Subject: John's Suggestions for Protecting Your PC



Subject: John's Suggestions for Protecting Your PC

Hi there! After a number of people asked, I put together

JOHN'S SUGGESTIONS FOR PROTECTING YOUR COMPUTER.

Here is what I came up with. Feel free to share it with friends.

I have had people complaining about the glut of viruses lately and wanted to offer some suggestions for home users (most of this is aimed at the PC owner, not the Mac owner, as the problem is much worse on the PC platform.) I have this broken down into 5 sections, if it is too long to read all at once, print it and focus on one section a day, I don't mean to overwhelm you! ;-) This is not going to answer every question, but should prove useful. In general, if you have a PC, and you use the Internet, you are vulnerable to dozens of new viruses and threats every month. This is really aimed at those home users, especially if you have kids at home, or broadband service.

[***Broadband users, people who use IRC, AOL, ICQ, Instant Messaging, Kazaa (peer-to-peer file trading), or anyone with a teenager is at HIGH RISK! Taking proactive measures today may save you much grief tomorrow!***]

I have not specifically addressed "home firewalls", but if you are connected 24x7 to the Internet on broadband, you should really consider either a software or hardware firewall. One easy solution for a firewall, is to purchase a firewall/router that you can hook up between all your home computers and your cable modem, or DSL modem. You can buy online (i.e., ) or at your local electronics superstore. Dial-up users are not really at risk the same, so if you just use a dial-up modem, your only option would be a software firewall. In that case, if have one built-in, that's great, but you would probably be better served by spending your money on the tools below. The suggestions below will benefit ANY computer user who connects to the Internet.

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1. Dealing with Viruses

- BUY a copy of a good antivirus program (like Symantec,

McAfee, Trend, Panda...)Available for all platforms. If

you like the online scanner below, you can purchase a

commercial version from their site for around $30 with a 1-

year subscription.

- Keep it updated AT LEAST once a week. Try to set it to

autocheck at a convenient time so you don't forget. The

paid subscription lets you auto-update. If you don't pay

after it expires, you can still get virus updates manually

from the vendor website, in most cases.

- Here is a link to a page I made to check on the latest

virus news:



- Here are some links to FREE ONLINE resources for scanning

your PC. If you are using a phone dial-up for the

Internet, this can be slow, but at least one site (McAfee)

will download a small program and you don't need to remain

connected while it runs. (These are for PC only.)

+ Symantec (PC):



(you can perform a virus scan, or check for vulnerabilities)

+ Trend Micro (PC):

+ Panda (PC):



+ McAfee (PC):

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2. Dealing with SPAM

- There is nothing worse than having a TON of junk mail in

your inbox when you check it. You may not check mail every

day, which makes it even more of a chore to deal with the

glut of SPAM.

- When you get junk mail, you will generally know it is not

from someone you know. If you are in doubt, just DELETE

the message. Don't take the risk of opening unsolicited

email.

- Even though you can sometimes opt out of SPAM mailing

lists by following the instructions at the bottom of the

message, more often than not you are letting the SPAMMER

know you are there, and they will send you more SPAM. So,

don't reply to SPAM.

- Until there is some miracle way of opting out of it

altogether, you will need to invest in a SPAM blocking

program. While there are filtering options in some email

systems, they are weak and it is worth a few bucks to buy

a program that will filter SPAM and have a subscription

to keep updated with new filters. Here are some options:

+ McAfee/Spamkiller (PC, $30):



+ Matterform/Spamfire (Mac only for now, $25/$40):



+ CoffeeCup PC - haven't tried, but good reviews, $30):



+ SpamWeed for POP3(bayesian spam filter, should learn and

improve over time - haven't tried but looks good, $30):



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3. Dealing with Ad-Ware/Malware (the stuff that gets installed when you download another program or visit a website that reports on what you do)

- This is primarily a PC problem, so these tools are

exclusively for the PC.

- Here are links to a couple FREE software packages that you

can use to scan for any adware that might be installed on

your system (i.e. Gator, etc.):

+ Ad-aware (PC, FREE):



+ Spybot (PC, FREE):

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4. Dealing with Pop-ups (annoying pop-up windows in your web browser)

There are several vendors that have tools to block pop-ups. Always be careful that you don't install spyware in the process of downloading a neat toolbar to block pop-ups. Here are some I like. They may also have additional functionality, like Google searching, etc. (Mozilla might be the only pop-up blocker for classic MacOS users.)

+ Google Toolbar (PC, FREE):

+ You might also try running Mozilla, instead of Internet

Explorer:

+ On MacOS X, use Safari, it will block pop-ups:



+ CoffeeCup Pop-up Blocker ($20):



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5. Keeping your computer patched from vulnerabilities

It is vital that your PC remain patched from critical security vulnerabilities. This Windows site will check your computer for missing patches, you should keep the security patches updated, but may decide not to install other large patches that are not "critical security patches".

[Note: Most new operating systems offer the ability to auto-patch your system, you may decide this is your best option, and that way you won't forget.

FOR MAC USERS: You can also use the control panel to look for "software updates" on the Mac... this site is for the savvy MacOS X user. In general, the Mac is much less vulnerable to viruses than the PC.]

Some of the recent "blended" threats, like Blaster, will infect ANY unpatched computer that is vulnerable if left long enough on the Internet. Even if you have the latest antivirus. Remember that antivirus is NOT a 100% solution anymore.

Sites to for patching your computer:

+ Microsoft(PC):

+ Apple(MacOS X) Security Updates:



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All of the Security vendors above, and my website () will guide you to Best Practices. Please feel free to share this email with friends.

[You may also go to a good online software site, like and go under your operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux) and then click on Internet to pull up tons of freeware and software titles if you don't find something that you like in my list above.]

Good Luck! Remain Skeptical! Stay Safe Online!

~ John

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John Johnson

jjohnson@



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