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Click on the links below:
Old Hard Disks
Vital Information
Test your Firewall
Check your Hosts file
File Synchronization
WinPatrol
Free Parental Control Software
AVG 8
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Old Hard Disks
When I take away someone’s old computer for re-cycling/scrapping they are sometimes quite concerned about the security of the data on the hard disk.
My usual solution is to take the hard disk out of the old PC and instal it as a slave into the new PC.
Then they know that their old data is secure because they’ve still got it.
And if they need to access old documents or files then they are all still available from the old disk in their new PC.
But I recommend that they try to copy all their data onto the new disk as soon as possible because the old disk is likely to be the first thing to fail.
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Vital Information
Imagine the situation - your computer dies so you decide to buy a nice new one. You know that you can install the old hard drive into the new PC as a slave, so you can get at all your documents and stuff.
But it’s very difficult to get at the following bits of vital information. So write them down NOW and file them somewhere safe and memorable:
Internet Service Provider Name
Internet Service Provider Telephone numbers (for dialling up and for enquiries).
Your ISP Username
Your ISP Password
Any special settings for your dial-up/broadband connection
Your e-mail addresses
Your e-mail passwords
Your Home network name
How to connect to your Router (URL, username, password)
All of the above are relatively easy to get from a running main system drive but are much harder to get from a drive running as a slave.
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Test your Firewall
The leading firewall testing tool is the free web based ShieldsUP! from Gibson Research.
You can find it at www.grc.com - scroll down to the Hot Spots section and do the File Sharing and Common Ports tests.
If your PC passes both tests don’t get too complacent - the test is only for hacking probes. There are still viruses, spyware, trojans and worms out there waiting to attack!
(The biggest enemy is from within - TEENAGERS. In my experience the majority of malware infection comes from teenagers doing file sharing. Give them their own limited user account and don’t tell them your administrator account password. And then don’t let them talk you into downloading and installing ANY file sharing programs.)
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Check your Hosts file
There is a file on your computer called “hosts” with no suffix. Usually it is in:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
but yours may be in another folder - use search to find it.
The purpose of this file was to provide a quick way of converting a domain name (like pctips.org.uk) into a true internet address (like 82.165.69.182), without having to use a remote DNS (Domain Name Server).
But spyware can insert entries into your hosts file that can take you to another site. So when you want to go to www.yourbank.com it could send you to www.aclonedversionofit.com where thieves could steal your userid, password, etc and then steal your money.
So when search has found your hosts file you should double click it and scroll down to Notepad to open it.
It should look like this:
# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
The lines starting with # don’t do anything so the lines starting with an IP address are the ones to check.
You should delete all entries other than the 127.0.0.1 localhost one.
There is really no useful value in having this file, but if you delete it Windows will recreate it, so just make it look like the example above and then save it.
And check it every now and then - it might get hijacked!
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File Synchronization
If you work with more than one PC - maybe one at work and one at home, or a desktop and a laptop, then you will have come across synchronization problems. If you are working on a project you need to know that the file you are starting to work on is the latest version.
I know people that religiously email their files to home/work at the end/beginning of the day so that they always have the latest versions.
Many people transfer their files on a USB thumb drive. But if the only up-to-date copy of your vital file is on a thumb drive and you lose it......!
Ideally you should have duplicate copies of your files on each PC (for security) and keep them synchronized.
Microsoft tried to solve the problem with the Briefcase application which is still part of Windows. But no-one could really understand how to use it - the instructions appeared to be clear, but were anything but.
Allway Sync is a free file and folder synchronization program for Windows. It synchronizes data between desktop PCs, laptops, USB drives, etc.
It has a clear interface and good diagrammatic instructions in the help file.
It has won a lot of awards and has rave reviews on its web site “Quotes” page.
If I tell you everything that it can do I will only be repeating the information on the web site so have a look at it here: http://allwaysync.com
Microsoft have produced a similar tool called SyncToy which you can download free from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/sync toy.mspx
This allows you to synchronize files in five different ways allowing you to choose what action to take for renamed and deleted files.
In it’s default configuration (Synchronize) SyncToy is probably even easier to use than Allway Sync.
If you carry vital information between computers on a portable drive then one or other of these programs should be used every time you plug in to each computer.
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WinPatrol
In situations where you know that users aren’t going to bother updating and running conventional Anti-virus and Anti-spyware programs there is a useful alternative.
WinPatrol alerts the user to hijackings, malware attacks and critical changes made to the computer without permission.
WinPatrol uses a heuristic approach to detect attacks and violations. Traditional security programs scan the hard drive searching for previously identified threats, but WinPatrol takes a snapshot of the critical system resources and alerts the user to any changes that occur without their knowledge.
WinPatrol also has enhanced functionality - visit www.winpatrol.com to read all about it and download it.
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Free Parental Control Software
There are numerous commercial parental control programs (Net Nanny, CyberPatrol, etc) but I have just been alerted to a free program that has won the Best Buy award from the UK “Computer Shopper” magazine.
The program is “Crawler Parental Controls” available from www.crawlerparental.com
I have not tested the program (my kids are adults now, and beyond redemption!) but Computer Shopper has tested it and has given it first place above 7 of the top commercial programs. And Computer Shopper is very well respected.
Interestingly Computer Shopper are also not very complementary about the built-in Parental Control feature in Windows Vista (Home editions only).
Unusual for a magazine to recommend a free program and risk losing advertising from the commercial guys. I think that the last time they did that was for OpenOffice.
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AVG 8
For years AVG has been a free anti-virus program used by millions of people. I instal it as standard on nearly all new PCs that I provide, and I go so far as to remove any free trials of other programs like Norton or McAfee before I replace them with AVG.
Understandably the company that provide AVG (Grisoft) are now trying to encourage users of the free version of AVG to upgrade to a paid for version which includes more functionality. But the company is playing fair and still offers a free version of its latest offering, AVG 8.
To get the free version, first ignore and close the pop-ups that are currently coming with updates to AVG 7.5. Then go to http://free.grisoft.com
Under the heading “Free basic protection” (in the left hand column), left click on “AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition”.
Then under “Choose your protection level” go to the bottom of the second column and left click on “Continue to AVG Free download”.
At the bottom of the next page left click on the blue band: “Continue to AVG Free download”.
Look below the blue bar saying “Download AVG Free 8.0” and left click the blue words “Download AVG Free 8.0 (AVG server)”.
Choose the option to run the download.
Follow the instructions and the program will delete your existing AVG 7.5 and instal AVG 8 to replace it. You will have to reboot your PC, when requested, to complete the installation. I recommend that you don’t choose the option to instal the AVG toolbar - who wants another toolbar?
Some users of Windows Vista may be told by the AVG installation program that they need to instal a Windows update (KB929547). Follow the instructions to do this (you will most probably need the 32 bit version) and then start the AVG installation again.
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