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[Volatar]

So I have been wanting to put together a sort of "10 commandments of computer security" to give to the totally computer-incompetent. And I mean TOTALLY incompetent. I mean these kind of totally incompetent people.

These are the kind of people that will give their bank account to a guy in Nigeria to "facilitate a money transfer" which they will "receive half of".
These are the kind of people that will receive a message claiming to offer "free steam games!" with a link such as this (DO NOT LOG IN ON THIS LINK! IT IS FAKE!), and willingly give away their steam login.

How do you teach such a person how to prevent their identity being stolen?
How do you prevent such a person from losing their hard-paid-for steam game collection?

I think the best way is with a very simple, straightforward list of things to do or not to do.

"Thou shalt not use thy credit card when thou are not using https"
"Thou shalt keep thyself protected with a firewall and antiviris."
"Thou shalt not shop online on public wireless"

That kind of thing. Such basic things we take for granted.

What "commandments" would you give to such people? (No, you don't have to use thou's and stuff  )

[Peewee]

Phrase it however you like, but

-If something seems too good to be true... IT'S NOT TRUE.

-You use sunblock when you're at the beach. Use adblock when you're on the web.
I'm all for supporting sites that get money through banner ads, but not while half of them still say "omg u has viruzez clik me for free scanzorz lol"

-Do you read all your mail? I didn't think so. Don't open ANY e-mail unless you're certain you know who it's coming from.

[Omegastick]

-Do you read all your mail? I didn't think so. Don't open ANY e-mail unless you're certain you know who it's coming from.

I dunno about that one, I open every e-mail no matter who it's from, but don't do anythying that looks fishy.

I think a good commandment would be "If someone came up to you and offered you _____ in the street would you take it? No, you wouldn't, don't do it then."

of course, this is assuming that they are merely computer illiterate and not a complete general dumbass, in which case there are no commandments that can help them other than to treat them like a child, which they most likely are.

[Peewee]

Depending on your mail client, opening your mail can actually encourage spammers to continue sending to your address. They can put an invisible 1x1 image somewhere, which references some unique URL and logs that HEY! THIS GUY ACTUALLY READ OUR STUFF!

Since I don't know off the top of my head which clients do and do not automatically load images by default, I leave it as "just ignore the spam"

[Omegastick]

I've always used WLM which blocks pictures by default, so I can just read everything to my hearts content.

[Hungry]

I dont really have to worry about this stuff...

I got a blanket protector program, I got it from my neighbor...he's either a m45t4 h4ck37 or works for the defence department...or both.

Its a multi-wrapper for several different anti-ect programs and checks just about anything that happens on my computer...and blocks just about everything as well.

I pity you for not being this safe.

Also... poor, poor internet illiterate persons...

[Qiu]

thou shall not give your administrator password unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing. Giving your admin password is like giving the keys to your house.

thou are not the 1000000th visitor. 
thou shall close any window offering free services or goods unless you requested it.

thou shall not inform your geek son/daughter of any problems with your computer while saying "there was a message, i didn't bother reading it, i just clicked "OK"" 

oh, and the most important :
thou shall NEVER click the unsuscribe button in a non requested mail. Just mark it as spam.

[Jimmy]

Thou shalt use a firewall.
Thou shalt use a virus scanner.
Thou shalt run a scheduled scan no less than once per week.
Thou shalt use an email client with strong spam protection.
Thou shalt not use hotmail.
Thou shalt use a password with at least 6 characters containing both numbers and letters.
Thou shalt not put anything on the internet you would not want the whole world to know.
Thou shalt treat everything as false until proven otherwise.

[Blacken]

-You use sunblock when you're at the beach. Use adblock when you're on the web.
I'm all for supporting sites that get money through banner ads, but not while half of them still say "omg u has viruzez clik me for free scanzorz lol"

Clearly you are not "all for supporting sites that get money through banner ads," because you're throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Thousands upon thousands of reputable business use banner ads to generate revenue.  If you don't want to see the scam popups, stop visiting the asshole of the Internet.

[Dasleah]

I dont really have to worry about this stuff...

I got a blanket protector program, I got it from my neighbor...he's either a m45t4 h4ck37 or works for the defence department...or both.

Its a multi-wrapper for several different anti-ect programs and checks just about anything that happens on my computer...and blocks just about everything as well.

I pity you for not being this safe.

Also... poor, poor internet illiterate persons...

Sounds like you just got added to the botnet.

[Jookia]

If something seems too good to be true... IT'S NOT TRUE.

GNU/Linux and Dwarf Fortress aren't ture?!

[Cthulhu]

I dont really have to worry about this stuff...

I got a blanket protector program, I got it from my neighbor...he's either a m45t4 h4ck37 or works for the defence department...or both.

Its a multi-wrapper for several different anti-ect programs and checks just about anything that happens on my computer...and blocks just about everything as well.

I pity you for not being this safe.

Also... poor, poor internet illiterate persons...

Sounds like you just got added to the botnet.

I was gonna say, sounds like he's pulling shenanigans on you.

[Hungry]

=P

I trust my neightbor, I know where he lives...and he knows it.

besides since he gave me it, I havent gotten anything I didnt entirely want, it takes about seven minutes for it to verify stuff before it lets me download DF...so it is pretty secure.

also it yells at me for changing programs..and acts like a "are you sure you want to save your modded raws"...thing, and "this program has changed since you last ran it is this alright?" kind of thing as well.

[Omegastick]

Sounds like Comodo on speed...

On a more serious note how about "Thou shalt not eat yellow snow accept free stuff without specifically looking for it first"

[Hungry]

yeah I had something like comodo before this...it worked, but...this, uh...um...works much better, expecially because it kind-of can block anything you do and dont do....and I mean ANYTHING.

also "Thou shalt not trust anything that you see on the Internet, ever."