86 condoms and still I catch a virus ...Though Nairobi's Internet access is hardly brilliant on an absolute scale, in contrast with Ethiopia its amazing. I'm shocked to see a couple of wifi places but they are truly hopeless, meaning I have to resort to machines in Internet cafes. This is when I get an unpleasant surprise, as I find out too late that all the cafes I visit are riddled with viruses and I pick up a real nasty on my flash drive that subsequently cripples my laptop (not much use disabling Autorun if you then absent-mindedly double-click on a dodgy file).
Since I'm planning my first overseas adventure while I'm away, to Africa (including Kenya) this is a blog that has caught my attention. I'm going on many safari tours while I'm away and will probably have to be clearing the memory cards and sending photos home on blank discs and will also be backing up to my 120GB iPod which I'm taking with me (that won't be full). So as you can imagine, this bloggers story has really made me panic.
So my question is; for the computer savvy? What's the best way to avoid getting viruses when using computers at internet cafes on your trips? Is it about picking the most expensive internet cafe (which would hopefully have better quality services), is about ensuring that they back up your photos at the front desk and just using the computers for surfing the net?
I've had a quick search across the forums for this sort of information and most of the tips are about recovering photos when you've got a virus but none of them sort of say how to avoid viruses in the first place.
So in your experience; how do you know a trustworthy internet cafe?
Is there an order of how to do things on the computer of an internet cafe? (Upload photos first, Surf second?)
What's the best way to upload photos? (Do you use a program like Microsoft Photo Scanner + Viewer, or do you ctrl+a, ctrl+c from the memory card to your external hdd/iPod/disc device).
Is there some cities that are more 'prone' to viruses? In my particular case, I'm going on a tour through Kenya and Tanzania and had planned to backup my memory cards in cities such as Nairobi, Arusha, Dar Es Salaam... Am I better off taking more memory cards and just backing up when I get to my hotel in Nairobi? And the same again as I travel through Botswana, Zimbawbe, Mozambique and finally South Africa ---> am i better off waiting until I get back to my hotel in Jo'burg?
Is there any virus protection software (that's small in size) that one can put on their backup device?
Thanks very much!
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