Knockanean IT Services

How to ensure the "road-safety" of your computer

When computers are interconnected and, even more so, connected to the Internet, you have to make sure that they behave well and are protected! To that end, you don’t need to buy expensive software, there are free programs out there for download which are available for private or non-commercial use! Please read on to find out how to make your Internet experience as safe as possible!

You can use the links below (on the product names) to install the tools on your own or you can walk through my more detailed step-by-step instructions linked with the first word in each step.

Steps 2 and 3 require a restart of your computer, so does "Windows Update" from time to time.

Five Simple Steps for Internet Safety

1. Activate automated Windows Updates
2. Install signature-based anti-virus software Alwil Avast
3. Install behaviour-based security software PC-Tools Threadfire
4. Replace Internet Explorer with Mozilla Firefox and install the NoScript-Extension
   
5. Install Secunia Personal Software Inspector

Background Information (Optional Reading!)

Software never is perfect. Some of the issues are not serious, but some actually cause the system to go into a state where malicious code can be activated. You can search for the term "Buffer overflow" on the web if you want to get more details on this.

In any case, to avoid this situation, software manufactures provide updates (patches) of their software from time to time when those serious flaws are discovered. To have Windows itself up-to-date with those improvements is obvious, but also all other software running on your machine should be reviewed for updates from time to time! Step 1 and 5 above are included for that reason.

Steps 2 and 3 are dealing with tools that fight the same "digital criminals" but with different methods. Avast uses a signature-based process, whereby Threatfire watches the behaviour of programs installed or running on the computer! That’s like trying to detect criminals by using a "Most Wanted" list in the first case or watching people’s behaviour to check whether they are committing a crime in the second case. Both the signatures and the behaviour - descriptions have to be updated (over the Internet) on a constant basis! Both programs are configured by default to do that automatically in the background.

Replacing the "ubiquitous" and obtrusive default browser Internet Explorer (IE) with Mozilla’s Firefox (FF) as indicated in Step 4 might be contentious for some. Fact is, however, that the IE is much more intertwined with Windows than FF and still is the primary target for malware due to its higher penetration. Helpfull Add-Ons (will be explained later) in FF set it apart and make it safer then IE.

Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector helps to detect software with missing important security updates and provides information or direct download links to get the latest versions for your system.

Certainly there are more options than these, and suggestions for improvement are surely welcome!

Quite often, it is very helpful to get a so called "screenshot" of a problematic situation at your computer. This means you will create a picture (like a photo) with the content of the screen at the time the error happens which then can be used by an IT expert to understand and possibly solve the problem.

GENERAL NOTE: When something unexpected happens, do not click any buttons on the screen! Never ignore any (error) messages unless you know why! If you don’t understand the message, write it down (or create a screen shot as described below) and make sure you ask somebody else at a later, convenient time.

Hint: It is recommended to work through the following instruction at least once, to be able to do it in the actual event when you might not have access to these instructions!

This is how you should proceed:

1. Press the "Print Screen" key

On you keyboard, you will find a button labelled "Print Screen / SysRq". It’s usually in the top row, the third from the right. Press this button.

This will create a copy of the current screen content as a picture (photo) and places it into the "clipboard". The clipboard in Windows is the (virtual) area where Windows stores text or graphics when you use "Copy & Paste" functions.

2. Open Paint

Click on (Windows XP) resp. (Windown Vista), select "All Programs", "Accessories" and then "Paint".

3. "Paste" the screen photo it into Paint

In Paint, select "Edit" from the menu and then "Paste" or press [Ctrl]+V. The screen content should now appear in the Paint window.

4. Save it to a file

 Save the file by going to the menu "File" and select "Save as…" or pres [Ctrl] + S.

5. Choose a proper file name

In the upcoming dialog box, choose a filename of your liking, but change the file type in the input field underneath to "JPEG (*.jpg …)".

6. Forward to IT-Services

You can email this file as an attachment to knockanean.it.services at gmail.com with a brief description of the problem or situation or you can leave it on the computer for the next "inspection".

NOTE: Windows Vista is per default configured for automatic updates. No action needed there.

Hint: Print out these instructions for easier reference!

1. In Windows XP, go to Start and select "Run…" (last item in the left column).

2. Enter "wuaucpl.cpl" into the emerging dialog box and press the Enter key or click "OK". A new dialog box appears:

3. Make sure that "Automatic (recommended)"  is selected and choose the appropriate day(s) of the week and the time, when your computer is normally switched on and connected to the Internet.

4. Click "OK" again to close the dialog box.

Done!

Windows will now check and download automatically any security updates needed for Windows! However, when they are ready to be installed, a little icon appears in the lower right corner and a message will popup nearby. Click on it and follow the instructions to install the updates! Sometimes the Computer has to be restarted to complete the installation.

Failing to always install the recommended security updates leaves your computer wide open for any malicious attack!

Please do not hesitate to use the comments feature below for any questions, requests or comments!

Hint: Print these instructions out for easier reference!

1. Click on this link and then click on "Download Now".

2. On the next page, the download will start, but possibly, depending on your settings, Internet Explorer will show a message on the top of the page like this:

Click on that text and select "Download File…"

3.  A new dialog should appear:

You can save the file to a directory of your own choice if you want, or just run the setup program directly from the download. When selecting "Save", you will be prompted for a folder in which you want the file to be saved. But also rename the suggested file from "setupeng.exe" to some more obvious name, like "avastsetup.exe", and don’t forget the ".exe" at the end, otherwise the program will not start!

3. The download will begin:

Make sure the checkbox "Close this dialog box when download is complete" is NOT checked!

4. When the download is finished and you have selected to "Run" the program without saving it (as in step 2), it will be started automatically. Otherwise you have to click on the "Open"-Button to launch it.

5. A new dialog box comes up, asking for "permission" to run this program:

Click on "Run" and the Setup will start:

6.  The setup program will ask you a couple of questions, but just keep hitting "Next" to accept the default settings, apart from the license text, where you have to click on "I accpet."

7.  When the installation is finished, Avast will ask you to perform a "boot time antivirus scan" - which is strongly recommended to do, so please click on "Yes".

8. Now you can decide whether to restart your system right now or later to complete the installation:

When your computer restarts, it will do a full antivirus scan, do not switch off the machine, it will take quite a while, depending on the amount of files on your harddrive.

At the last step, you should uninstall your old Antivirus-Software:

1. Go to "Start", select "Control Panel" on the right
2. a) In Windows XP, select "Add or Remove Programs"
   b) In Windows Vista, select "Programs and Features"
3. Select your old Antivirus program (McAffee, BullGuard, AVG, etc.) and uninstall it.

Please use the "Comments" button below freely for any questions, remarks, information!