Friends invite me to YM, what can I do for security?

[paugie]

Some friends have started sending me those invites to Yahoo Messenger with them. And it's getting to the point that I am starting to feel being impolite if I continue to ignore the invites. Besides, these are people who I'd really like to get in touch with again, people from high school who have migrated all over the world. It would be fun.

Yet, I think I was hacked (or at least halfway hacked) the last time my daughter installed YM on the machine (we've only got one). Let me place a sample error report from my event viewer, please tell me your reaction:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: BROWSER
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8009
Date: 4/17/2006
Time: 7:03:23 AM
User: N/A
Computer: BGMAIN
Description:
The browser was unable to promote itself to master browser. The computer that currently believes it is the master browser is REINIER.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 34 00 00 00 4...

Anyway, If I go ahead and install YM what security measures do I take? Uh, and sorry to say, I'm a complete newbie on YM, haven't even gone on an internet chat in my life.

 

[Mercutio]

meebo.com

 

[Tannin]

There are several points to make here, Paugie:

• YM or any of the various similar systems will destroy your time budget. The number of things you simply won't have time to get done because you are constantly being interupted by messages will mount up and up and up.
• Yahoo is NOT a trustworthy company. Whether by intent or by simple negligent incompetence, Yahoo is one of the largest, possibly the largest, financial backers of spyware.
• Start by reading: specifically, read The Spyware - Click-Fraud Connection -- and Yahoo's Role Revisited.
• With the reading out of the way, start writing - write a note to your friends explaining that you only have one computer and having it function properly is important to you. So sorry, but as a matter of familiy policy, you cannot expose it to unacceptable security risks.

You need to be quite clear in your own mind about this. Buggering up your computer with the sort of garbage Yahoo is pushing down your throat just isn't a sensible thing to do.

 

[Stereodude]

You could use Trillian.

 

[timwhit]

I use www.meebo.com while at work and I use Gaim at home. Neither of these are a security threat to use.

 

[MaxBurn]

You could use Trillian.

x2, I have used it for years. 3.x seems a little bloated but I don't mind, 2.x is a little slicker.


As far as the time thing goes and being interupted I feel free to ignore anyone at any time and answer at my own leisure. I don't always answer my personal phone either, unfortunately when on business they don't see things the same way.

 

[Mercutio]

I've been keeping a Meebo Window open to deal with PITA client who won't use decent forms of communication. It works.

 

[timwhit]

I've been keeping a Meebo Window open to deal with PITA client who won't use decent forms of communication. It works.

Meebo even keeps chat logs now, if you setup an account.

 

[paugie]

Thanks for all the replies. Will investigate your recommendations. And will be sure to read your link, Tony.

BTW, any reactions to that error message from my event viewer? Is it really a sign that my PC was hacked? There were at least 15 of those and they only came up after the YM install.

 

[Groltz]

BTW, any reactions to that error message from my event viewer?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=143153