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On 15/02/11 20:06, Gordon Henderson wrote: > > What you're "protecting" against is PC bourne viruses, keyloggers, > trojans, etc. If you're sure your PC is free of them, then go ahead and > use your PC... I also happily use my desktop for my online banking. My bank authorise all transactions via a card reader, so the main trust is between the banks web server and my card reader (given I know the last four digits of the code are the last four digits of the account they are going to need a lot of bank accounts and some careful planning to get at my money that way. There are other sites that have access to my finances that worry me more, either because they have my credit card details, or they have some other facility to access my finances (my broker, Facebook, Google, GoDaddy, EBay, Paypal (before I shut the account) all present opportunities to get at my hard earned money. I don't think in this regard I'm that different from the average user, possibly I have rather more advertising accounts, and domain names companies, but EBay and Paypal accounts are pretty widespread. Brokers are probably a good target because people with an account clearly have at least some money to invest (In my case not much, but I still don't want it stolen). Brokers also commonly have access to client's bank accounts or details so as to transfer money in and out easily. Ultimately though these things work by a combination of IT security and real world trust. Typically if someone uses your account fraudulently to buy high value camera equipment or other easily saleable goods and gets them shipped to Nigeria, then you'll likely get the full value refunded and the merchant will lose out. Thus the merchant's typically bear the risk and take suitable precautions (delivery of high value items only to the credit card billing address etc). So I think the issue is more general Dekstop security rather than strictly banking. In my case I think it is clear the banks website presents substantially less risk than many other websites I use. Also not having an online bank account means someone could impersonate you in setting it up if they have your bank details, be interesting to see which is safer - having an account or not having one. I'm guessing if you have a relative weak postbox (like many Uni halls of residence) then it is better to have the account and online statements (or get the banks correspondence sent to an address you trust) than not to have it. I've never had a problem with Desktop Linux, where as I've seen a lot of issues with Windows desktops (especially XP). If people were to insist on using MS Windows, I'd push them to go with Windows 7. But really the whole Windows Desktop experience, whilst a lot better these days, has a nasty habit of turning stale quickly. My sister asked similar questions, and she ended up buying a Mac Mini, which still works fine and has not had malware to my knowledge, despite use as a general purpose desktop. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq