Online Banking

Over on TOB, under an email hacking thread, someone said one should never use the same computer for banking that one uses for surfing the web and general computing. One should have a special computer for online banking! damn That would be pretty expensive!

What do you guys think???

BTW, love this tech column, I've learned so much already from you maniacs.

I think it is nonsense.

it is not necessarily expensive. I’m not interested in getting into the debate of why one should or should not have two PC’c. However IMO Virtualbox is a great solution for people looking to have more than one PC for whatever reason…

Rolly wrote:I think it is nonsense.

I would tend to agree that having a dedicated computer just for banking is overkill.

tictoc wrote:

Rolly wrote:I think it is nonsense.

I would tend to agree that having a dedicated computer just for banking is overkill.

Good. That's what I thought too.

How about one of those little thingies that you stick in one of your ports with all the banking info on it? Memory sticks is their official name I think.

TOB, what is that? A chat room for the mentally bewildered?

E-raq wrote:How about one of those little thingies that you stick in one of your ports with all the banking info on it?

I thought those were called Bankers.

E-raq wrote:How about one of those little thingies that you stick in one of your ports with all the banking info on it? Memory sticks is their official name I think.

TOB, what is that? A chat room for the mentally bewildered?

Yes it is a flash drive. Some times referred to as a security dongle. I have not used one for banking so I don't know how hard it would be to setup. Also just to clarify, even though I think it is overkill does not mean I don't do it...

It was I, Fixin_Dixon that made the post. I am a virus removal specialist.

It is not overkill by any means. The JAVA exploit virus that is being used to hack computers can get all your banking, credit card, passwords, e-mail, info. Case in point. I had a customer who was hacked in December and they took $ 10,000 out of her checking account using the JAVA exploit to gain access to her computer. The e-mail scams and other trickery they are using to gain access to computers is so widespread it is an epidemic IMHO.

Any old computer that has Windows XP or better on it can be used to do your on-line financial stuff. If you do e-mail, Facebook, etc. with it, your risk of being hacked is much greater. Be safe and dedicate a computer to just doing on-line banking and sleep at peace at night.

Ignorance is bliss but not on the internet.

Wouldn't creating another Windows user at non-Admin level accomplish just about the same results

sparks wrote:Wouldn't creating another Windows user at non-Admin level accomplish just about the same results

Not really. Your root files are still vulnerable. As I said, IMO the best way to do this is Virtual box. I my self have been doing online banking since before virtual box so I have an old laptop that I run quicken on. Again, I believe a dedicated computer to be overkill. Today there is no need to waste money on a dedicated box for only one task. And that is only if you buy into the need for a dedicated system. But then again, I don’t run antivirus on any of my systems either. So to each there own…