Apex Logic

As you may be considering spring cleaning for your home, you should also consider spring cleaning for you PC. Here are some simple best practices to keep you PC (Windows, MAC, etc.) running smoothly.

Keep Operating Systems Up To Date
While all operating systems are not created equal, they do have many similarities…one being patches and updates (especially if a vulnerability is discovered). Keeping up with the latest patches and updates is critical to the health of your PC. Most operating systems (even Linux) have automated updaters to check for and install needed updates.

Install Antivirus Software And Keep Definitions Up To Date
Install anti-virus software on all of your PCs, and ensure they are kept up to date. Because new viruses can spread extremely quickly, it is important to have an updating strategy in place which can update all the computers in your home seamlessly, frequently, and at short notice.

Periodically Check For Software Updates
Just as you should regularly check for updates to your operating systems, you should also perform checks to your various applications on your PC (Office, Browser, etc..) as flaws in the software are found. To ensure the most effective security for your PC it is a good idea to review and install these patches as they become available for any software installed on your PC. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA before any new software or updates are applied as it is possible the patches will not work with your combination of software and all its various releases.

Be very cautious with email attachments
While many anti-virus tools now have email security components to checks any email traffic passing to your PC, the best rules is: If you do not know the sender of an unsolicited email message, delete it. While most spam is usually just annoying text, a spam email message could actually contain a virus and/or other exploit that could damage the computers of all who open it. Lastly, avoid using the preview functionality of your email client software.

Enable A Personal Desktop Firewall
Basically, a firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your property. In fact, that’s why its called a firewall. If you have a fast Internet connection into your home, you will most likely have heard about having a firewall for your home network. The problem is most people forget the PC is still vulnerable as most inexpensive home based firewall products only protect you from outside attacks. The already infected PC typically has unrestricted access to the outside world allowing the malicious access to your data.

Secure PC User Accounts And Processes
One of the most common techniques for obtaining unauthorized access to desktop PC’s is through existing user accounts and unnecessary services configured with the default parameters. In just about every operating system, various accounts and services are created when the system is initially installed. The following article lists several good tips to securing accounts and suggests services which can be disabled in Windows: Windows XP: Your Definitive Lockdown Guide. While this site is written around Windows XP, these principles can be applied to any operating system.

Exercise Extreme Caution Using Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
Peer-to-Peer file sharing can open any desktop PC to numerous security vulnerabilities. Software such as KaZaA, eDonkey, and Bit Torrent normally install with file sharing activated. This means that other computers running the same software (whether locally or anywhere on the Internet) can download from the shared folder on your PC. As with any process, if it is not necessary, disable it. There are so many problems associated with peer-to-peer file sharing tools that it would be an article in itself.

Utilize “Good” Passwords And Change Them Every 90 Days
Choose strong passwords! Just like at work: passwords should never be names, dates, or words from the dictionary, and they should always include upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and at least one special character–the ones on the keys in the number row work great. However, DO NOT STORE THE PASSWORD at the PC! If you must write it down (something we do not recommend), store it somewhere away from the PC.

Change your passwords regularly. After all, if a spyware tool captures your password…changing it regularly ensures that sensitive data is harder to steal.

Perform Regularly Scheduled Backups
You know the drill…backup regularly and often. Of course, we don’t all need to do daily backups. However, you definitely need to seriously consider the following: What would it be to lose a day’s worth of changes? How about a week? A month? Consider how serious it would be to lose a week’s worth of data. Are you losing the only copies of orders, invoices, and other important records? Or is it data that could be reconstructed with a day or so of retyping?

Performing a regular weekly backup is better than planning to do a daily backup and not doing it for a month.

Avoid Programs Containing Spyware/Malware
Many programs that seem to have legitimate uses or provide a useful service to the user also contain malicious software. This malicious software is often installed without the users’ knowledge when installing the host program. These malicious programs do things such as causing pop-up ads, hijacking your browser’s homepage, installing keyloggers, etc. A great resource for checking if a program is Spyware/Malware is: http://www.spywareguide.com/category_list_full.php.

We can’t expect everyone to know spyware/malware on site so here are a few rules:

1. DO NOT Click on popups (even on a legitimate site).
2. Don’t click on the ads (even on a legitimate site).
3. Don’t use file-sharing utilities.
4. Install a reputable Spyware scanner.
5. Don’t re-install offending programs.

The last one is important, do not reinstall a program if it has problems after a spyware scan. If you feel it is legitimate, go back to the vendor.

Lastly, run your spyware scanner on a regular basis.

Shutdown Your PC When Not In Use
This is simple. Conserve electricity and keep your PC protected. When the PC is powered down, electronic viuses & malware can not infect you! The average PC user does not need to have their PC on 24×7 (the rumors of hurting your PC by turning it on and off are GREATLY EXAGGERATED). Except for larger business and the government operations, most PCs can be powered down.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 7:07 am and is filed under Application, Technology, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.