Monday, March 10. 2008
Staying Secure
For Windows users, staying secure is a daunting task. Even when you get all the software you need to secure your system as best you can, sometimes the software becomes an even more difficult task, and later you disable it's services just to get on the internet. Today, I'll tell you what you do need, and what you really don't need.
Anti-Virus Software
First thing first, and sometimes a controversial opinion, is the anti-virus software. After dealing with many clients with virus problems, and what software they use; I've narrowed the list of acceptable anti-virus software down to two anti-virus software. These two are AVG, and Norton Anti-Virus. Before I go on with why I narrowed it down to these two, I'm going to list the other popular software suites, and point out what is wrong.
Trend Micro PC-Cillin - You may say to yourself, "This has to be good software, because it came with my new computer, and surely the manufacturer wouldn't let me down on the software they package with my computer. PC-Cillin is usually packaged with the economy models of computers, and most name-brand computers. I would guess the reason being that they offered the lowest bid to the system manufacturer.
PC-Cillin has never been a good software, and it continues to get worse. Every second something happens on your system, it gives you a cryptic message, asking you if you want to allow or deny whatever it is. First off, most home users won't know what half of these messages mean, and usually allow whatever it is that is trying to happen. On top of that, it happens so much, users just click "allow" to get it off the screen. Some times, these messages are from various virus risks trying to enter your computer. On another note, their virus definitions, the codes given to the software to identify various virus risks; is usually at least a week behind. So, most of the time you won't know you have a virus until it's already embedded into your system, and corrupting your files. Last, when a virus corrupts the PC-Cillin software, you will get a blue-screen error every time you try to log in. With this in mind, you could spend more money getting your computer fixed than you did on your system, thanks to this software.
Avast Anti-Virus - Avast isn't all that bad, but it's another that isn't very good about keeping up with virus defintions.
Panda Anti-Virus - Just like PC-Cillin, corruption of the program can keep you from using your system. While it isn't too bad with the virus definitions, it's built-in firewall also blocks you from using basically anything. Also, if you have a home network, enjoy allowing Panda to access file shares, printer shares, and especially allowing your system to share anything.
Norton Internet Security Suite and Norton 360 - Both of these are overkill for any user. It's more protection than a user needs. On top of that, it uses more resources than any other anti-virus software, bringing it's system to it's knees.
McAfee Anti-Virus and McAfee Internet Security Suite - McAfee has the same issue with PC-Cillin in making your system worthless, but is so far embedded into the system, that it even renders the user from getting into Safe-Mode. In other words, if you plan to have a technician fix your computer after McAfee is corrupted, look at even more time to fix your computer, since it will take a 3rd party booting software to disable McAfee inside the system, or reinstall Windows. Virus definitions are also an issue with McAfee, and just like Panda, has a horrible Firewall service.
Stop-Sign Anti-Virus - Why this software is still on the market is beyond me. You know a company is struggling with selling their software when they advertise at 2am on basic cable, claiming their software is the best. It's been well known that Stop-Sign was great for inheriting spyware; spyware being the annoying pop-ups you get, that just won't go away. The virus definitions are no where close to recent, and doesn't even work half the time.
While there are many others that I could list, I mentioned the ones that concern me the most. I will now explain the two pieces of software that I have actually seen great results from.
AVG Anti-Virus
AVG has been a great piece of software since the day it was released. They keep up with the virus definitions daily, keeping you up-to-date with anything new. If it gets corrupted, your system will not have a heart attack, and need to be taken to be repaired. It will simply complain about being in a bad state, and that you need to reinstall the software. On top of that, it's set to scan daily, so you don't have to worry about scanning.
Norton Anti-Virus
Even though I did not recommend Norton 360, or Norton Internet Security Suite; Norton Anti-Virus by itself is a great piece of software. While it is resource heavy, needing vast amounts of RAM to allow your system to run smooth, it does watch everything that comes through your computer, keeping virus risks out before they infect your system. Norton also keeps up with the virus definitions daily, and always getting definitions with every virus the day or day after it is discovered. Like AVG, if it corrupts, it will only tell you it is corrupt, and that it needs to be reinstalled. Norton also has a utility called "Norton Auto-Fix" that can fix your installation, instead of having to uninstall, reboot, and reinstall Norton.
Anti-Spyware Software
Instead of listing what is bad, I'm going to list what is good, since the list of bad anti-spyware software is much larger than the anti-virus rejected list. Good anti-spyware/adware software applications include, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware, AVG Anti-Spyware, and A-Squared Free. All of these are light on resources, and great at finding all types of spyware and adware. In good practice, you should use at least two of these at a time. There isn't a single anti-spyware that will catch everything. Usually a great mix is AVG Anti-Spyware, and Spybot.
Firewalls
Most places you buy a computer, will try to sell you a firewall. Most of them just complicate things, making it hard for the user to understand, and eventually disable it defeating the purpose. What they never tell you, is that Windows XP, and Vista have a built-in firewall that works perfectly. The built-in firewall doesn't take any special configuration, and knows what to do without any user intervention. If you install, and run a new program that needs access to the internet, it will ask you if you want to allow, with the program's name, manufacturer, and where it resides on the computer. The best part is, any user can understand this message. You simple allow or deny, and you'll never see it again. Home networking is pain free with this firewall as well, and allows any windows service to the local network, and not to anything from the outside, like a malicious hacker.
Checking Your System's Security
One thing to run at least once on your system, is Microsoft's Security Baseline Analyzer. This tool from Microsoft scans your entire system for any security holes, and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to fix these issues. You can download the MBSA from Microsoft's Technet site, here.
Conclusion
While there is more to keep Windows secure, these are the most important impacts on system security. I hope that I enlightened a few people, or at least made some people feel a little bit safer knowing this information.
First thing first, and sometimes a controversial opinion, is the anti-virus software. After dealing with many clients with virus problems, and what software they use; I've narrowed the list of acceptable anti-virus software down to two anti-virus software. These two are AVG, and Norton Anti-Virus. Before I go on with why I narrowed it down to these two, I'm going to list the other popular software suites, and point out what is wrong.
Trend Micro PC-Cillin - You may say to yourself, "This has to be good software, because it came with my new computer, and surely the manufacturer wouldn't let me down on the software they package with my computer. PC-Cillin is usually packaged with the economy models of computers, and most name-brand computers. I would guess the reason being that they offered the lowest bid to the system manufacturer.
PC-Cillin has never been a good software, and it continues to get worse. Every second something happens on your system, it gives you a cryptic message, asking you if you want to allow or deny whatever it is. First off, most home users won't know what half of these messages mean, and usually allow whatever it is that is trying to happen. On top of that, it happens so much, users just click "allow" to get it off the screen. Some times, these messages are from various virus risks trying to enter your computer. On another note, their virus definitions, the codes given to the software to identify various virus risks; is usually at least a week behind. So, most of the time you won't know you have a virus until it's already embedded into your system, and corrupting your files. Last, when a virus corrupts the PC-Cillin software, you will get a blue-screen error every time you try to log in. With this in mind, you could spend more money getting your computer fixed than you did on your system, thanks to this software.
Avast Anti-Virus - Avast isn't all that bad, but it's another that isn't very good about keeping up with virus defintions.
Panda Anti-Virus - Just like PC-Cillin, corruption of the program can keep you from using your system. While it isn't too bad with the virus definitions, it's built-in firewall also blocks you from using basically anything. Also, if you have a home network, enjoy allowing Panda to access file shares, printer shares, and especially allowing your system to share anything.
Norton Internet Security Suite and Norton 360 - Both of these are overkill for any user. It's more protection than a user needs. On top of that, it uses more resources than any other anti-virus software, bringing it's system to it's knees.
McAfee Anti-Virus and McAfee Internet Security Suite - McAfee has the same issue with PC-Cillin in making your system worthless, but is so far embedded into the system, that it even renders the user from getting into Safe-Mode. In other words, if you plan to have a technician fix your computer after McAfee is corrupted, look at even more time to fix your computer, since it will take a 3rd party booting software to disable McAfee inside the system, or reinstall Windows. Virus definitions are also an issue with McAfee, and just like Panda, has a horrible Firewall service.
Stop-Sign Anti-Virus - Why this software is still on the market is beyond me. You know a company is struggling with selling their software when they advertise at 2am on basic cable, claiming their software is the best. It's been well known that Stop-Sign was great for inheriting spyware; spyware being the annoying pop-ups you get, that just won't go away. The virus definitions are no where close to recent, and doesn't even work half the time.
While there are many others that I could list, I mentioned the ones that concern me the most. I will now explain the two pieces of software that I have actually seen great results from.
AVG Anti-Virus
AVG has been a great piece of software since the day it was released. They keep up with the virus definitions daily, keeping you up-to-date with anything new. If it gets corrupted, your system will not have a heart attack, and need to be taken to be repaired. It will simply complain about being in a bad state, and that you need to reinstall the software. On top of that, it's set to scan daily, so you don't have to worry about scanning.
Norton Anti-Virus
Even though I did not recommend Norton 360, or Norton Internet Security Suite; Norton Anti-Virus by itself is a great piece of software. While it is resource heavy, needing vast amounts of RAM to allow your system to run smooth, it does watch everything that comes through your computer, keeping virus risks out before they infect your system. Norton also keeps up with the virus definitions daily, and always getting definitions with every virus the day or day after it is discovered. Like AVG, if it corrupts, it will only tell you it is corrupt, and that it needs to be reinstalled. Norton also has a utility called "Norton Auto-Fix" that can fix your installation, instead of having to uninstall, reboot, and reinstall Norton.
Anti-Spyware Software
Instead of listing what is bad, I'm going to list what is good, since the list of bad anti-spyware software is much larger than the anti-virus rejected list. Good anti-spyware/adware software applications include, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware, AVG Anti-Spyware, and A-Squared Free. All of these are light on resources, and great at finding all types of spyware and adware. In good practice, you should use at least two of these at a time. There isn't a single anti-spyware that will catch everything. Usually a great mix is AVG Anti-Spyware, and Spybot.
Firewalls
Most places you buy a computer, will try to sell you a firewall. Most of them just complicate things, making it hard for the user to understand, and eventually disable it defeating the purpose. What they never tell you, is that Windows XP, and Vista have a built-in firewall that works perfectly. The built-in firewall doesn't take any special configuration, and knows what to do without any user intervention. If you install, and run a new program that needs access to the internet, it will ask you if you want to allow, with the program's name, manufacturer, and where it resides on the computer. The best part is, any user can understand this message. You simple allow or deny, and you'll never see it again. Home networking is pain free with this firewall as well, and allows any windows service to the local network, and not to anything from the outside, like a malicious hacker.
Checking Your System's Security
One thing to run at least once on your system, is Microsoft's Security Baseline Analyzer. This tool from Microsoft scans your entire system for any security holes, and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to fix these issues. You can download the MBSA from Microsoft's Technet site, here.
Conclusion
While there is more to keep Windows secure, these are the most important impacts on system security. I hope that I enlightened a few people, or at least made some people feel a little bit safer knowing this information.
Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Top Referrers
Calendar
|
September '10 |
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Quicksearch
Archives
Categories
Syndicate This Blog
Top Referrers
Blog Administration
Powered by
