Geekin’ It Up with The ‘Orrible Cabbage #1: Protecting Your Computer.

Hello World.

Welcome to the first edition of Geekin’ It Up with The ‘Orrible Cabbage! This will be a semi-regular feature (ie, whenever I feel like writing one) about various “geek” issues that I might think you need to know.

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This first edition is titled Protecting Your Computer and was inspired by something that happened in my house a couple of weeks ago. In this article I will go through the various programs and techniques I use to keep my computer safe when using the internet, and explain briefly what they do and why you need them.

But first, the setup. About a month ago, one of the computers on my network became infected with a trojan. Not a malicious virus type of trojan, but a simple, “less evil” one. Ironically, if it had been a worse type of trojan, the expensive virus scanner that is installed would have picked it up. As it was, this one managed to slip past due to its “medium” threat ranking.

Now as I said, this trojan wasn’t particularly malicious. It didn’t delete any files, steal any passwords or send itself to other computers. All it did was download. I have yet to discover what exactly it was that it was downloading, although I can only assume it was obtaining more copies of itself, because I found several copies of it on the system (a virus with a survival instinct, it seems).

As a consequence of the trojan’s incessant downloading, it broke our 10Gb monthly usage limit in under two weeks. I found and removed the trojan just after this, but the damage had been done. I am now writing this using an appallingly fragile, dial-up speed “shaped” Broadband connection.

This is why I have not posted for several days – it is too painful watching the computer struggle to upload even the simplest of text posts.

So that is why I have decided to write this, the first edition of Geekin’ It Up. I had actually planned to write about various other issues in this new feature, but they will have to wait. I shudder to think how my connection is going to handle such a large post, but the issue is an important one.

So, onto the real point of this article – the advice. Below I will outline several steps which I think every computer user should follow to protect their system (well, any Windows computer user anyway, Mac and Linux users can just sit back and chuckle at us for a while, if you so desire). These steps are basically in some kind of order of importance, although none should be left out.

1. Virus protection:

The first and most important thing any internet-connected computer needs is a virus scanner. Most computers do have a virus scanner installed (if you bought your computer pre-built from a shop, then chances are you have one), but many do not.

There are many options when it comes to anti-virus programs. Most will cost money (such as Vet or Norton), but there are free alternatives available, such as the Open Source ClamWin.

There is more to it than to simply have a virus scanner, however. Regardless of which program you choose, it will be next to useless if it is not updated. Update at least once a week. Most companies release new updates every one to two days, so there is no excuse to be out of date.

2. Firewall:

A firewall is a program which will block access to your computer from outside attackers. Generally speaking, firewalls will not block against virus attacks, only from direct access. Therefore, both should be used together.

Some of the larger security suites, such as Norton, come with a firewall built in, but many do not. A good free firewall is the free edition of ZoneAlarm.

3. Browser:

Most people do not even realise that there are other options for browsing the internet other than Internet Explorer. Well, there are. And all of them are better. It has been claimed by many that Internet Explorer is the slowest, most basic, and most unsafe browser available. It was because of a user on my network using Internet Explorer that the computer became infected earlier this month.

Therefore I offer some alternatives to the dreaded IE. All of these are free.

• Firefox. The best browser available today. Firefox is open source (ie, completely free), does everything a browser needs to do, and is the most secure option around. Basically, it kicks IE’s arse.Firefox is both faster and safer than Internet Explorer. It has a built-in pop-up blocker, tabbed browsing, in-built Google search, in-built RSS reader, and is completely customizable. You can change the way it looks, what buttons you see and even what it can do through Themes and Extensions. It is a small download and can import all your IE favourites easily so you don’t lose anything. It also works on Mac or Linux.I can’t recommend it enough – Firefox is by far the best web browser around.*Note, this particular website looks and works best when viewed in Firefox (I know because I tested it), so now you have no excuse.

• Opera. This browser was, until a few weeks ago, a pay-to-use program. Recently, however, they have decided to offer it for free. Personally, I don’t think it is quite as easy to use as Firefox, although it has many of the same features (plus a few more). If, for some reason, Firefox doesn’t float your boat, give Opera a try. It’s not gonna cost you anything (anymore).

• Many, many, others. There are countless other alternatives to Internet Explorer out there on the interweb, and most of them are free. Some examples include Flock (a “social browser”), and Camino (a Firefox-like browser optimised for Mac). A quick Google search reveals many options.

4. Anti-Spyware/Adware:

The trojan that inspired this post was picked up on our family computer, not by the expensive Vet Anti-Virus program we use, but instead by one of the free anti-malware programs I have installed over the years (in this case, Ad-Aware – see below). There are many bad, bad things out there on the internet that are not “viruses” (or virii, as it should be) in the traditional sense of the word. They may not want to destroy you, they just want to make your life a lot harder. These are collectively known as malware, and may include files that monitor what you do on the internet, steal your passwords, force pop-up ads at you, or many other evil deeds. I will outline some programs below to help combat these types of attacks.

• Ad-Aware. This free program (or at least, the free version) is designed primarily to clean your computer of adware – files that try to deliver ads to you or take you to specific websites, etc. The basic, free, version of this program won’t protect your computer per-se, it simply scans for and deletes adware whenever you tell it to. Simple and useful.

• Spybot-Search and Destroy! This fantastically named program is designed to rid your computer of spyware (malicious files that “spy” on you). It also has an “immunize” feature, which will help to prevent new spyware from being installed on your computer. Again, this program is free.

• Microsoft Anti-Spyware. I’m not usually a fan of Microsoft products, and I see this particular program as kind of redundant, because if Microsoft fixed the security holes in Windows in the first place, this wouldn’t even be necessary, but anyway. It’s free, and it does a good job, so I can recommend it.

5. File-Sharing:

I’m going to start this section with a disclaimer: I am not condoning the illegal downloading of copyrighted material. There, now that I won’t be arrested, I can go on. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks are very dangerous places for a computer user to be. Files can be renamed to hide viruses, and more often than not you are letting people look at files on your computer and see your IP address.

Many “free” P2P programs install spyware and adware when you run them, and often leave files all over the place even after you remove them. I have found a few file-sharing programs which are safer than most if downloading is your thing. I will not go into too much detail, but Shareaza, Limewire and Azureus (a bittorent client – for more advanced users only) are all free and do not bundle any nasty extra stuff when you install them.

Regardless of which program you use, you must be careful when using them. Make sure to go into the settings and check exactly which folders on your computer you are sharing, and make sure nothing personal or important is in those folders. Turn off all options to allow other people to look at your files if the program will let you.

And last but not least, do not use any file-sharing program without PeerGuardian (or similar). PeerGuardian is a simple program which will run silently in the background and block certain people from accessing you. Record companies and governments have been known to put fake files onto the networks to try to stop downloads (you know those songs you get where it’s just the first 30 seconds repeated over and over?) and other companies try to deliver adware or spyware through the files you download. An IP blocker like PeerGuardian can help protect against this.

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So that’s the first Geekin’ It Up. I hope you liked it. I will be writing more of these in the future about other things I might find interesting, such as new programs, tips and tricks with your computer, etc etc.

And when my internet connection revives itself (should be at the beginning of next month – a few more days), I’ll return to more regular posting.

UPDATE: Thanks Tom for reminding me of Shields UP! (see the comments). Shields UP! is a site designed to quickly and simply show you how venerable your computer is to certain types of attacks including MSN spam, File-Sharing and direct access attacks. It also offers advice on how to fix any holes you might discover. It is an invaluable tool for those wishing to protect themselves on the internet.