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This part of the
site is dedicated to explaining some of the issues that need to be addressed
to secure your computer from malicious attcks via your Internet connection.
I would recommend
you consider implementing a defence against all of the threats discussed
with the exception of parental controls software, which you will
know if you need it or not!
Choose a subject
from the following links:
Anti-virus
Software
Software Firewall
Test Those Shields
Spyware
Cookie Control 
Trojans
Diallers
Cool WWW Search
Anti-Spam
Pop-up
Adverts
Parental
Controls Software
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If
you are reading this, you are connected to the Internet. If you
don’t have anti-virus software installed or it is installed but
not kept up-to-date, my one question would be “Are you absolutely
mad?”
My
advice is simple:
- install
anti-virus software
- update
it at least once a week
- ensure
e-mail scanning is enabled
- perform
a manual or scheduled scan of your Hard Drive(s) at least once
a week.
Anti-virus
products:
-
AVG
is Freeware, no cost for software or updates.
-
Norton
Anti-virus – Paid for software and there is an annual
subscription fee for the updates.
-
Norman
Anti-virus – Paid for software and there is an annual
subscription fee for the updates.
-
McAfee
Virus Scan – Paid for software and there is an annual
subscription fee for the updates.
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A
software firewall monitors the traffic between your PC and the
Internet, both in and out. It will block any ‘suspect’ traffic,
for example some hacker scanning computers connected to the Internet
trying to access their personal data. If you have not got a software
firewall installed, get one now, they are as essential as anti-virus
software.
Firewall
products:
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If
you have a firewall in place, why not test it out:
If
you are feeling particularly brave, try running Shields Up before you install your firewall!
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Are
you feeling paranoid yet? No? Read on then….
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Even
if you have up-to-date anti-virus software installed and a software
firewall in place, you will not be protected from Spyware.
Spyware
are programmes that sit on your Hard Drive and monitor your web
surfing habits, periodically reporting these habits back to their
originators.
They
install themselves via Internet Explorer so you can’t block them
with your firewall. They are not viruses so your anti-virus software
will not find them. They usually sit in your Cookies folder or
within Windows Registry.
I
don’t know about you, but I don’t like being spied on, the annoying
thing is that it is rife and your own Internet Service Provider
is probably one of the culprits!
So,
two methods:
Detection
and Removal
I
use all of these, they are freeware and both will scan and clean
up your drive. Also, Spybot and the Microsoft product both block
spyware from being installed on your computer.
Do
not be surprised if the first scan finds 100+ items of Spyware
and if you’ve ever used file-sharing software be prepared for
a bigger surprise! Scan you Hard Drive(s) at least once a week.
Prevention
Block
Spyware from being installed
Both
block Spyware from being installed. I have not tried either of
these yet, but give me time, the paranoia will increase eventually.
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There
is something you can do in Internet Explorer (version 6.x) for
free to vastly reduce the amount of spyware getting onto your
computer. Just follow these steps...
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Open
Internet Explorer
-
Click
on Tools > Internet Options
-
Click
on the Privacy tab
-
Click
on Advanced
-
Check
the box Override Automatic Cookie Handling
-
Click
on the radio button to accept first party cookies
-
Click
on the radio button to either prompt or block
third party cookies (your choice)
-
Check
the box Always Allow Session Cookies
-
Click
OK twice to complete this task
If
you chose the option prompt third party cookies, when you visit
web sites in future you will be asked by windows if you want to
allow a cookie to be put on your system. You may be surprised
how many times this happens and equally surprised at the sites
this happens the most on. You can choose to block on each occasion
or you can check a box and permanently block that cookie from
that site.
This
method alone has reduced the amount of spyware I get on my PC
by about 90%
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Trojans
A
trojan is a specific type of virus that 'pretends' to be part
of a programme but once on your computer, it launches a virus.
Your anti-virus should stop trojan viruses from being downloaded,
but just to be sure, install one of the following free trojan
scanners, keep it updated and use it to scan your computer regularly.
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Diallers
A
dialler is a programme that gets downloaded to your computer &
then sets up a dial-up connection to a premium rate phone line
(without you knowing).
As
far as I'm aware, this only works if you still use a dial-up modem
rather than broadband but this is not nice and phone companies
don't care and you will have to pay the cost of the premium rate
calls if you get caught out by one of these programmes.
See
the section above for a way of detecting & removing dialler
software.
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Cool
WWW Search
This
is actually spyware but I read an article in
PC Pro magazine recently about Cool WWW Search and its many
variants and I believe this nasty piece of malware is worth a
specific mention, including how to get rid of it.
Here
are some of symptoms you may experience if a version of Cool WWW
Search has found its way onto your computer:
- Internet
Explorer runs very slowly
- You
get lots of pop-up adverts for porn sites
- Your
default home page keeps changing (again this could be to a porn
site)
Nasty
eh? So, here's another link to a programme to detect & remove
this vile bit of code:
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Sick
to death of unsolicited e-mail offering you Viagra, sex chat or
to enlarge your manhood? Spam mail is a royal pain but it can
be ‘managed’. Here are a few options:
First,
never, ever, reply to Spam and do not click on the unsubscribe
link within the e-mail. Do either of those things and you have
informed the Spammer that they have a ‘live’ e-mail address and
the amount of spam you receive will increase exponentially.
Rules
– Use the ‘create rules’ option in your e-mail software, create
a rule for each of your known contacts that directs their e-mail
to your inbox. Then create another rule that puts all other mail
in a ‘spam’ folder.
Read
through the titles of the mail in the spam folder and move anything
you want to keep into your inbox and delete the rest.
It
does not stop the spam but at least this method is free, does
not require any new software and keeps the spam out of your inbox.
Other
methods
I
tried Mail Washer
Pro . You can set up a black list (delete all e-mail from
sender(s)) and a white list (allow all e-mail from sender(s))
and check out the rest before downloading to your inbox.
It
seemed to work well except if you opened your e-mail programme
first, all mail that was not on the black list would be allowed
through. What I want is a programme that blocks all mail
until I allow it through. I need to do this because my 7 year
old son's e-mail account has started receiving spam from porn
sites, why it should be his e-mail address whilst mine and my
wife's e-mail accounts are unaffected is beyond me.
I
have not tried any of the anti-spam software listed below. This
information comes from a very comprehensive article I read in
PC Pro magazine.
Managed
database - www.spamnet.com
(paid for software) is an Outlook plug-in that links to a database.
If you receive spam, you mark it as such and this updates the
database, therefore you also benefit from other uses of this software
doing the same and anything in the database that has been previously
confirmed as spam is filtered automatically by the plug-in.
Algorithmic Filtration - http://spambayes.sourceforge.net
(freeware) is another plug-in that filters on commonly used keywords
within spam mail. You have to 'train' this software yourself over
time.
Proxy Filtration - Mail Washer Pro from www.firetrust.com
(paid for software). This software sits between your mail server
and your e-mail client software and checks mail for spam as it
passes through. You can black list and white list senders and
again, the software requires 'training' and does link to a Spamnet
type database.
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Pop-ups
drive me crazy, I just will not follow a link on a pop-up advert
on principal. I currently use the Google
toolbar which, apart from giving you instant access to the
Google search engine, also blocks pop-up adverts.
An
alternative is Pop-up
Stopper (freeware). These both work but, if you do want to see a pop-up, e.g. on a web site, you have to hold CTRL
as you click the link and this too can get annoying.
Windows
XP Service Pack 2 also includes a pop-up stopper once you have
installed it.
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Parental
Controls Software
If
you have children, you may want to stop them finding some of the
unsavoury stuff on the Internet. Parental Controls software can
be used to stop them from accessing such sites and, if required,
set a time limit for how long they can be on-line in any given
day.
Here
are three options (but others are available):
-
Net Nanny-
paid for software (about £20)
- Cyber
Patrol - paid for software (about £20)
- Surf
Pass - this is freeware. It requires a database and the
application to be downloaded and installed seperately.
I
currently have Surf Pass installed on my sons' PC. It claims to
block over 500,000 dodgy sites and although it slows down windows
starting a little and is a bit awkward to get into the admin menu,
it does seem to work. I tried a 'rude search' on Google and click
on a link and Surf Pass blocked it OK. I also tried a search for
'Guns' but this time, when I clicked on the link I did get into
the site! (the software is from the USA, so perhaps it says something
there?)
If
Surf Pass does not do the job over a prolonged test, I'll go for
one of the 'paid for' options. Either way, I'll let you know what
happens.
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