firefox questions

[konvoy76]

i'm pretty sure a couple people here use firefox, and i have a couple questions.

i just paypaled someone money with paypal, and when firefox promted me to remember my password i click no or not right now. Now 4-5 days after my transaction my paypal account has been hacked, and i have paid for something i never bought, and its being shipped to vietnam. i have filed a complaint with paypal, but has anyone else had this type of problem with firefox remember every key stroke you make? i was asked for my credit card number while filing my complaint and guess what i enter'd the first digit or 2 and the rest was right there in a drop down box. how can i get firefox to stop remembering every key stroke i make?

thanks for any help

[Irondog]

This is all in the cookies stored. I use CCleaner.....good...free...program. You can download it at: http://filehippo.com/
I also use a utility called WinUtilities. It cleans all traces of internet activity out.

[konvoy76]

thanks for the help. i do use Ccleaner, and just cleaned this weekend. might have to check out the other program.

[NCMidnight]

Go to tools/Options/Privacy. Then check the box that says clear all my personal data when I log off. There is a settings tab in the same area of the content box so you can tell it exactly what you want it to erase,Passwords,history etc. Or hit control+shift+delete at anytime and clear it yourself. Make sure your firewall is up to date also. There are only a few ways people can get this information and all of them are avoidable..

[T Bird]

Midnight is right. You can also go to tools...security and see if you are set up to remember passwords for sites, If you are just turn it off.

[konvoy76]

thanks guys. how do i make sure my firewall is up to date? i just use the 1 thats available with XP, should i find a differant 1.

[NCMidnight]

What I should of said was keep a check on your permissions for your firewall.. If someone got your account information they could of done it many ways including something seemingly innocent that you may of downloaded, installed and allowed access to the net using your Windows Firewall(like a browser or flash plug in, java updates, etc. ).

All the information stored for your browser is on your PC keyloggers are written(loose version explaining programming takes too long) to Identify passwords, credit card numbers product keys, etc. By recording keystrokes from your keyboard and searching for numbers with in those strokes matching the descriptions of CC's and such.(numbers in sequences of 12, 14, 6,etc. the amount of numbers on your cards plus "3" for security codes)Then they connect to the net through these programs or other easily overlooked ports on your PC such as ports used for gaming or voice servers using a svchost.exe and report there findings.

You also may of clicked on a hijacked link and landed on a dub site where you willingly gave up your info who knows..

As for the Windows firewall, Its better then nothing.
I personally use Norton but its not as new user friendly as others out there.

[konvoy76]

well i had a bit of a blunder with my computer awhile back. took it to a tech to have it looked at. said i was virus free, but installed avast on my computer. i kind of like it even though i don't really understand it. i like knowing that little blue circle in my tool bar is spinning and that its actually doing something. if i move the mouse over it it says its 7 providers totals 6 running. so it seems to be doing something. i am currently doing a thourgh scan of all my files and camputer and so far it found 1 bad file that i moved to quarenteen. i hope all will be well when my scan is done.

[Irondog]

I've found the best for me is to use Spybot...search and destroy and AVG. Both are totally free and work real well.

[konvoy76]

i too also use spybot, but on my last scan over the weekend it said everything was ok.

after my scan with avast it said i had 13 bad files 10 of which i couldn't move or delete. i then checked the quarintine folder and found them all their.

i hope i have everything straightend out now. i guess only time will tell.

[Irondog]

....one of the main reasons that I like Spybot is the fact that it gives the complete address of problems it can't get rid of. It makes it easier if you have a target in the registry instead of trying to search...line..by line.
I have a working version of WinUtilities if you want. I can't post it here....cbrt won't allow me to post a zip for some reason....but I could email it to you. It's not huge....only about 5 or 6 MB. It's a version just prior to the current...so they released it free.