want to maximize your protection you should buy a license key, but using the free version is fine. Avast & AVG works as well. Most common ways of getting infected

• Fake emails
• Targeting
• Torrents
• Cracked tools
• Use VPN

If you want to stay safe on the internet you should always use a VPN. If you use a VPN you will.. (Please note that IT IS NOT against the rules to play RuneScape with a VPN.)

• Surf anonymously
• No one will know your real location
• You can't get ddosed

If somebody knows your IP-address they can use it to DDoS (Denial of Service Attack) your network. In short terms, this means that a lot of packages will be sent to your network till your network can't handle it anymore. Eventually it'll crash. There are ways to prevent yourself from getting hit offline, but that is usually expensive. If you want to protect a website from getting attacked you should use something like Cloudflare.
Take advantage of free tools
You should take advantage of free tools that is available on the internet to remain safe from hijackers. Here are some useful tools that are completely free that will make you safer on the internet:

• TOR-browser
• Sandboxie

If you don't know if the link is safe or not, please open it in TOR-browser. (Please note that TOR-browser is not ONLY used for hackers as many people think, neither is it illegal to use if you're not doing anything illegal on the browser! (Buying drugs, selling drugs.) )

If you have downloaded a program and you don't know if it's safe or not please run it via sandboxie. Sandboxie is a program that you can run programs via. When running a program through sandboxie, the run program will not be able to use ANY files on your computer. For example if you run Skype via sandboxie it will not come up with any previous users, same with E.g. (Steam, Google Chrome.) Or if you was gonna run a game via sandboxie it can't load any cachefiles. (It would look like there's a new computer running the game.) Trust nobody & getting targeted.

When you surf on the internet you WILL come across sketchy things. Let's say if you have a lot of money on a online game you will eventually get targeted. Follow this you will be safe:

• Trust nobody with your items/personal details
• Do not click sketchy links
• Don't click dodgy links

Use 3rd party softwares at your own risk. (E.g. Osbuddy, RuneLoader)
As previously said, you can get hijacked by clicking "run" when Java is asking for permission. This makes a file run in the background. (This could be a RAT or a Keylogger.) As Google Chrome no longer supports Java on their browser YOU will be fine if you have the latest version of Google Chrome and the latest version of Java installed on your machine. However, if you don't have the latest Java version and you're using for example Mozilla Firefox that still supports Java you could get hijacked this way. This is called JDB (Java Drive By). SJDB (Silence Java Drive By) is the same principle but you don't have to click "run" for it to download the file; everything happens automaticly in the background.

False-positive virus detections
Sometimes your anti-virusprogram may think something is a virus when it's not. This is called a false-positive virus detection. Depending on the name that the anti-virus program is warning for it may be a false-alarm. E.g. (Downloader.Adload.Win32.65 is one of the false-alarms) (Google is your friend in this situation.

Phishing links
This is the most common way of hacking, at least in RuneScape. Please do not listen to someone that encourages to do anything of the following:

1. search "thisisascam91" on youtube to win 50m
2. search "thisisascam19" on facebook to join our merching clan to make 500m daily!

Please do not trust the fake people livestreaming on Twitch pretending to be Jagex Moderators. Saying:

1. double xp weekend! read description to sign up!

If you think that you've found a phishing link, please do not sign in and hope that you won't get hacked. You most likely will. Report it to Google by using this link https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/ so they can take action.

Some simple tips

99% of the times you run a program that contains virus the hacker has added a start-up. A start-up on a program is: When you start your computer, this program will start with Windows. (For the newer versions of Windows) Please head to the Task Manager and select the tab "Start-up". If there's something sketchy there, deselect it and re-boot your pc. (There are ways to hide the start-up from here, but that's really complicated.) If you have a older version of Windows you may press "Windows Button" + "R" and type "msconfig" and select the tab "Startup".
You should enable two-step verification where it's possible (E.g. Gmail, RuneScape) Please note: If you have authenticator on RuneScape but not on your e-mail provider the hijacker can easily disable it by going into your email!

Tl;dr the part paragraph above: If you want the authenticator to start "working" you should enable it on your registered email as well.
If you follow these steps I can guarantee you that you will most likely be safe.
Remember to TRUST NOBODY, DON'T CLICK SKETCHY LINKS & USE VPN
Stay safe, Sythe/RuneScape community!!

 

You generalize too much; you try to stay on topic, but you speak too broadly. Overall, nice guide and a decent read for anyone who doesn't know about potential viruses they could fall victim to.

 

Try to give some examples of the bullet points you provide. Also, you may want to trim down some of the bulk text that you have intermittently.

Overall, solid for people who are new to or recently started surfing the internet

 

Great guide

 

nice guide, you kind of went all over the place but still a good read for people who don't know how to stay safe these days

 

Nice guide, are you the same guy from reddit or did you copy his username and post here?

 

Nice guide.

 

Sorry for late answer. Yes i'm the same guy.

 

Thanks for the guide, I use Sandboxie so it's good to see it being recommended on this security guide.