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Keeping Your Computer Safe
NOTE: This document pertains to Windows XP Home and Professional editions only! You can use this document's guidance for other operating systems, but I do not guarantee these programs will either run under non-XP systems nor will they perform as expected under non-XP systems. In other words, if you have an operating system older than XP, you really need to update to Windows XP to take advantage of XPs features, including better security!

Since I have not upgraded to Vista (and probably won't!), I have no idea if these suggestions will or will not work with any version of Vista. Feel free to try and if they work, congratulations!

1. Windows Operating System

Windows Updates:

After installing the Windows XP (WinXP) Service Pack 2 (SP2), you have four options when it comes to updating WinXP:
OK, so you have four options. Which one is best for you? Only you can decide that! However, I would strongly encourage you turn off auto updates. Why? Microsoft has been known to issue patches that crash computers. The better solution would be to subscribe to the free subscription service from Microsoft mentioned above. By doing so, you will have control over the updates that are downloaded and installed on your computer! Otherwise your computer may download and install an update and then your computer crashes. You would most likely have no idea as to why it crashed!

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA):

This is the program I recommend for checking to ensure your system has all the required updates. It checks not only the operating system, but most other installed Microsoft programs, including recent versions of Microsoft Office! And, if your computer is connected to a network, you can configure the program to check all your connected computers running Windows 98 or later!

Your can get the latest version of the MBSA here: MBSA Home Page.


If you are interested in some other things to make your computer run more efficiently, check out the following web site:

http://www.blackviper.com

He has very valuable information on how to best configure your Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista computers. Be sure to check out his "Super Tweaks!" If you do nothing else from his web site, these tweaks will definitely improve the performance of your system!

2. Firewalls:

The purpose of a firewall is to protect your computer from outside threats and from sending threats to other computers. You basically have two options:
  1. Windows firewall: Using the installed Windows firewall will protect you from inbound threats only! If your computer does get infected, it will not stop your computer from launching threats to other computers! That's why I do not recommend using the Windows firewall!

  2. Third-Party firewalls: I highly recommend Zone Alarm by ZoneLabs. Although this program is not free, when you register it, you will receive 365 days of free updates! And don't be afraid if you know nothing about firewalls. This program will guide you through setting up and maintaining your computer system's firewall.
3. Anti-Virus software:

There are many anti-virus software applications available. The three most popular are:
While you have to purchase VirusScan and NAV, AVG is a free download. If you decide to purchase either of the first two programs, your purchase cost includes free virus definition updates for a specific time period. After that, you have to purchase additional yearly subscriptions. Regardless of which program you install, they all have an option for automatic updates so your virus definitions are never out-of-date!

Besides being free, another benefit of AVG is that when it is running, it displays a 4-color icon in your system tray (that area on your screen immediately to the left of your clock). When AVG detects that it is out of date, the 4-color icon changes to four shades of gray! So when it does that, all you have to do is right click on the icon and select Check for updates and follow the screen prompts. Simple and easy!

4. Other Threats To Your Computer (this section under construction!):

Other threats to your computer can be any one or more of the following:
The two most popular programs available to remove and protect your computer against these types of threats are (both of which are free):
Both of these program are easy to use. Unlike the previously noted programs above, these programs do not run all the time. You have to manually start them and search your computer for these types of items. I'd suggest running both of the above programs at least once a month. Before running these programs, update them from within the program to ensure you have the latest definitions!

5. Pop-up (and pop-under) blockers:

Ever surf the web and get blasted by pop-up ads? If so, then you've experienced the famous pop-ups (and now they are using 'pop-unders'!). What you need is a pop-up blocker!

Windows XP (WinXP) with Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed now includes a relatively good pop-up blocker (installed as part of Internet Explorer). However, if you use a web browser other than Internet Explorer or Firefox, you need a pop-up blocker.

I highly recommend Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition by www.panicware.com. This program blocks pop-ups and pop-unders. When it blocks these windows, you will hear a gunshot and the cursor will momentarily turn to a "No" sign (such as you see on traffic signs). This indicates that Pop-Up Stopper has blocked pop-up or pop-under windows — this is normal behavior!!!!

If you need to view the blocked window (such as java windows on web sites) just hold down the Ctrl key and click on the window — it will open normally!

If the pop-up window is not visible, minimize the window you are seeing and you will see the previously blocked pop-up window!

If you are running the Firefox web browser, you will not need a pop-up blocker as Firefox includes a very good pop-up/pop-under blocker! Internet Explorer also includes a pop-up blocker.

6. Web Browsers:

Non-Internet Explorer browsers:

Although Internet Explorer (IE) comes as part of your operating system, I highly recommend not using it due to it's inherent security problems. There are several alternative browsers that are much safer to use:

Firefox is the new kid on the block. The developers of Firefox have taken all the short-comings of Internet Explorer and other browsers and put together a browser that eliminates many of these other browsers' problems. You can download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/. This is a very small download (approximately 5.8 MB for any version 2.0) so if you have only a dial-up connection, you can get a good browser for only a short download.

NOTE: Firefox does not include a mail client! If you want a mail client that integrates well with Firefox download Thunderbird from http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/.

Netscape is an old, but very reliable web browser. However, the owners of Netscape, AOL, have now indicated Netscape is no longer going to be updated and recommend switching to Firefox!

OK, so you are using Firefox and you surf to a website and when you click on a link either nothing happens or you get either an error message or an error address displayed in the address block. Before getting upset, you have most likely reached a web site that was (poorly) designed and is compatible only with IE! If this happens, do not despair! If you need to use IE, the latest versions of Firefox now allow you to download an add-on called IE View. Once downloaded and installed, if you reach a website that requires IE, you just right click on the web page and select View in IE. The page will open in IE!

If this is a web page you frequently visit, you can click on Tools and select Always view this page in IE. Now every time you open this page, Firefox will automatically open it in IE!

If you are using a web browser other than Firefox, follow these steps to open a page in IE:
  1. Highlight the URL (the web site's address)
  2. Press Ctrl-C
  3. Open Internet Explorer
  4. Place the cursor in the Address block and press Ctrl-V
  5. Press ENTER; you will now see the same web site!
    Be sure to close Internet Explorer when finished with the web site!
Internet Explorer (IE) is installed as part of the Windows operating system and can not easily be uninstalled (regardless of what you have been told or read)!

As previously stated, I do not recommend anyone use IE due to it's inherent security problems. If you switch from IE to Firefox or some other browser (Opera, Safari, etc.), when you install those browsers, all your settings, including favorites/bookmarks, will be transferred to your new web browser!

7. Cookies:

Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer. Some are good and some are bad! So how can you tell?

Good cookies contain your configuration information for a particular web site. For example, if you are a weather guru and like to visit the Weather Channel's web site www.weather.com, you can have it customized to display the local weather in your area along with various other information that you want. After customizing their web site, it will save a cookie on your computer. This information contains the configuration information that can only be read by the web site that created the cookie; in this case, www.weather.com.

Bad cookies contain information about your surfing habits (but NO personal information!). These are the advertising type. Some web sites use this information along with cookies obtained from other web sites, to display ads that are targeted at your surfing habits.
For example, by combining all the cookies from other web sites, a particular web site may determine you like hunting. When you visit some web site that has purchased surfing information, that web site may display hunting-related ads.

While surfing the web you may constantly see a dialog box displayed asking you if you want to allow or deny a web site to set a cookie on your computer. Generally you may see the following options:

♦ Show Details: Just as it says, it will show the details of the cookie – which will probably be greek to you!
   However, if you click on this button, it will show you the web site that wants to save the cookie.
   This may be helpful in determining whether to allow or deny this cookie.
   Generally, if the cookie is from the domain of the web site (such as weather.com), that is normally OK to allow the cookie.
   If it is from some other domain, it is probably wise to deny the saving of the cookie.
   Unfortunately this is something you will have to learn as you surf the web — there are no hard and fast rules about which cookies to allow or deny!
♦ Allow:This will allow the web site to set a cookie on your computer
♦ Deny:This will not allow the web site to set a cookie on your computer
   and sometimes a fourth option:
♦ Use my choice for all cookies from this site (or similar wording): This tells your web browser how to handle future cookies from this web site
   when you visit this web site again.
   By checking this box, your web browser will remember whether you want to allow or deny this web site's cookies.

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Questions?

This page last updated: January 11, 2009