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How to Keep your
Computer Clean
by
The F@t Guy
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Why Do I Need All This Stuff? - The 32oz. Big Gulp Explanation |
| Introduction: All right. I know this is scary, and that all this new stuff is hitting you all at once- But it really isn't all that bad! Believe me, you aren't the first to finally make an effort to stop the nonsense! Just take it a bit at a time and develop a little rythm and a little method and next thing you know, you'll be wondering why you were so nervous in the first place. But in order for this to work, you need to "Get it"; So before we go further, I need to take the time to explain a bit about why these things I did to your machine work, and what you need to know about that. Antivirus: The first thing you must understand is that if you use a Windows operating system, you simply MUST have a good virus detection system and it must be maintained. You must be sure it's virus definitions are up to date and that your subscription is current. This is the single most important piece of software I've installed. To give you an idea of how important it is, if I do a fresh installation (that's a total rub-off, clean install) of windows XP and put it on the net before installing antivirus, it takes about 3 minutes for it to become infected. You can't even get to Windows Update without a very good chance of infection. With that in mind, you can see just how important the Anti-virus is. There are usually three parts to an anti-virus system: The first part, called the "real-time" or "background" scanner starts up when ever you start the machine. It runs in the backgroundand checks every file that is incoming, outgoing, or accessed in any way to see if the file is viral. While not fool proof, this scanner will often (nearly always) catch a virus before it can do anything. It is very important that this part is running. Look for it among the icons by the clock in your Start bar. The second part is called the "On Demand" scanner. This scanner is usually much more powerful than the "real-time" scanner, and is usually set up to scan more files too. The "On Demand" scanner does not run automatically when your machine starts, though it is usually scheduled to scan every now and then. It can also be opened and run by hand. It is vitally important to let the scanner do it's job when it comes up, or at the least, run the scanner by hand once per week. There is also an updater that will run automatically from time to time- This tool looks for updates to the program and for files called "definitions" which tell the anti-virus program about new virus types. It is very important for your anti-virus program to get it's updates so that it can "see" new virus threats. If I installed the anti-virus on your machine, it is called F-Protect or AVG, depending on your choice. Which ever (or whatever) is the case, I would encourage you to read through the help file for the program to understand it's proper use (beyond the help provided in these pages). Anti-Spyware: Much like anti-virus programs, anti-spyware programs detect and remove specialized viruses called "spyware" or "ad-ware". While generally less malicious than viruses (virii?), spyware is very irritating. These are the critters causing pop-ups or redirecting your homepage, and things of this nature. The purpose of spyware is to track where you go and what you do, and then offer up ads or redirect you to it's various sponsors. While one or two of these little prowlers can be irritating, it seldom stops with that. It is not uncommon for me to find hundreds of them on a badly infected machine. In the aggregate, at this level, they can take so much power from your resources that your machine becomes lethargic and unuseable. I have actually installed two anti-spyware programs on your system: "Spybot Search & Destroy" and "Lavasoft Adaware SE". They are both excellent freeware programs. It is important to use them both. Each is better than the other at certain things, and so betwixt them both, you see, they lick the platter clean! They do not run in the background, and they must be updated by hand. Much like the "on demand" anti-virus scanner, they both look for files and registry entries that are malicious and remove them. If you continue to get infected regularly, there are further steps that can be taken- like purchasing the full version of Lavasoft Adaware which will provide a realtime scanner to catch things on the fly... If money is a problem, I can also highly recommend JavaCool's SpywareGuard and SpywareBlaster, which are free. But more to the point, I would rather you change your behavior. If you continue to experience high infection rates, it is probably attributable to your own habits- what you download, and where you go on the web... it would be better to consider these things and change your ways before just dumping more software into your machine. The Firewall: In the real world vernacular, "firewall" is an automotive term. It denotes the tin barrier wall between the engine compartment and the passenger compartment, and was designed as a "wall" to protect the passengers in case of a "fire" in the engine compartment. That is what a computer firewall does too. It acts as a barrier between the "inside" of the computer and the outside world (network/internet). As you can imagine, it keeps things out, but you might think about the other way too- a good firewall is also capable of keeping things IN as well. That is what the firewall I have put on your box does very well. In the first instance, As the firewall governs the ports in and out of your computer, it looks at network traffic to see if it was initiated from within the box, or is a reply to something initiated within the box. If "within the box" doesn't have something to do with it, the firewall completely ignores it. That is the "keeping things out" part. Pretty simple, huh? Now for the "keeping things in" part: Any program that wants to have access to the network (internet) must pass through a port to do so. The firewall sits on top of these ports and makes certain that only the programs that you approve of can get out of the box- and if it doesn't know the program, it will detain it and will ask you if you want the unknown thing to access the internet or not. You must give permission for anything and everything that will leave the box. "My, but that sounds laborious," you might say (actually you wouldn't say that exactly, because no one uses the word "laborious" any more)... But it really isn't that bad. You will notice the firewall popping up to ask if you want a program to access or not for the first little while, but if you approve (or disapprove) the program and check the little box telling the firewall to "remember" your decision, pretty soon it won't be bugging you at all anymore. All the things you told it to "remember" will come and go as they please without a peep from the firewall. Where this becomes important is when something unrecognised and unexpected pops up: "Hmmm..., dunno what that thing is... I didn't just start anything that needs to get out... Hmmm...." STOP, WAIT, Think... AHA! That will be your first pro-active preventive moment! You see, that unexpected traveler might just be a trojan dropper trying to get out to the net to download big nasty bugs onto your box! All you have to do is recognize that the moment is upon you and DENY ACCESS... at least until you get a chance to figure out if it is legitimate or not. That way, even if you are infected by a critter, he can't just throw open your front door and invite all his friends in. So be kind to your firewall... bake it some cookies. Your firewall is your friend. Internet Browser and E-mail: In most situations, the "front door" to your computer are usually your Internet Browser and your E-Mail client. After all, most of the things you do on the internet happen through one of these two things- There are others (Instant Messenger comes to mind), but these two are probably your primary programs when using the internet. In keeping with the "front door" analogy, would you use a front door whose lock mysteriously unlocks itself whenever it pleases? Would you rely on such a door if you knew that anyone who knew the correct hand-signs and uttered the correct secret password could make the door respond by unlocking itself, turning it's own latch, and flinging itself wide open? That'd be pretty silly, wouldn't it? Especially so if every criminal in your town knew how to do it... If you had such a door, you would probably consider it to be a problem, wouldn't you- Even if it was mighty convienient for yourself when trying to enter with an armload of groceries? Well, that analogy perfectly describes Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). You see, for the most part, IE uses two main methods of installation on your computer (YES, IE CAN install things on your computer!). The primary methods are called ActiveX and Virtual Machine (there are others as well). The purpose for these tools was benign in conception: They were designed to make it very easy and convenient to install and run new capabilities for the browser itself, and to make a simple interface for installing programs generally from the web. Unfortunately, these technologies are seriously flawed. An evil-doer can take advantage of the exploits in these subsystems to install things without your knowledge, simply by landing on a maliciously written page- a page that may look perfectly fine to you while viewing it. That, in case you were wondering, is a BAD thing. Outlook Express (OE) is the default Windows e-mail client. it is built from IE code, and uses ActiveX and Virtual Machine too, mostly so that your email can contain bouncy, jangly bits, but also to run as mundane a thing as your preview window. This means that in theory and in practice, simply viewing a maliciously designed e-mail can fire off an infection. This, too, is a BAD thing. **SIGH**. "So," you might ask, "What do we do now? The internet isn't any fun without a browser and an e-mail client." Well, as it turns out, there is a solution. You don't HAVE to use IE and OE, and I would recommend that you don't use them, for the most part. As luck would have it, I have probably (unless otherwise defined) installed Mozilla's FireFox Browser and Mozilla's Thunderbird E-Mail client. Mozilla's stuff is exceptional- fast, efficient, and packed with features. Most people who use Firefox will never go back to IE... They love it. While the features are self-evident, the thing that makes me shiver with glee is that Mozilla's products do not use ActiveX at all. It ignores ActiveX components in webpages. Isn't that a brilliant design feature? I think it is. Firefox is still able to install things too, but it uses Sun's Java (which I have also installed to replace Microsoft's Virtual Machine), which is a much more robust and secure system. Likewise, Mozilla's Thunderbird is much more secure (doesn't use ActiveX either), and has terrific features as well (like junk filtering). If you use these products as default, your surfing experience will be more enjoyable. Conclusion: Well, there you have it... The whole explaination in a 32oz. Big Gulp. Now all you need to do is learn how to run all these whippy new things. I am not going to get into running FireFox and Thunderbird- I think you can figure that out as you go along- but the Cleaning and Scanning stuff (CCleaner, Spybot S&D, Adaware, and Anti-virus) is another matter. You need to know how to run them right. With that in mind, I direct your attention to the "Clean and Scan" article back at the index... It is a step by step procedural guide designed to walk you through the process until you can do it on your own.
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