This is a page about computer software; the basic do's and don't's when it comes to the software installed on your computer.
System security
The number of computers that are hi-jacked for malicious purposes increases every day, and if you are not careful, some could take complete control over your computer without you knowing it.
However, there are solutions to this problem, and the best solution is to be prepared. In order to help you prepare, we have added some links here about useful software.
Anti-virus
This is probably the most important type of program to have on a modern computer. Without it, you are in a world of trouble. Computer viruses are malicious programs that can harm the contents of your computer, making you lose files etc. Unfortunately, even with an anti-virus program it you are still not 100% protected, and the programs themselves can cause a lot of problems.
The most typical problem is the processing load of the anti-virus application. Either due to the background scanning that is done whenever you access a file, or due to scheduled scans of the entire computer. Being aware of the fact that it does take a lot of resources to scan for viruses helps a lot when your computer suddenly slows down every Thursday at 20:00 hours for the weekly scan. (Or whenever it is scheduled.)
There are a lot of anti-virus applications out there, but most of them cost money. In some cases, it can be money well spent, but for most people, the free alternatives are fully acceptable.
Microsoft Windows : AVG Free
AVG Free is a free anti-virus application for Microsoft Windows made by AVG Technologies (previously Grisoft.) The latest version (8) supports Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 (or later) and Vista.
In addition to standard virus scanning, the product also offers the following:
- Scanning of emails
- Anti-spyware
- Automatic updates
While the spyware scanner is not as good as in the dedicated programs, it is definitely better than nothing. Scanning of emails is essential, as is automatic updates.
Microsoft Windows : Avast
Avast anti-virus is another free (one year) anti-virus application for Windows made by ALWIL Software a.s. The latest version supports Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP and Vista (but not the server versions.)
Unfortunately, it requires that you register with the company, submitting an email address where you can receive the one-year license key, something which is less desirable. Still, it is free, so maybe one shouldn't complain! :)
In addition to standard virus scanning, the product also offers the following:
- Scanning of emails
- Anti-spyware
- P2P/file sharing protection
- Automatic updates
The biggest difference feature-wise is that Avast has a built-in P2P and file sharing protection. While this is not something everyone will need, if you do, it may be worth checking out.
Linux : Avast
Avast anti-virus is also available for Linux.
In addition to standard virus scanning, the product also offers the following:
- Automatic updates
As can be seen, the feature set for Linux is more limited than that for Windows, but as Linux still is less of a virus target, it may be sufficient.
Anti-spyware
Spyware is another type of malicious software that can end up on your computer if you are not careful. The main purpose of spyware is to spy on what you are doing with the computer, steal data, and in some cases taking control of the computer to use it as a spam relay or zombie. In other words, not good!
While some anti-virus applications provide some support for spyware detection, they are generally not as good as the dedicated anti-spyware applications out there. However, an anti-virus program with partial anti-spyware support is better than having no anti-spyware functionality at all.
Microsoft Windows : Spybot Search & Destroy
Spybot Search & Destroy (aka Spybot S&D) is the best free anti-spyware application available for Windows. The latest version supports Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and 2008.
There is no support for automatic updates, so the user has to manully order the update of the database before scanning the computer. However, this is very easy, so it is not really a big issue.
In addition to scanning for spyware, Spybot S&D offers different forms of resident protection to prevent spyware from installing itself on the computer or in Internet Explorer. It can also be made to block known spyware sites
Firewall
I have a BT router with integral firewall, which I configure and monitor but hence disable the one in windows on the dell PC which is running a skeleton crew of services.
When things go wrong
If you do have something nasty that got past your anti-virus, you can use the Windows System restore facility to take the PC back to how it was at a point in time. This restores system files , but does not affect your own personal files. This may mean that either your get the PC back to how it was prior to the attack, or at least gets you to where the attack was still dormant, from where you can scrub it with a full virus scan.
If that fails the ultimate weapon is HijackThis
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis,
a low level tool for diagnosing and dealing with viruses. Not for the faint hearted though, it will allow you to change many things, including system ones
System monitoring
2) System events. Windows Control Panel -> System Admin ->Event Viewer ->System events is your friend ! any red errors in here should be taken seriously. Some may be services that failed to start or have a dependency. Some services seem to fail to start first time but then start OK. Any errors about filesystems should be taken seriously. Sometimes I have seen errors just regarding the NTFS and these can be fixed by runnning chkdsk /F, but anything that mentions bad blocks is not good news. Check to see it's not a USB or CD that it's complaining about, as these often seem to have bad blocks. If it's a hard drive that the blocks are reported on then consider this a warning tremor. serious slow down in performance can be caused by disk access timing out due to bad blocks, but this will be confirmed in the event log. Next step is to confirm this with the manufacturers tools, Ultimate Boot CD collects together all the hardware diagnostic tools in one place
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
If you download the ISO and burn your own copy this is invaluable. You can boot a PC from this disk , choose the disk diagnostic menu and run the tools from the manufacturer of your drive i.e Seatools for Maxtor/Seagate. A full disk scan (non-destructive) is the only real test to see if the disk is healthy or not. Do it 3 times and you should be sure. There are also low level formatting tools for if you want to scrub a disk before donating it to someone. Also on UBCD are tools to check your memory, motherboard and CPU. An invaluable collection of stuff you could trawl the internet for, but why bother when the nice people at UBCD have done it for you.
