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Using your personal computer |
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Hilton Head Island Computer Club |
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Protecting My Computer |
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This is an age of computer attacks from everywhere. Basically there are two forms of these attacks and they are viruses and malware. Viruses leave harmless notices, propagation of the virus from your computer and Trojan Horses. Malware includes adware, spyware, and key loggers left on your computers. In all cases the results are that you have lost control of the computer. When any of the above is on your computer, you have a difficult time removing them and many times you need to redo the entire operating system, re-install all programs and possibly lose all your data. In this article, I thought I would describe my approach of protecting my computer. The proper tools, awareness and a timely continuing check on your computer are the approaches I use. Most all the anti-virus software will work, but how you use it is important. I have used Norton Anti-Virus (NAV) as my choice and am currently using Version 2003. Since the 2002 version, NAV also scans all incoming and outgoing e-mail, a good and necessary addition. I hope you recognize that the virus definitions are constantly updated and you need to be sure those definitions are no older than one week. Most anti-virus software has an automatic update procedure so that this should not be a problem. However, if your subscription expires or something else happens, you need to have a procedure to verify that it has not happened to you. Also, most programs have a Scan All Files option and you should probably do this once a week. This can generally be done automatically. In the case of Norton Anti-virus both of these items sometimes do not work as scheduled and there are other updates that need to be checked manually. In NAV, the automatic portions are done by the Scheduled Tasks option of Windows. You can review this by going to Start->Programs- >Accessories->Systems Tools and click on Scheduled Tasks. This is a list of programs that are run with a schedule. You can right click and select Properties and you will see all the tabs as to program, schedule, settings and security. Do not change anything unless you are sure of what you are doing. In NAV the following are its Scheduled Tasks; Symantec NetDetect and Norton AntiVirus - Scan my computer. Right click on either and select Run from the menu. If it starts the program running the scheduled item is working. If either is not working I do the following, turn off the function in the program, delete the item in Scheduled Tasks, close Scheduled Tasks and then restart it in the program and go back to Scheduled Tasks and run the program as described above. In NAV, Symantec NetDetect is controlled in the Options->Live Update section and for Norton AntiVirus - Scan my computer it is in the Scan for Virus->Schedule with Scan My Computer selected. In the Scheduled Tasks you can see a report of the Last Run Time and the Next Run Time of the programs. In summary, I check once a week on my computer and my wife’s to verify our NAVs are operating properly. I believe that almost all anti- virus software will cover these items and you need to know how to use yours and assure that it is working properly. In case you think that you are well-covered if you do the above, it no longer is true. The most recent malware is probably more dangerous. Most of you are aware that each time you go to a site on the Web; it generally places a cookie (a text file) on your computer. Most cookies are harmless and can actually store information so that when you return to that site you are recognized. Also, some personal date you willingly supplied is used to enhance the site for you. You can require a prompt and approval of all cookies by settings in your browser but you would soon be unhappy with all the approvals required. However, some sites begin the process through their ads, etc, to track what sites you were going to for directions on your preferences. They then collect data and begin pop-up ads for your profile which they created. This is the adware issue and soon they may be sending pop-ups with you not even using your browser. Then, spyware which chases personal information, etc. Finally, a new type of software has been created to track all the information that you type on your keyboard and they are called key loggers. You can purchase this software and many companies place it on their computers. In either case, it is used to track how the computers are being used and/or to gather personal data. This software is very hard to detect or remove. The adware and spyware can capture your browser, and I know of a couple people who could not connect to the Internet, but their computer could. I use three programs to try and stay ahead of these type of threads; Ad-aware 6.0, Spybot - Search & Destroy and WinPatrol7.0.1. All are free but require your running the programs for protection. The first two operate similarly to anti-virus in that they create a list of offenders (like virus definitions) and update their list for use with the software. Ad-aware can be purchased in a premium version which will do automatic detection. I do not know how they do updates, etc. Spybot does not charge but does request a donation if you wish. Win Patrol is different as it monitors certain portions of your computer and if any program tries to makes changes in those areas, it requests permission from you to let it happen. That is one of the items that |
