Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Certainly not a wind up, and not laziness.

I have a number of passwords and cannot always remember which one I use for which site. I realise that they are stored on my computer, but wasn't aware that they are accessible to malware or viruses; that is worrying.

What do you suggest I do: keep one password for everything? I've heard that's not a good idea.

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Use a system instead of creating meaningless and difficult passwords.

Invent for yourself a password suffix that you will always use. Lets say it is JBRKing

Now create a prefix that you will always use say your lucky number 888

You now make all your passwords using this prefix and suffix and the bit in the middle will ALWAYS be an obvious thing to do with the website itself.

So, some examples.

JBRKingHSBC888 - would be your password for HSBC bank

JBRKingOver50888 - would be your password for this forum

JBRKingGmail888 - would be your password for Gmail

and so on

All you therefore need to remember is your JBRKing and 888 bits which are constant.

Get the idea?

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Makes sense. One of my passwords is my old RAF number. Perhaps someone in Whitehall might access my computer!

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Realist has a point about JavaScript. Disabling it will prevent all that is mentioned. I took this approach for a number of years. Not entirely but selectively using Firefox's NoScript extension. The trouble is that blocking or disabling JavaScript also affects page functionality (as said) and so I gave up on it. Since reading Realist's post, I tried disabling JavaScript in 'about:config'. It will block all manner of undesirable things but I don't think I could live with the missing page content again.

I visit the Met. Office site frequently. This doesn't work properly with JavaScript disabled. Much of the 'easy to use' content is missing. I could just re-enable JavaScript for this and any other site that relies on it but a choice or balance has to be made between functionality and security regarding this.

I believe most scripts are not malicious and I would rather use uBlock Origin to stop annoyances than block/disable JavaScript. That's just a personal choice. An informed decision if you like.

Sandboxie will not block scripts or anything else, so all page content shows as was intended by the page designer. If anything nasty relying on JavaScript is come across, Sandboxie would contain it inside the sandbox. It also becomes possible to follow links with more confidence knowing that nothing will get out of the sandbox. If Sandboxie does the job as it should, it will contain any drive-by threat. If it did fail, an AV program is in place as another security layer. It really doesn't matter which one because everyone will put forward a different preference. Suggesting one more only gives more of a dilemma. I can't find any evidence that AV companies write viruses in order to keep the business of selling AV programs going.

Although I have an AV program in place, it isn't relied on solely. They can all have a failure and false positive rate.

As well as Sandboxie, HitmanPro.Alert is installed. Over the top? Possibly but these programs run well with each other and don't take a toll on computer performance. Once installed, they can more or less be forgotten about. Just empty the sandbox occasionally, or before financial dealings.

LastPass handles my passwords. Although I know some wouldn't trust this, I've never had a let down with it. I have assessed the way it works (search for: 'how does lastpass work'), the convenience it gives and would only have myself to blame if there was a security breach. However, nothing is trusted when it comes to logging into sites to do with financial dealings. Login details are typed or copy/pasted for these.

The practices above have stood the test of time, apart from HitmanPro.Alert. This is a fairly new product.

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

You're clearly very well versed in the various aspects of all this Mart and your chosen solutions seem very good for your personal choices and uses.

I would dearly love to have a simple toggle button to enable/disable JavaScript but as we have seen, the big browser manufacturers are making it as difficult as possible. I have however gotten very used to constantly enabling/disabling it in my browser settings now. My AV has a sandbox feature which works well so I'm fairly happy with my more brutal solution, at least for now.

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Firefox nearly always has an extension available for doing a particular job, this being no exception.

If you go into 'Tools > Add-ons' and type 'quickjs' into the search field, it will bring up an extension that puts a button on the toolbar for toggling JavaScript on and off. It looks like this when installed:


It is necessary to refresh the page after enabling/disabling.

Edit: I note there's another extension called JSOff that does the same job. Just gives a choice.

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Is there one for Chrome?

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Yes, I just looked and there are two available. I tried them, they both work OK and are actually a bit better than the ones available for Firefox. It isn't necessary to refresh the page after using the button to enable/disable JavaScript.

The extensions can be found by going to 'Tools > More tools > Extensions'. Click the 'Get More Extensions' link (or just 'Get Extensions' if you don't have any yet), then type 'javascript on off' into the search box. This should bring up in the list:

Quick Javascript Switcher and Toggle JavaScript

Either does the job. Look out for an extra icon on the toolbar when installed.

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

All very interesting chaps but much too complicated for this old 'un. I think I'll just buy malwarebyte as it once cleared up a problem I had.

Re: Which Home Guardsman ?

Thanks Mart. I have installed Quick Javascript Switcher and all seems to work well. A small icon now appears at the top right of the browser which instantly switches Javascript on or off.

Just one thing I'd like to mention: in my version of Chrome, at least, there is no 'Tools' tab. The procedure I need to use to install extensions is:

Using the Customise and control Google Chrome button, Settings/Extensions/Get More Extensions and then type into the search box.