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Computer Security Basics Ramblings
Ok here we go...... (Techy stuff, dry and boring but needs to be addressed & please forgive me if I jump around a lot I’m not a writer)
You Mac ppl can ignore this post as you have no need for what it pertains to.
How many do you know or you yourself even wonder if you have the proper anti-virus and anti-malware protection on your computer.
Well here's the simple answer if you have the free version of any AV/AM solution you do not have the proper protection on PC. The reason is that the free versions without fail always have the important stuff stripped out or scaled back. Always, always pay the extra and get the full suite!
But that being said here are a couple things to take into account, 1st your hardware what is your processor, how much ram do you have, how much hard drive space do you have available? Personally I recommend at the bare minimum for a good security suite a minimum of a Pentium 4 2.7 GHz processor or AMD equivalent, at least 1GB of Ram and at least 1GB free hard drive space. The reason for this is while some applications use less than others a decent Antimalware Suite will use some system resources and thereby cause a noticeable performance drop once installed as opposed to prior to installation.
2nd- Take a look at your running processes and installed applications, many of the applications have processes that start up when you start your pc that can be disabled to 1 free up system resources, and 2 will also close open ports if those applications are connecting to the internet once active.
3rd-Decide how much protection and added functionality you wish your Security Suite to have, Norton 360 Version 2.0 has the most End User Functionality I have seen to date in one Suite and has really good protection however you’re not going to run something like this on your old dell dimension 2300 with the 1.6 GHz p4 processor and 256mb of pc133 ram.
For added Functionality I like Norton 360
For straight lock me down protection Trend none of the frills Norton has but all the protection and then some
For a lower performing system AVG or Computer Associates
**However please note that all the above are the complete Internet Security Suites and do include a software firewall. I say this for 2 reasons the firewall does serve a very valid purpose, however with a proper router and a pro1perly configured windows firewall a 3rd party firewall is not only not needed by most end users, but annoying and severely slows performance as most users do not have big beasts of machines with quad core processors and mass amounts of system resources to pull from.
Bottom line guys ask yourself this where do I go online and what kind of stuff am I putting in my PC? If the answer is, I go online check my mail read the news and occasionally Google something as most users do then just about any of the solutions I mentioned will do you fine, just pay attention during installation as you find that there may features you don't want or need, and that will help you minimize the performance impact on your systems. However if you are like me- Online0gaming, constantly going to sites online that are well questionable at best as far as adware, and spyware goes just to find and try the latest software, downloading torrents, yadda yadda yadda, bud I'll tell you this unless your Bill Gates and the team at Microsoft and know every single in and out of Windows I suggest you lock your system down and get the biggest badest security suite you can lay your hands on or just simply quite downloading stuff, lol.
Oh yea and on that note there are a few trojans out there masking themselves as Antivirus software, WinAntivirus2006 to 2009 with or without the "pro" designation is a virus folks don't do it. Same goes for Antivirus Pro 2008, and 2009, some people have had limited success at destroying these viri without reformatting the PC however I honestly believe the only true way to get rid of it is a reformat, but there is good news if you know what you’re doing you can save your data without moving the virus along with it.
Something else you can do that will help slightly on the security side but mainly performance is go to https://www.stevengould.org and download CleanUp! It’s a wonderful little app that does a much better job at getting rid of all the trash on ones hard drive then windows ever has.
Also BACKUP YOUR SYSTEMS REGULARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you don’t already have an external hard drive get one, and either use the backup software that is included or simply use windows to backup your PC next to a good antivirus that is the biggest thing you can do to ensure good security (what would you do today if you managed to get one of the old hard drive killers or your hard drive just suddenly crashed a clean room to attempt recovery of a dead hard drive starts at about $700)
OK enough rambling here’s the PC security rules- Macs included here except where noted
1. Have a current licensed Antivirus solution with all its updates- Mac Users can ignore this for now
2. Back your PC up Regularly & keep the backup media somewhere other than in or on your PC
3. Run your windows and application updates!!!!
4. Take out the trash, dump them temp files and cookies every chance you get
5. Don’t go anywhere you don’t need to be going online or trust
6. Don’t blindly click on links many can be very bad for your computers health(and your wallet)
7. Make sure your security suite has an email scanner many emails include baaaaaadddddd stuff!
8. Stay off the Porn Sites! They are loaded with spyware and adware
9. Stay off the crack sites most are virused in one way or another
10. Enable your pop up filters except for those site you must have pop ups enabled and trust
11. Keep your passwords to yourself (I know it sounds stupid to say but you’d be surprised)
12. AND ABOVE ALL THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK!!!
You Mac ppl can ignore this post as you have no need for what it pertains to.
How many do you know or you yourself even wonder if you have the proper anti-virus and anti-malware protection on your computer.
Well here's the simple answer if you have the free version of any AV/AM solution you do not have the proper protection on PC. The reason is that the free versions without fail always have the important stuff stripped out or scaled back. Always, always pay the extra and get the full suite!
But that being said here are a couple things to take into account, 1st your hardware what is your processor, how much ram do you have, how much hard drive space do you have available? Personally I recommend at the bare minimum for a good security suite a minimum of a Pentium 4 2.7 GHz processor or AMD equivalent, at least 1GB of Ram and at least 1GB free hard drive space. The reason for this is while some applications use less than others a decent Antimalware Suite will use some system resources and thereby cause a noticeable performance drop once installed as opposed to prior to installation.
2nd- Take a look at your running processes and installed applications, many of the applications have processes that start up when you start your pc that can be disabled to 1 free up system resources, and 2 will also close open ports if those applications are connecting to the internet once active.
3rd-Decide how much protection and added functionality you wish your Security Suite to have, Norton 360 Version 2.0 has the most End User Functionality I have seen to date in one Suite and has really good protection however you’re not going to run something like this on your old dell dimension 2300 with the 1.6 GHz p4 processor and 256mb of pc133 ram.
For added Functionality I like Norton 360
For straight lock me down protection Trend none of the frills Norton has but all the protection and then some
For a lower performing system AVG or Computer Associates
**However please note that all the above are the complete Internet Security Suites and do include a software firewall. I say this for 2 reasons the firewall does serve a very valid purpose, however with a proper router and a pro1perly configured windows firewall a 3rd party firewall is not only not needed by most end users, but annoying and severely slows performance as most users do not have big beasts of machines with quad core processors and mass amounts of system resources to pull from.
Bottom line guys ask yourself this where do I go online and what kind of stuff am I putting in my PC? If the answer is, I go online check my mail read the news and occasionally Google something as most users do then just about any of the solutions I mentioned will do you fine, just pay attention during installation as you find that there may features you don't want or need, and that will help you minimize the performance impact on your systems. However if you are like me- Online0gaming, constantly going to sites online that are well questionable at best as far as adware, and spyware goes just to find and try the latest software, downloading torrents, yadda yadda yadda, bud I'll tell you this unless your Bill Gates and the team at Microsoft and know every single in and out of Windows I suggest you lock your system down and get the biggest badest security suite you can lay your hands on or just simply quite downloading stuff, lol.
Oh yea and on that note there are a few trojans out there masking themselves as Antivirus software, WinAntivirus2006 to 2009 with or without the "pro" designation is a virus folks don't do it. Same goes for Antivirus Pro 2008, and 2009, some people have had limited success at destroying these viri without reformatting the PC however I honestly believe the only true way to get rid of it is a reformat, but there is good news if you know what you’re doing you can save your data without moving the virus along with it.
Something else you can do that will help slightly on the security side but mainly performance is go to https://www.stevengould.org and download CleanUp! It’s a wonderful little app that does a much better job at getting rid of all the trash on ones hard drive then windows ever has.
Also BACKUP YOUR SYSTEMS REGULARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you don’t already have an external hard drive get one, and either use the backup software that is included or simply use windows to backup your PC next to a good antivirus that is the biggest thing you can do to ensure good security (what would you do today if you managed to get one of the old hard drive killers or your hard drive just suddenly crashed a clean room to attempt recovery of a dead hard drive starts at about $700)
OK enough rambling here’s the PC security rules- Macs included here except where noted
1. Have a current licensed Antivirus solution with all its updates- Mac Users can ignore this for now
2. Back your PC up Regularly & keep the backup media somewhere other than in or on your PC
3. Run your windows and application updates!!!!
4. Take out the trash, dump them temp files and cookies every chance you get
5. Don’t go anywhere you don’t need to be going online or trust
6. Don’t blindly click on links many can be very bad for your computers health(and your wallet)
7. Make sure your security suite has an email scanner many emails include baaaaaadddddd stuff!
8. Stay off the Porn Sites! They are loaded with spyware and adware
9. Stay off the crack sites most are virused in one way or another
10. Enable your pop up filters except for those site you must have pop ups enabled and trust
11. Keep your passwords to yourself (I know it sounds stupid to say but you’d be surprised)
12. AND ABOVE ALL THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK!!!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jerome Joffe on
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Greetings, Chris!
I make house calls to people's homes solving computer problems and try to make it as simple for people as possible while educating them about computers. I think your recommendations fit for businesses that have advanced needs. However, people at home perform basic services like word processing, email and the Web. Here is what I tell them ...
1. Run chkdsk /r often. This free program is direct from Microsoft and checks for errors.
2. Download Nod32 for anti virus protection. It is shareware for 30 days, a fantastic program.
3. Since nearly everyone now has XP or later, I tell people to create restore points frequently. Even if you end up with a major problem the computer can be restored to yesterday.
4. If people want a firewall beyond what is provided on XP and Vista, I tell them about Zone Alarm or Kerio. However, these programs scare people because they often ask "Do you want to allow this application?" I try to keep the public from being scared. There is too much of that bombarding the public now.
5. I tell people to download Spybot for malware/trojans. They can also use Ad-aware and Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool, but I want to keep it simple for people and Spybot seems the most comprehensive of the three. Personally, I use all three.
Remember that not everyone has a Pentium 4 and plenty of memory to use security suites that often slow down a person's computer. I see no evidence that these security suites offer consumers anymore protection than the full featured programs I just mentioned.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Anderson on -
Clicked the wrong button before I posted I'll get back to you when I'm sober but I def want to discuss this I think we both have valid points and procedures however there are something I disagree with.
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Chris,
I look forward to hearing your insights. I constantly learn new tips about this changing industry.
Warmly,
Jerome
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Permalink Reply by Chris Anderson on
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Hey Jerome,
Sorry it took me so long to respond but it’s been an absolute mad house around ehre for me! O.K. Lets get this ball rolling-
“I think your recommendations fit for businesses that have advanced needs.”
While some needs do vary dramaticly I will give you the basics are the same no matter the application i.e. residential, small or medium business. Good security and housekeeping are just that no matter what level user you are.
“Run chkdsk /r often. This free program is direct from Microsoft and checks for errors.”
Good idea I’ll give you that however it only accomplishes so much and if there are any real errors many times it will fail during the recovery process of those errors.
“Download Nod32 for anti virus protection. It is shareware for 30 days, a fantastic program.”
You just reiterated exactly what I was talking about when I said get a fully licenced and paid for anti-malware suite! “It is shareware for 30 days” Umm, shareware means trial version, which means eventually you still have to pay for it!
“ Since nearly everyone now has XP or later, I tell people to create restore points frequently. Even if you end up with a major problem the computer can be restored to yesterday.”
Umm, ok but what happens in the case of catastrophic hard drive failure a restore point will do you absolutely no good whatsoever as it is stared on the hard drive that just failed. This, is why I suggested backing your systems up regularly. This is not to say you are not correct about the restore points because you are however they will not cover your arse in a catastrophic failure while a good external backup will.
“If people want a firewall beyond what is provided on XP and Vista, I tell them about Zone Alarm or Kerio. However, these programs scare people because they often ask "Do you want to allow this application?" I try to keep the public from being scared. There is too much of that bombarding the public now.”
Ok at first I read your statement wrong and literally bashed the hell out of you on this point thank god for 15 minutes to edit, I agree some 3rd party firewalls are decent but I still stick with the ones built into security suites such as Norton 360(but not AVG 8 I hate that one)
“I tell people to download Spybot for malware/trojans. They can also use Ad-aware and Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool, but I want to keep it simple for people and Spybot seems the most comprehensive of the three. Personally, I use all three.”
2 are good programs I have used all in addition to WebRoot Spyware Blaster and Spyware Search & Destroy, however if not configured properly with the exception of the Microsoft Malicuos Software Removal Tool(Personally I think it’s useless) WILL hinder overall performance. In older slower machines they can and will bring it to a stand still!
“Remember that not everyone has a Pentium 4 and plenty of memory to use security suites that often slow down a person's computer.”
With todays software and its hardware requirements if you don’t have a P4 2.7 or higher and at the very minimum 1GB of Ram it’s really way, way past time to upgrade
“I see no evidence that these security suites offer consumers anymore protection than the full featured programs I just mentioned”
OK lets see here your running what 4-5 anti-malware applications on your PC an Av, an AS, an AR plus MSMST and possibly a firewall? Oh yea, that’s right it’s all included in the suites I mentioned usually uses less resources due to few processes and is much more user friendly as all applications are controlled through 1 GUI, as for protection well honestly that depends on what applications you are using and how often you use them and as most EU’s forget they are even there YES an all inclusive AM Suite DOES offer much more protection as all parts are running when needed and not overlooked or forgotten about. Then theres always the stuff I didn’t metion that’s not included in most free software such as anti-phishing, link scanners, web site reputation, etc. I think I made my point.
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Greetings!
Sorry for the delay, I have been visiting another planet introducing computers to aliens.
My main point is there are always more than one way to accomplish the same goal. There are a lot of good firewalls and antivirus programs. chkdsk /r does repair system problems that are not hardware failures.
Also, business computers are hooked to a network and are much larger than home users. Losing a little bit of data on a home computer is not a big issue and avoided if extra backup is on a email account. This protects in case of fire at a person's home.
By the way, NOD32 now has a system suite for sale.
Warmly,
Earthling Jerome
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Permalink Reply by Tom Marsh on -
A few points to add to this:
- Don't login as administrator unless you have to--he can do anything. So when you go, for example, visit a web-site with a banner-ad that somebody embedded some nasty, malicious code into, that code is now being run as administrator. Make a "regular" account for yourself and only login as the admin (or use Privilege Escalation feature) when you need to use an administrative function.
- AVG Free. It rocks. It works. Its free in price for home-use. For most at-home Windows users, this is the best choice. Businesses should look at Sophos. It's not free but reasonably priced, can be centrally managed, and there is no "tiered" support--All paying customers get the same, awesome service.
- Use OpenDNS or something like it--you can block content by category, for example Phishing and some Malware sites. Its not perfect, but its a great (free) second layer of defense. Some developers have found a way around your pop-up blocker, and I can't tell you how many of those pop-ups get blocked by OpenDNS for category malware/spyware or scams...
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1. Please use your real name (first and last) when you sign up, or we cannot open your account
2. Please do not use logos or commercial images for your profile photo
3. Events should be posted in the events calendar
4. You can post pretty much anything you want on your own personal page (self promotion, etc), and you can change the style of your personal profile page to reflect your corporate identification if you so choose.
5. Please keep all comments civil and polite. It's OK to feel strongly about a subject, and it's OK to be critical of ideas, but please refrain from personal attacks of any kind.
If you witness or experience any issues, please contact admin@smallerindiana.com and we will look into the matter.
6. Smaller Indiana is supported by its members, and by corporate sponsors. If you're interested in learning more about sponsorship, please call Pat Coyle at 317 332 7878.
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