Many people don't realize how easy it is for criminals to siphon money from your bank account. The basic procedure is 1) install a virus on a target computer, 2) virus grabs passwords and/or credit card numbers from the target computer, 3) send stolen information to criminal hacker, and 4) money is used to purchase items or to transfer out of the country via money mule. The RSA security firm has discovered that criminal gangs are working in concert to attack U.S. banks. Sophisticated techniques can be used to ensure that the criminals receive the money. Many times it can be impossible to detect that you have one of these money-stealing viruses.
Enter Linux Live CDs.
In order to ensure that your banking information is safe, you can use a Linux Live CD to temporarily boot into Linux, use a web browser to perform online transactions, and then boot back into Windows. If your Windows computer has password-stealing malware on it, that malware will have no knowledge of your banking transactions.
The U.S. Air Force has developed a Live CD directly for this purpose: Lightweight Portable Security (LPS) that can also be installed on a USB flash drive. This particular Live CD has a GUI that looks similar to the Windows interface, making it familiar and easy to use.
If LPS doesn't work for you, try Puppy Linux or Ubuntu. Many more are available to choose from, too; see http://www.livecdlist.com/.
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