Dusty's World - Computer Security

Computer Security

With all the virus and hacker activity out there, who wouldn't want a little security? I know I would but no matter how good your security protection, something always gets through, we can however only do the best we can to protect oiurselves against anything that may make our computing experience less than enjoyable.

Computer Security covers a wide range of subjects but here we are just dealing with home computer security. Network security and such like is not for the faint hearted and not dealt with here. this goes as follows:

Firewall

A firewall is essential especially with broadband and permanent internet connections, it hides your computer from outside sources. Unless you use a router which has a built in firewall, most home computer users will use a software firewall, (a program written to be a firewall), the most popular ones being Zone Alarm, Comodo personal, kerio and Norton (although Norton is a pain in the wotsit and I would never think of reccommending it).

A firewall stops incoming and outgoing threats, incoming threats are things such as hackers, port scanning (see information page accessed by clicking on the Information button at the top of this page) and any unauthorised activity which may come from an outside source. A firewall also ensures that outgoing threats don't occur either, if your computer has a virus, you could possibly infect another person's computer, a firewall will also monitor your PC activity and if a module (part of a program) or any program you are running tries to run some software that the firewall doesn't recognise, it will (or should) ask you if you want to run the program or module and you can either click yes or no. How to configure a firewall should be in the instructions that come with the program.

A hardware firewall can be found on devices such as routers, (see the information page accessed by clicking on the Information button at the top of this page), how to configure a hardware firewall is included in the instructions that come with the device. Windows Vista comes with a built in firewall and a note of caution here, you can create conflicts and problems if you have more than one firewall on your computer.

Some popular firewalls are:

* Zone Alarm from zonealarm.com

* kerio Personal from sunbelt-software.com

* Comodo from personalfirewall.comodo.com

* Sygate from symantec.com

A search of the internet will bring up a lot more firewalls.

Antivirus Software

Antivirus software is essential for keeping your computer safe from virus infections, this also includes worms, trojans, etc. Up to date antivirus software is also essential as more and more virus threats are developed every day. An antivirus program can scan everything that starts up or run and even scanned while downloading. It can scan for virus threats on your e-mail and chat programs. Regular scans of your computer would be a good thing with a minimum being once a week.

Some of the more common antivirus programs are: Avast from alwil, AVG from grisoft, Norton from Symantec, Kapersky antivirus and Panda antivirus.

Spyware and spyware Scanners

Spyware is as bad if not worse than a virus. It comes in all shapes and sizes and as it may not mess up your system, (so you don't know it's there) it can keep track of your computer acvtivities. There are:

key loggers, these programs work in the background and record every key that is pressed on your keyboard, this includes any user names, passwords, credit card numbers, account numbers, letters, in fact anything that you need to type through a keyboard. All this is written to a file on your hard disk then when you are using your internet connection, it uploads the information in that file to a predetermined location. This is ideal for someone interested in things like identity theft.

Adware / Spyware works by displaying adverts in pop up windows or pop under windows (I hate them because they use memory and clutter the task bar). They can also change the home page of your web browser, (browser hijacking). They could also add annoying and unwanted things to your programs such as your web browser, (a good case in general is yahoo and google with thier tool bars). In some ways programs like the I-music thing that you have to install in order to install Apple Quicktime can be viewed as a form of spyware, you must install it whether you wish to or not or you can't install Quick time.

These and many other pest can easily be installed on your computer mainly by downloading and installing the following:

* Free programs

* Programs and software obtained through P2P and file sharing programs

* Visiting crack sites and such like

These types of nuisances can be installed at any time and any number of them can be installed at any one time, they are most noticeable when either your computer slows down and possibly crashes or you notice a lot of internet activity.

Ways of helping to control spyware

Spyware, adware and such like are treated like a virus in that there are various scanners available to detect and remove them. Some of the more popular ones are:

* Ad-aware SE Personal from lavasoft

* Spy Sweeper from Webroot

* Spybot Search & destroy from Safer Networking

* Hijack this from Merijn, (note:- this is not exactly software for the novice user, I would advise that someone knowledglable about the results of the scan helps you with this software)

There are many others and a search of the Internet should bring up lots more.

Good Advice

A good way of helping to prevent infection of spyaware and adware is not to install free programs unless you know they are from a good and reputable source. Don't use Peer to peer (P2P) file sharing programs or be very cautious if you do although those files contain mostly viruses. Read the End User Licence Agreement (EULA) in case there is something mentioned about installing additional software. At the risk of sounding paranoid, treat everything with suspspicion.



Computer Security With all the virus and hacker activity out there, who wouldn't want a little security? I know I would but no matter how good your security protection, something always gets through, we can however only do the best we can to protect oiurselves against anything that may make our computing experience less than enjoyable. Computer Security covers a wide range of subjects but here we are just dealing with home computer security. Network security and such like is not for the faint hearted and not dealt with here. this goes as follows: Firewall A firewall is essential especially with broadband and permanent internet connections, it hides your computer from outside sources. Unless you use a router which has a built in firewall, most home computer users will use a software firewall, (a program written to be a firewall), the most popular ones being Zone Alarm, Comodo personal, kerio and Norton (although Norton is a pain in the wotsit and I would never think of reccommending it). A firewall stops incoming and outgoing threats, incoming threats are things such as hackers, port scanning (see information page accessed by clicking on the Information button at the top of this page) and any unauthorised activity which may come from an outside source. A firewall also ensures that outgoing threats don't occur either, if your computer has a virus, you could possibly infect another person's computer, a firewall will also monitor your PC activity and if a module (part of a program) or any program you are running tries to run some software that the firewall doesn't recognise, it will (or should) ask you if you want to run the program or module and you can either click yes or no. How to configure a firewall should be in the instructions that come with the program. A hardware firewall can be found on devices such as routers, (see the information page accessed by clicking on the Information button at the top of this page), how to configure a hardware firewall is included in the instructions that come with the device. Windows Vista comes with a built in firewall and a note of caution here, you can create conflicts and problems if you have more than one firewall on your computer. Some popular firewalls are: * Zone Alarm from zonealarm.com * kerio Personal from sunbelt-software.com * Comodo from personalfirewall.comodo.com * Sygate from symantec.com A search of the internet will bring up a lot more firewalls. Antivirus Software Antivirus software is essential for keeping your computer safe from virus infections, this also includes worms, trojans, etc. Up to date antivirus software is also essential as more and more virus threats are developed every day. An antivirus program can scan everything that starts up or run and even scanned while downloading. It can scan for virus threats on your e-mail and chat programs. Regular scans of your computer would be a good thing with a minimum being once a week. Some of the more common antivirus programs are: Avast from alwil, AVG from grisoft, Norton from Symantec, Kapersky antivirus and Panda antivirus. Spyware and spyware Scanners Spyware is as bad if not worse than a virus. It comes in all shapes and sizes and as it may not mess up your system, (so you don't know it's there) it can keep track of your computer acvtivities. There are: key loggers, these programs work in the background and record every key that is pressed on your keyboard, this includes any user names, passwords, credit card numbers, account numbers, letters, in fact anything that you need to type through a keyboard. All this is written to a file on your hard disk then when you are using your internet connection, it uploads the information in that file to a predetermined location. This is ideal for someone interested in things like identity theft. Adware / Spyware works by displaying adverts in pop up windows or pop under windows (I hate them because they use memory and clutter the task bar). They can also change the home page of your web browser, (browser hijacking). They could also add annoying and unwanted things to your programs such as your web browser, (a good case in general is yahoo and google with thier tool bars). In some ways programs like the I-music thing that you have to install in order to install Apple Quicktime can be viewed as a form of spyware, you must install it whether you wish to or not or you can't install Quick time. These and many other pest can easily be installed on your computer mainly by downloading and installing the following: * Free programs * Programs and software obtained through P2P and file sharing programs * Visiting crack sites and such like These types of nuisances can be installed at any time and any number of them can be installed at any one time, they are most noticeable when either your computer slows down and possibly crashes or you notice a lot of internet activity. Ways of helping to control spyware Spyware, adware and such like are treated like a virus in that there are various scanners available to detect and remove them. Some of the more popular ones are: * Ad-aware SE Personal from lavasoft * Spy Sweeper from Webroot * Spybot Search & destroy from Safer Networking * Hijack this from Merijn, (note:- this is not exactly software for the novice user, I would advise that someone knowledglable about the results of the scan helps you with this software) There are many others and a search of the Internet should bring up lots more. Good Advice A good way of helping to prevent infection of spyaware and adware is not to install free programs unless you know they are from a good and reputable source. Don't use Peer to peer (P2P) file sharing programs or be very cautious if you do although those files contain mostly viruses. Read the End User Licence Agreement (EULA) in case there is something mentioned about installing additional software. At the risk of sounding paranoid, treat everything with suspspicion.