Sneak Peek: Virus|Trojans|Firewall|Spyware|Privacy|Spam|Data safety|Maintenance|Conclusion|Bottom|Display Error| P r i z e 

 

Relentless pernicious attacks on the smooth secured operation of computers have become a real headache in today’s working world, and an increasingly substantial economic burden.

 

According to one statistics, businesses all over the world lost 13 billion dollars in 2001 due to virus attacks, 20 billion dollars in 2002 and 55 billion dollars in 2003 .

 

Losses due to such attacks have been doubling every year for the last three years and are of significant relevance in professions where work is heavily dependent on using computers and the Internet. These figures though, give little hint about the losses resulting from the time lost in dealing with the increasing flood of spam or from a basic lack of training and awareness among users. Learning how to protect one's may therefore save a lot of time, labour and money.                                                                                                                                          Click  InfoCrumbs.

 

 

P A R T  –  1

 

THE WILD WILD NET

                                                                                                                                         

                            

Most of us are more or less aware of viruses. But as security threats have grown to encompass more than viruses,  experts have adopted the term ‘Malware’, combining the words “malicious” and “software”, to describe all malicious code. Combating this seething infesting stew of invaders requires defence in depth – multiple barriers between the ever-increasing swarm of malware and your system.

In this article, we will be discussing what a lay end user , especially those connected to the Internet, can do to protect their work and the smooth secured operation of their machine.

A layered approach is the best bet. Each layer or step can be relatively simple and not too technical but taken together can provide significant security, privacy and stability. We will be focusing on software layers for individual PCs. Networked / Internet connection sharing computers connected to the Net require additional measures ( e.g. routers with hardware firewalls) .

 

( I )  VIRUSES

 

Just over 67,000 different viruses have been identified up to the present date. The most recent worm types of virus were able to infect millions of machines in just a few days and to completely paralyse the Net. The only solution for system protection: not to open e-mail attachments from unknown senders and to install good anti-virus software on every computer, updating it regularly via an Internet connection. Although the market is dominated by two firms, Norton (http://www.symantec.com) and McAfee (http://us.mcafee com), other anti-virus softwares do exist. The use of free or particularly cheap anti-virus software is not recommended though. The firms supplying such products do not have the resources necessary for real-time creation of effective countermeasures to the most recent viruses.

 

Running a computer without installing such software is not only absolutely suicidal in personal terms but is anti-social in community terms. Because it is clearly the fact that hundreds of thousands of Internet users believe , naively, that there is little chance that viruses will infect their computers and they can save money on this protection. This has allowed some viruses to contaminate millions of computers in just a few days, as has been the case recently. In many cases, even when Anti-viruses are installed the virus-definitions often tend to be outdated and the program poorly configured because of a lack of awareness in this regard. It is highly recommended that you should tick all the security options within your anti-virus program's settings (for maximum protection) and particularly those affecting incoming and outgoing e-mail. In Outlook and Outlook Express it is also recommended you to tick the Security Option 'Warn me when other applications try to send mail as me'. If your machine were to be infected by a worm virus, this option would stop it becoming a relay for the virus.

 

Always purchase & install the latest version of the anti-virus software (e.g. Norton AntiVirus 2005 or at least none earlier than 2003; users who have computers with limited system resources may try McAfee instead), download and apply all the latest updates from their website immediately after the installation and regularly afterwards, and turn on the 'Automatic Live Update' or any similar options available in it. Never use more than one anti-virus software at the same time.                                                                                                Click  InfoCrumbs.

 

( I I )  SECURITY HOLES

All Operating Systems have their defects, whether you work with Windows, Mac or Linux. Windows is particularly affected because Microsoft software is installed on more than 90% of the world's personal computers; the software pirates also use this platform to develop their programs. This is why software developers, and in particular Microsoft, publish frequent updates for the user to download, free of charge, and often these are security patches. The importance of installing these updates cannot be overemphasized. It is therefore recommended that you keep yourself up to date about these updates, and download+apply the updates/patches from the Windows Update site, whenever they are available [See also Related Links.]. Use Windows XP with the full Service Pack-2 if you can, to stay on the safer side. You can also try the program "Qwik-Fix", especially if you are a non-XP-SP2 user.

 

( I I I )  TROJANS

Most people harbor the belief that anti-virus software means their system is secure, totally protected from Trojan Horses and other threats and malwares. Not so. Even though the leading anti-viruses are nowadays claiming to have broadened their scope, the bad news is, they still deal mainly with one thing as their name suggests – viruses. They don’t really effectively protect your system from very much else.

 

In the past, the classic virus which attached itself to other programs was the only major concern. In today’s Internet environment, a new kind of menace which is especially made for attacks over the Internet, are much more dangerous. Every computer on the Web is vulnerable. Two categories of harmful code have become more important in recent years : ‘Worms’ and ‘Trojan Horses’.

 

Trojans are small programs containing malicious code that may be installed on your PC via an e-mail or a Web page or any piece of program - usually downloaded from the internet, sometimes spread through CD-ROMs containing programs of spurious origin, etc. A virus by definition makes copies of itself and spreads, in much the same way that it's biological namesake will do among hosts. A trojan on the other hand, also known as a Trojan Horse, is simply a program that pretends to be something else, legitimate & innocent. Somewhat like its legendary predecessor in the Trojan War. During the ancient legendary/mythical war between  Greece and Troy, the Greeks after failing to capture Troy constructed a huge hollow wooden horse  and left it  outside the gates of the city of Troy. They then pretended to retreat. The Trojans, thinking the horse to be a religious offering, opened the gates and brought it into the city. Greek soldiers later emerged from their hiding place within the hollow horse and opened the city gates to enable the rest of the Greek army to rush in and capture the city. Like its legendary counterpart, a computer Trojan Horse program also masquerades as a harmless application infiltrating your system via disguise. This program reserves one of the ports of your machine and assigns it an IP that the hacker can then use to get into your machine, to take control of it and to consult, change or attack all the data that he wants to, or perhaps turn your machine into a 'zombie' – a stepping stone for further attacks on high value targets elsewhere without your knowledge. In other words, a Trojan allows the attacker to perform almost any action on the infected computer, including the following:

 

•  Copy, view and delete information from the hard drive.

•  Run applications.

•  Change configuration settings.

•  Control the infected computer's hardware ( e.g. CD-ROMs, modems).

•  Transmit personal or sensitive information back to the intruder.

•  Install viruses, spyware or key-capture programs.

Two steps are essential to protect one's system. First one is to install a 'Firewall' on your computer, which will form the first software layer/line of defence against intrusions and a variety of other malwares, threats, risks and offensive phenomena. For this purpose, the best and most widely acclaimed software for effective system protection is  ‘ZoneAlarm Pro’ (vers: 5 or above).  A somewhat shrunken (‘Basic’) and permanent ‘free’¹ version of ZoneAlarm is also available (see ‘Downloads’ ) which is not a bad choice either – definitely better than having none. Top-notch firewalls (pro/full versions only) also protect your system’s and your online ‘privacy’ from objectionable online scrutiny and other aggressive phenomena. All these may not apply to users of ‘Windows XP’ (with Service Pack--2/sp2) , which comes with a built-in non-permission-based firewall of its own, which silently works behind the scenes. It’s a good choice for those (XP users) who don’t have the time or patience to fine-tune a firewall once it’s installed. The downside is, it’s unidirectional (i.e. inbound only) and doesn’t have outbound control, which means it cannot watch for trojans, spywares and other malwares or any supposedly legitimate program which have already found their way to your machine, trying to call out from your system. A thing bi-directional ones like ZoneAlarm can do. It’s your choice. In any case, whatever firewall you have or  install, be sure to test it with a service like the ‘Security Space Desktop Audit’ ( limited free service is available here) to make sure it is configured and tuned correctly and is working well. Testing your firewall is the best way to ensure that it is working correctly.² IMPORTANT: (a) Never use more than one firewall at the same time. If you want to change an existing one, then uninstall it first (in case of the built-in XP one, you can turn it off); (b) Configuring and using ‘permission-based’ firewall effectively require, among other things, a basic understanding on the part of the user of  what and when to ‘permit’ and what and when not and why . In other words, the uninitiated lay user needs to research and self-train a little bit initially. You can also consult knowledgeable friends/users and/or the websites, the addresses (URL) of which are given in  appendix - 1, for more information.

[ Go: Top | Bottom | InfoCrumbs. ]    

 

Secondly, since regrettably a firewall alone doesn’t give you full protection, you need to employ specialized software (S.A-T) that can be used to examine your hard disk, to search for and clean Trojans that may already have been installed, and even to block their installation in the first place. One of these programs is: TDS-3 (see ‘Downloads’). TDS-3 is rated as the world's best in its field and lightyears ahead of the 2nd best. This app is a slightly complicated, but unless you are a complete novice and understand next to nothing about installing-configuring-using new programs , this is the best choice. TDS-3 is an extremely powerful and useful tool, a must have to bolster up your firewall. The support and updates are also first rate. Note: Don't forget to read the 'help' files carefully before you start using it.

 

( I V )  SPYWARE  

 

While the Internet is a powerful resource and provides users with many useful and often entertaining things to see and do, it also has its dark side and apart from the Good, it is also strewn with the Bads and Uglies . Most people are familiar with freeware, shareware, cookies, media players, interactive content, and file sharing. What they may not realize is that some of the aforementioned may contain code or components, called spyware, that allow the developers of these applications and tools to actually collect and disseminate information about those using them. They can track your surfing habits, abuse your Internet connection by sending this data to a third party, profile your shopping preferences, hijack your browser start page or pages, steal confidential or sensitive data, alter/damage important system files etc, and can do all this without your knowledge or permission. The security and privacy implications of these exploits should be quite obvious and undesirable on any system or network! Spywares can also be put onto your PC via e-mails or a simple visit to a webpage (known as ‘driveby download’).

 

There are more than 78,000 spyware on the loose according to [2003 estimate] PestPatrol. Webroot Software estimates that 80 percent of all PCs are infected and that's not including less malevolent types of spyware, such as 'tracking cookies'. According to some other estimates, these figures are much higher, and ever-increasing. In other words, there are more spywares on the loose than traditional viruses. Chances are your machine is also hosting spyware. These can range from the relatively innocuous to the very nasty, harmful and evasive ones. In any case they always cost you a lot of time. On one hand, they slow down your Internet connection, which is being used to send data without your knowledge and on the other hand, they are sometimes early indicators of spam to come from the firms that spy on you and whose unwanted e-mail you will need to eliminate subsequently.

 

The main problem with anti-spyware tools is that they are still in their infancy and no single application can give you complete protection. They are still not as smart at their job as antiviruses are at theirs. Wise users therefore install more than one antispyware engine (though having several configured for real-time blocking may cause problems).The following are a number of antispyware apps and one Spyware-blocker List, widely recognized as the finest in this field. You can use some of them. It is recommended that your choice includes 'Lavasoft Ad-aware SE Personal' in any case. .                                     [ Go: Top | Bottom | InfoCrumbs. ]

 

1. Webroot Spy Sweeper  (www.webroot.com) : This is one of the best and safest in this area. "PCMagazine"'s 2004 review on antispywares rated Webroots "Spy Sweeper 2.2" (later versions are now available ) as no.1. Although, these ’reviews’ aren’t always as dependable as they pretend to be, in this case the choice is probably not bad, at least insofar as safety concerns are involved (see cautionary remarks below). You can either purchase the 'full' version, or download a ‘trial’ ³  version from webroot's website.

2. McAfee Antispyware (www.mcafee.com): This one comes from a leading anti-virus manufacturer, though may not be as smart as 'Spy Sweeper' or Lavasoft’s ’Ad-aware’ or some others, according to some opinion. Detection rate is mediocre. But it features a real-time scanning engine that scans any program when you try to run it. Available both as a standalone product and as a part of "McAfee Internet Security Suite ".

3. SpywareBlaster (see Downloads): Freeware from Javacool Software. This is not a full- fledged antispyware. It doesn't scan or clean spywares already resident in your machine. It tries to protect your browser/system from the risks of future infection by immunizing your system, using a huge list of known malwares and harmful web sites. Still, this app could be a very handy tool, especially if you are using 'free' versions of other antispyware/s which have their real-time on&offline scanning/blocking features disabled. Updates are moderately frequent.

4. Spybot- Search & Destroy  (see Downloads) :  This is a widely acclaimed and one of the two most popular antispywares. In fact, it almost invariably tops or rated very high in the ranking by any review on anti-spywares. It's rather effective in its intended job. On top of that, it's completely free. Yet, I found this program, at least some of its previous versions, to have some very nasty unintended effects on my system. Making some important and critical applications stop functioning correctly and generally messing up a lot of other things. In other words, I found this program to be  very buggy (faulty) and destructive. And the updates were also few and far between. I don't know whether the author of this app has corrected these problems in later versions, or whether created new ones. Personally I don't recommend this  product. The only reason it's getting a mention here is that this program has received unprecedented and in my view highly undeserved praise and rave reviews by various magazines, which in turn may misguide the unaware user.  It's your choice.                        

5. Lavasoft Ad-aware SE Personal (see ‘Downloads’ ): This is a famous, very highly acclaimed award-winning broad-spectrum multi-trackware cyber-pest detection and removal utility, not merely a dedicated antispyware like the others mentioned above. But an extremely useful  piece of security software nonetheless. A must have. Also recommended by Microsoft.                                                                                   Ad-aware SE  ( latest build.1.05 upto now : Dec.2004) comes in three formats: Pro, Plus, Free ('Personal'). 'Pro' is the most comprehensive one, 'Free' is the least (very useful nevertheless). Some important features are disabled in the Free 'Personal' edition, such as the real-time protection. You will need to run Ad-aware manually on a regular basis to compensate for that. You can either purchase the 'Pro' or 'Plus' version, or download the Free version (SE Personal) from their website. Lavasoft provides regular and frequent updates for all formats (something not available in other products of this category).

6. Yahoo Toolbar with Anti-Spy (www.yahoo.com ): This is a new arrival [2004]. Completely Free. I found it to be quite good.    

7. Windows Antispyware - BETA (www.microsoft.com): Finally an antispyware from Microsoft ! According to some reviewers it's very promising and a potential candidate for leadership in this category, the detection rate being already very high. I haven't used it and have no idea how far the comments of these reviewers can be relied upon, since these professional reviewers in various pc magazines often prove to be way off the mark. When I hear the same people praising 'Spybot' and a Microsoft product, I am really a bit concerned about their integrity. Besides, sometimes probably even...you know, there are many forms of advertising... . In any case, we are talking about a Microsoft product here. That is something. It's still a BETA version anyway.                                                                        [ Go: Top | Bottom | InfoCrumbs. ]

 

If you cannot find any full, complete, unrestricted, latest version of any of the aforementioned commercial antispywares in the local market , you can still use the downloadable ‘trial’ and ‘free’ versions in a very useful and effective combination with the Freewares (fullfrees).

One suggestion is :  Webroot Spy Sweeper - trial + Lavasoft Ad-aware SE Personal - free + SpywareBlaster  -  fullfree (freeware) .

After a month the first one, 'Spy Sweeper'-trial, will become inactive. It can perhaps then be replaced by the Yahoo Toolbar with Anti-Spy  (fullfree), which will also work as a Pop-up Blocker in addition to fighting spyware. The other two will remain.

 

Finally, you can also use IE-Spyad2. IE-Spyad2 is a registry file that adds a long list of sites and domains associated with known advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the 'Restricted sites' zone of Internet Explorer. Once this list is merged into your registry, most spyware pushers will not be able to use cookies, ActiveX controls, Java applets, or scripting to compromise your privacy or your PC while you surf the internet.

 

Caution :  Do Not click on any ( other than the ones given by the security apps installed on your machine) 'Virus Alert' or 'Spyware Alert' or products you might see flashing on your browser window (ad, pop-up etc) while you are online or on the "Ad"-window of your desktop e-mail app, because these so-called 'alerts' often dupe you to download the very things they pretend to protect you from.                                                                                                                                                                     InfoCrumbs.

 

 

( V ) POP THE POP-UPs: While surfing online we often face with unexpected or unwanted windows popping-up or popping-under containing advertisements, attractive offers, links, trick warnings, pornographic and other sleazy stuff  and a wide range of both honest and spurious, fraudulent material. These pop-ups can range from being mere annoyance to sheer harassment, from the relatively innocuous to the nasty browser-hijackers and spyware-planters. In fact, you may see such pop-ups on this site too, advertising anti-virus or anti-spyware softwares. Do not click on any of them.

To stop these undesirable elements, you need a pop-up killer app. EdenSoft’s ‘PopUpCop’ ( see ‘Downloads’ ) is an excellent tool in this regard, effective and versatile. This nifty tiny (502 kb) browser additive does more than pop-up killing to ease and smooth your web-surfing experience. You can either try (‘Trial’) it or buy it. Alternatively, you can download any of the  all free, decently effective Google (google.com), MSN (msn.com) or Yahoo (yahoo.com) Toolbars. The Yahoo toolbar comes with built-in Anti-Spyware as mentioned before. All of these ‘toolbars’ have built-in pop-up blocking feature in addition to other things. Many anti-spyware apps also include pop-up blocking feature . Windows XP with Sevice Pack-2 also prevents pop-ups.                                                                [ Go: Top | Bottom]

 

 

 ( V I ) PRIVACY 

 

Although this is an extremely important issue, we’ll not delve into this  matter separately  other than insofar as it is covered in this article, except for suggesting the following links for more information :

 

1.   Privacy - 1

2.   Privacy - 2  

3.   Privacy - 3

 

# You can also use the following two online privacy protecting tool:

 

1.   Mister Privacy (all free)

2.   Anonymizer  (free rudimentary version, paid full version)    .

 

 

 

( V II )  SPAM

Increasing numbers of unsolicited e-mails are arriving in our e-mail Inboxes. There is a double inconvenience: not only might these messages contain viruses and/or spyware but also we must dedicate considerable time every day to eliminating them.

 

SPAM PRECAUTIONS

a) Do not expose your work e-mail address on the web unless the nature of your work demands it.

b) Avoid having e-mail addresses with free e-mail providers that are too simple in form. Spam robots send messages to name combinations that they create automatically using the most common domain names of the major free e-mail service providers with the most common name and surname combinations. It is therefore clear that [email protected] will receive thousands of spam e-mails while [email protected] will receive far less spam.

 

ELIMINATING SPAM

(i) Both ‘Microsoft Outlook’ and ‘Outlook Express’ enable you to 'kill' e-mails on the server before receiving them. In order to do this, all that is required is to create message rules using the Tools box. This will allow you to delete e-mails from the server remotely and before receiving them if they come from a particular address, or contain specific keywords and/or with a subject containing one word in particular. A major disadvantage: the more message rules you have, the slower downloading e-mail becomes.

(ii) You can install spam blocking software on your PC if you are using POP3 client (i.e. e-mail programs in your machine, also known as 'offline' programs, such as 'Outlook' or 'Eudora' where you download your mails from the server). The best product in this area is Cloudmark’s ‘SpamNet’. SpamNet specializes on MS Outlook and Outlook Express and may not work with any POP3 client. For use with any POP3 client ‘Aladdin Systems SpamCatcher 3+’ is probably the best choice. Alternatively, you can download a 'free' Spam Buster from the Contactplus site "(see ‘Downloads’). Any of the aforementioned antispam tools will save you a lot of time and trouble.

 

( V I I I )  HOAXES

With increasing frequency, Internet users receive e-mails asking for passwords, addresses, account numbers, help, offers of attractive deals or urging to download some important piece of software etc under various pretexts from sources pretending to be legitimate or familiar.

For example, e-mails from PayPal explaining that their account has been deactivated following a technical problem and requiring their address and password, or from 'Yahoo Management', or an invitation from Microsoft to download security software that is actually a Trojan, etc. No software can protect you from this type of hoax. Only critical thinking on your part can protect your system in these situations. Obviously, the PayPal management know your password and would never send you an e-mail to ask for it. Equally clearly, Microsoft would never distribute software by e-mail, since the Windows Update site is active by default for all users of this platform. A bit of thought is enough to avoid falling into the trap. Hoaxsters, spammers, malware-authors are never tired of inventing new and novel tricks though to gain your trust and lure you to open their mails and any attachment contained therein. You'll have to be always on guard for this reason. Some of the new tricks , for example, involve e-mails with subject-lines like : RE: Your resume, RE: answer to you question, Re: , Failure Delivery, Delivery Status Notification, NameOfYourISP-admin, Found,...and what not! The point is, these e-mails will pretend to be from a legitimate source, eg. a reply to a mail you'd supposedly sent earlier, a mail from your ISP or the admin of your web-based e-mail account, a supposedly automated-reply from the destination server of one of your earlier mails, etc.                                                                               Click  InfoCrumbs.

 

SOME BASIC PRECAUTIONS IN HANDLING E-MAILS:

 

1. If your e-mail address is not work-related then do not reply to or even open e-mails from unknown senders. Mark the mails as 'spam' (or 'block sender', whichever is applicable to you) and delete them immediately. Don't try to see what's in it. If your work e-mail address needs to be in the public domain and if attachments are expected then  first establish and restrict yourself to a minimum number of work-relevant acceptable file-types (e.g. *.txt, *.doc,*.jpg, *.pdf, or whatever) of your own choice. Secondly, if the incoming e-mail contains any attachment then establish whether there is a good legitimate reason behind the mail and the attachment and whether you really need to open the attachment. Check with the sender about the authenticity and purpose of the attached file and its name. NEVER open any attachment with an unknown file extension or with any extensions/suffixes like :  .exe,  .bat, .pif, .vbs, .scr, .com , etc. Check the attachments with your security softwares [S.S.] before opening it.

2. There is no guarantee that an attachment from a friend, colleague, relative or any trustworthy person will be clean. It's best not to open any unnecessary attachment, but if you do decide to open it then first ask the sender to confirm it.

3. Disable 'script' and 'html' options of your e-mail program.

4. Never open e-mails that look 'alluring' or sleazy. Delete them immediately.

 

( I X ) One final note on S.S.s:  Those who have highvalue/critical/sensitive data to protect and are ready to part with some cash  should get DiamondCS's 'ProcessGuard', (www.diamondcs.com.au) to add a final and arguably the most important software layer of defence [according to DiamonCS]. While security experts often refer to layered security', it could be said (DiamondCS claims) that 'ProcessGuard' is perhaps the most important and secure layer, since it's the only layer of security that can actually secure the other layers from attack. It is an advanced security system that protects both system and security processes (as well as user-defined processes) from attacks by other processes, services, drivers, and other forms of executing code on your system, probably put their by over-devious  malware authors or hackers. In other words, this nifty app protects  the security softwares and various utilities themselves and other critical components from indirect attacks that target and try to neutralize the guards before the guarded. Process Guard is for Win 2000, XP, and 2003.

A curtailed free version with limited functionality is now available which you can try though without any cost.                                                                      [ Go: Top | Bottom ]

 

 

P A R T  –  2

 

YOUR DATA IS YOUR ASSET

 

For a person whose main or an important work tool is the computer, the documents stored on his PC hard disk comprise his capital par excellence, whether they are documents in the process , reference documents, glossaries, invoices, memos, address books, e-mails, spreadsheet files, database, images or whatever . When this data is damaged or deleted, thousands of working hours disappear and therefore a great deal of money is lost. Three actions must be taken to avoid this situation: Protecting The System From The Pestilence Of The Net (see previous section : The Wild Wild Net), Backing Up Data and Good Maintenance Of The System (see : Maintenance).

 

2a .  Backing up while working: An overloaded memory crashing the computer, a power outage while working... and the whole document in progress disappears. Within the Microsoft Office and various other softwares, the Options menu is used to program the creation of a back-up copy of the document in progress at regular time intervals. It is recommended that you set this option to save every ten minutes.

 

2b . Daily back-up: It is highly advisable that you back up your day's data every day and to do so on External Media rather than just to your PC hard disk. We advise you, particularly, to acquire an external hard disk that can be connected to your machine via a USB port. This will prevent you needing to burn multiple CDs and having to file them.

There is a free program that will back up your data onto the media of your choice every day at a certain time and without you having to interrupt your work: Fast Backup .

If you are using Windows XP, you can also use the system backup functions.

 

If anything goes wrong with your PC and you are unable to access your work you may have temporarily lost a work tool, but you will not have lost the most important thing: your data.

 

2c .  Confidentiality: Set your PC up with a password during SETUP or within your session if you work with Windows 2000 or XP. Apply passwords to your sensitive documents. Whether it concerns Adobe or Microsoft products, all the documents created can be protected by password. We advise you to do the same with Outlook. Create an identity and protect the program with a password.

All these measures may seem unnecessary if you work alone. Otherwise they might prove very useful in protecting you or your data from prying or spying.

 

2d .  System stability: To work with a stable and reliable tool saves a lot of time and prevents unnecessary stress. The risk of losing or damaging data due to an overload is much higher with unstable machines.

All versions of Macintosh and computers working with Linux are extremely stable and reliable.

The same cannot be said though for Microsoft products. It is strongly recommended that you don't work with Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Millennium. These three versions are completely outdated. The best three products currently are Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows 2000 and Windows XP (sp1/2). The last two of these offer the advantage of faster start-up and greater efficiency when attached to the network and Internet connection.

If your system meet the requirements and if you think you can take the trouble of changing/upgrading to then I suggest you should use XP with Service Pack-2.Click:InfoCrumbs. 

 

P A R T  -  3

 

MAINTENANCE 

 

On one hand, it is not always a good idea to work with an old PC with a small, slow hard disk, with less powerful CPUs and outdated operating systems. It slows down your work tremendously.

At the end of a working year, hundreds of hours may therefore have been lost  for a lack of investment in efficient hardware that is increasingly inexpensive. On the other hand, a perfectly 'tuned' computer operates faster and crashes less often than a neglected computer. Here is some advice that will save you time - and therefore money :

 

1. Partition your hard disk. The tool most widely used to perform this procedure is Symantec’s Partition Magic (see ‘Downloads’). There is also good-quality downloadable free software such as SwissKnife  (see ‘Downloads’). Reserve one partition for system software, another for documents, a third for Internet folders, etc . This arrangement reduces the risk of complete destruction of data and increases the fluidity of operation of your machine.

2. Keep your work and recreational use separate. If you install lots of games audio and video files, folders for films, MP3 files, holiday photos, etc on your work machine you will reduce the working speed of your machine and increase the risk of conflicts between various software products.

3. Defragment your hard disks regularly. This increases the speed of data access.

4. For versions of Windows earlier than XP, run Scandisk frequently in order to check the physical integrity of the disks and the integrity of the File Management System.

5. If you are using Windows XP, run the Restore to earlier date function. This option will enable you to restore your system easily in the event of a problem.

6. The fuller a hard disk becomes, the slower it will get. Reorganize your directory structure regularly, weeding out unneeded files. For example, put all the files together that are older than one year and that you are no longer using. Burn them onto a CD or transfer them to any hard disk other than the working hard disk in a compressed format, then delete them from your working hard disk. This advice also applies to your e-mails.

7. The more files present on your PC, the slower your machine will be to start up (and the fuller your disk will be). Therefore, eliminate unwanted files regularly. To do this, there is an excellent piece of free software called Easy Cleaner (see ‘Downloads’).

8. Another excellent, wonderful, all-rounder maintenance tool is System Mechanic 5 (buy/try).One cautionary note: non-expert users must not use any registry-repair tool or features.

 

 

CONCLUSION :

 

In short, if you want to keep your PC safe , follow the tips below :

1. Configure your browser and e-mail client tightly and carefully in an informed manner.⁴

2. Use  good anti-virus, anti trojan (S.A-T) and anti-spyware applications that offer regular and frequent updates. Use the softwares regularly and keep them up to date. Use anti-spam app if you are a desktop e-mail client application user and victim of  spam.

3. Install a good Firewall. Configure it intelligently. Test it. Update it immediately whenever an update is available.

4. Read the help files of your security softwares thoroughly before you start using them .

5. Ensure that your system is clean before you install Anti-virus, Anti-trojan applications and Firewall. Also make sure your security softwares themselves are clean before installing, especially if they are downloads from the Net. Check one with the other.

6. Thoroughly scan your entire computer at regular intervals (fortnightly?), using  the 'Full System Scan' feature of your security softwares.

7. If you are using Windows-XP, when you scan your entire system or an entire drive, turn off the 'System Restore' option (Start-> Control Panel-> System-> System Restore) temporarily before running the scan. Turn it on after the scan/cleaning is finished.

8. Keep your operating system up to date with security fixes. Details of Microsoft's security updates may be found at their website. Turn the 'Automatic Update' feature of Windows on.

9. Always check removable media (floppies, CD-ROM, etc) from other people before use or even your own ( mainly floppies) if they have been used in other people's machines. Don't rely on assurances given by others .

10. Remember, all the aforementioned security softwares need to be configured correctly and fine-tuned. Otherwise they might fail in providing the best protection possible.

11. Refrain from using CD-ROMs containing free/demo ‘software-collections’ of spurious or various origin.

12. Use critical thinking in dealing with incoming e-mails, especially attachments.

13. Refrain from downloading unnecessary freewares/sharewares, sleazy content, animated content, small games or cartoons, etc from the internet.

14. Back up your data regularly.

15. Fine tune, maintain and use your system with care.

 

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Footnotes :

 

1.    Free version: Usually a free for use version of the product with somewhat curtailed functionality and no time limit on its use.

 

         2.    For a short list of providers of  online firewall testing service see Appendix-2.

 

3.    Trial version: Usually, the entire fully functional product, free for use for a limited period.   

 

4.    See Appendix-3 for some rudimentary suggestions on tightening your Internet Explorer.