November 11, 2006
Technical Tips and Tricks
The title and category may give some people pause. The War Front category is rather appropriate as such due to the unceasing cyber war that is going on silently all around us. I refer of course, to the barrage of viruses, trojans, malware and spyware plus other as yet unknown attackers that everyone's computer faces whilst connected to the internet.
Hi, I'm one of Ith's guest bloggers and today I would like to introduce you to some tips and tricks which will make your life a little bit easier and the attacker's just a little bit harder.
This is primarly for Windows users, if you are using a different operating system, such as Linux, FreeBSD, or another Unix variant you may not find anything useful in this article. With that said, let us start out by debunking several myths that increase the chance of being compromised. Just to be clear, compromised means hacked and your computer turned into a zombie machine, or at least a machine that an attacker can control at will.
Myth 1:
Leaving your computer running all the time is better that constantly turning it off and on.
Somehow and someway this has survived from the late '70s. Back then computers were left on so that the power supply would last longer among other things. Today's Power supplies have almost unlimited service time so unless you are running a web server, this is just a wonderful way to increase your electric costs and annoy one's significant other who must deal with the noise of fans spinning in the machine.
Indeed, by leaving a windows computer running all the time you open yourself up to attackers who have a nice target that they can practice against 24/7. Even in sleep mode a computer is vulnerable from attacks via the internet. So at the end of the day, when you are ready to retire for the night, click on start...choose shutdown and click ok.
Myth 2
My computer came with Antivirus software installed, so I have nothing to worry about.
Not Quite.
As long as you update it at least weekly and then renew it when it expires it will help. Unfortunately, most people never do. Never do updating and never renew. Nowadays, you don't even get a subscription to an Anti-virus (AV) program when you buy a computer, it is just a free trial, which for the reasons I have stated above, is almost worse than useless ( since it is only a free trial it also does not last as long as a regular subscription to begin with) As an example, a fully patched Windows XP machine with Service Pack 2 without any antivirus programs or any security on it, lasts about 3 minutes on the internet before it gets infected. Combine that with leaving the computer on all the time and you might begin to see how a problem could develop.
Myth 3
My computer has gotten a lot slower after I bought it, but that's normal right, 'cuz of all the software I installed on it.
Yes, I have actually heard that one many times. Unfortunately, no. This is not normal at all. If you have installed several security programs that start as the computer starts, then it might be a little slower. If it is a LOT slower, then take a look at how many services are running. To do so: Hit the three keys marked Ctrl, Alt and Delete (CTRL-ALT-DEL) at the same time and then on the screen that has popped up click on Processes. Now look at the bottom left corner of the window and you should see a number. This number tells you how many are running. If you are running over 35 and you don't have many devices hooked up to your computer you may be the victim of a virus or spyware or both.
With the last myth I must add some explanation. If YOU installed a lot of software on your system and indicated during the install process for it to start as the computer starts, then yes, the computer could run much slower indeed. That situation is not what I am referring to. What I am referring to is the machine getting slower over time, without any clear explanation as to why.
Well that takes care of the myths for this article. What I will focus on next is some tips to prevent prevent spyware and other nasty things taking up residence within your computer. The security programs that I suggest are currently all free. That is of course, subject to change.
Tip 1.
Install an antivirus program on your computer. There is a very good free one out there called AVG antivirus.http://free.grisoft.com/doc/20/lng/us/tpl/v5
Tip 2.
Install a firewall program. The best free one I have used is Zone Alarm's Free edition. http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp
Tip 3.
Install an antiTrojan program. The one I suggest is AVG's antispyware program. This scans for spyware and trojans. http://www.ewido.net/en/download/
Tip 4.
Install an adware scanner. My favorite is Lavasoft's Ad-aware.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
NONE of these programs will cost you a dime, so if it seems you have to end up paying a fee for them you have the wrong program or the wrong site.
Once you have these programs installed, update them ( they will tell you how to do that ) and then run a scan. You might be very surprised at what you find. After removing everything that these programs do find, you'll notice that your computer is a little bit snappier and faster. At least it should be.
The next article will cover some other tricks, like shutting down unneeded services to speed up your system etc.
Posted by Bob at November 11, 2006 8:05 PM | PROCURE FINE OLD WORLD ABSINTHE