Replies

1. 
   vanderpooch | Sep 21, 2004 06:00am | #1

   Mike,

   I'm certainly no computer guy...

   Have you tried any of the firewall software? I know there was an article in JLC a while ago that recommended two programs, one for firewalls and one for hunting down viruses and spyware. Both were free.

   Not trying to give you advice, just curious.

   -Kit

   Technique is proof of your seriousness. - Wallace Stevens
2. 
   Scrapr | Sep 21, 2004 06:17am | #2

   Mike,

     And don't try running TWO virus checkers. I did and had to call in a geek. Said they didn't like each other. And that was what was shutting down my machine. Huh? Just because they don't talk to one another my machine goes down? Doesn't make sense. But I uninstalled and it works fine now.

3. 
   bill_1010 | Sep 21, 2004 06:27am | #3

   Id like to make a suggestion.  It will save you down the road.

   Buy a copy of Norton Ghost.  Go ahead and reformat your drive.  Install your OS and All your needed software. This should be software thats imperative to your computer.   Run Norton Ghost.  Basically this will take a "photo" of your drive and create an image.   You can then burn this image to a DVD-r or CD-r keep it on file.

   Down the road when you get a virus or just get slammed with adware or spyware you just run Norton Ghost and tell it to load that image you took when you took a photo of your drive to make the image.  When you revert back to the image you will have erased any adware or other junk and your computer will run like a fresh install.  

   The caveat is that any program or unsaved file that wasnt on the image capture the first time you created the image will need to be reinstalled or the file lost.

   This program is the same that make computer companies use to revert you back to factor fresh settings.  However its better because you can choose when to create a ghost image of a fresh install with programs like your business software or fresh uncorupted OS. Doing this your computer will always run like its a fresh install and you can purge your system at anytime to get rid of just about anything you dont want around.   

   You will need to back up your data more, but that should be the norm in a business situation.

   Also FWIW consider getting a hardware router, they have built in firewall protection w/o all the nag screens.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 9/20/2004 11:30 pm ET by WmP

4. 
   MajorWool | Sep 21, 2004 06:58am | #4

   The best thing to do is practice "safe computing." Treat your email addy as sacred. I have a half dozen addresses, but only one which I read with any regularity. One is used for getting usenet messages, which is embedded in the message, as I've spoofed the from: line for a usenet posting. I have one just for passwords when I sign up for something. I have another which is semi-private and used for those people who insist on lumping my email addy in with about 50 others in a message. It is only a matter of time and a half dozen forwardings before a spam bot grabs that addy.

   The single biggest vulnerability on a computer is your friends who don't know how to use a computer. They are the ones who expose your email addy to the whole internet, be it through a virus that grabs their address book or through careless forwarding of a message. When you forward a message, you send both the body and all the previous sender/recipient info. If someone forwards a message to me, I reply that this is inappropriate. I explain that if they forward something from me, and it gets sent to the wrong people, then it might create a situation that can jeopardize my job or standing in the community. As an example, I point out how Dr. So and So from Harvard (whose name is in the header) probaly wouldn't like his name associated with a somewhat sexist or racist joke. Until they learn how to handle email properly, they won't be getting any jokes etc from me.

   A properly configured zone alarm and hardware NAT firewall should take care of 99.9% of stuff out there. The best defense though is to be invisible.

   I get nada spam in my inbox because that address is well protected. I'm sure I get spam in other boxes, but since I only read them when I'm expecting a message, they really don't bother me.

5. 
   davidmeiland | Sep 21, 2004 09:03am | #5

   Mike, I have NIS 2004 on this box (XP) and it's s l o w !

   I'm about ready to buy a second box and set up Linux. A guy I work with has gone that route and raves about it. Not sure about Chief Architect but it should do just about everything else. I think I'll go to Linux for online and maybe stay with XP for Quickbooks and a few others. A switch lets you use one screen/keyboard/mouse setup for both boxes.

6. 
   4Lorn1 | Sep 21, 2004 09:58am | #6

   You have to have:

   A good firewall

   anti-virus

   anti-spyware

   These are three separate threats even though there is some overlap.

   Firewalls: Sygate and Zone alarm are free for home use. Both rate highly.

   Anti-virus: AVG is free and highly rated.

   Anti-spyware: A combination of Spybot S&D and Adaware will stop most issues.

   You can lower your profile by eliminating the preview panel on your e-mail, increasing your browser security setting, using e-mail and browser clients that are Not what MS gives you. Also even if you have a 'always on' high speed connection, turn off your router and or PC when your not using it. Don't open e-mail if you don't know the source. Attachments are even easier targets so unless the the e-mail comes varifiably from your mother don't open it.

   Don't download games or those cute java scripts that allow you to run a little game or play a cartoon unless your confidant of your security. Some even poster here by the well intentioned folks have tried to to insert malware on my system. Mostly it was stopped by the resident monitors in my anti-spyware programs. Others I had to scan for. Scan often with anti-virus and anti-spyware programs even if they have a resident feature.

   Make sure you update any firewall, anti-virus, spyware blocked regularly. Even the free ones, remarkably effective even compared to versions you pay for, are regularly updated.

   I don't think anything can stop all attackers and malware all the time and even a well protected computer can benefit from reformatting, or at least reloading the OS, once in a while. This can clear up those sneaky little glitches that accumulate with time and use.

   Barring that a good clean up program or just hitting Crl-alt-del, the three-finger salute, and noting what operations are running and then tracking these back by way of a 'find' to see what they go to can clear up a lot of issues.

   Win98 has MSConfig, XP has a similar program but I can't remember its name, that is handy to keep on the desktop. It allows you to control what programs run when your system starts up. Pretty much, barring digging in and finding the control or deleting the program, it is the easiest way to keep a lot of things under your thumb.

   A lot of programs install and try to maintain small programs as always on. TSRs and others. Stopping them frees up resources and eliminates operations that can interfere with what you want to do. Turning them off helps make the machine a little faster and a lot more stable. Mostly it just makes them start a little more slowly when you wish to use them.

   Just something to keep in mind.

1. 
   bobl | Sep 21, 2004 03:20pm | #7

   there is also a program called Hack This, that's free.

   it tells you what's running on your machine.

   there is a site to tell you how to interpret the output

   also, you can post the output log on a site and they will interpret it for you.  but it takes a few days_____________________________

   bobl          Volo, non valeo

1. 
   john | Sep 21, 2004 03:43pm | #8

   there is also a program called Hack This, that's free.

   Do you have a link? I tried Google but the results weren't clear.Thanks

   John

1. 
   bobl | Sep 21, 2004 04:02pm | #9

   funny you should ask

   i had trouble finding originally and was going to post it

   http://www.richardthelionhearted.com/?url=merijn.richardthelionhearted.com

   related

   http://computercops.biz/StartupList.html

   log tutorial

   http://www.richardthelionhearted.com/?url=merijn.richardthelionhearted.com

   I learned about these from Joe Stoddard over at his forum at JLC

   _____________________________

   bobl          Volo, non valeo

7. 
   SamT | Sep 21, 2004 04:16pm | #10

   Mike,

   I always fdisk my drive so as to have two drives, C: and D:.

   Win 98:
   HD = <3Gigs= no fdisk;
   HD = 4-6Gigs= fdisk a 2gig C: and the rest to D:;
   HD =  >6Gigs= 3Gig C:  and the rest to D:.

   Win 2+ at least a 3Gig C:, up to 4Gigs, but at least a 2Gig D: if you use fdisk.

   Having seperate C: (System) and D: (Data) drives means never having to backup before Formatting C: again. Something I do 2 or 3 times a year.

   If you have a large enough HD, you can really speed things up by creating 3 partition/logical drives; C:System, D:Setup, and E:Data. I'm guessing that you have a pretty large HD (>10G). As you took 5 CDs to backup your current data, it seems you will need at least 6G for a Data drive.

   In your (guessed) situation, I would have a 3G C:System drive, a 1G D:Setup drive and the rest to Data.

   After fdisking and formatting all drives, copy the Winxx folder from your windows setup CD to the E:Setup folder and run Setup.exe in that folder to install windows on your computor.

   After you've got windows installed, go ahead and copy the setups that you like onto D:Setup. It really makes it nice when you don't have to mess around with all those CDs. much faster too, to install from a HD rather than a CD.

   I have moved me Desktop, Favorites, and My Documents folders to my Data drive so they won't be effected by any Format C:s I may do.

   I have attached a screenshot of Windows Explorer with Setup drive (only 650 MB so it will fit one CD) expanded to give you one idea of what I mean. Note that I have 2 physical HDs and 2 CDs.

   Attachment Key:
   VirtualMem(D:) = 125Mb; used for virtual memory, faster and easir to maintain than default.
   E: = soon to be virtual Mem; just changed a physical HD, still setting up windows.
   Setup (F:) = See attachment. Mostly stuff from downloads and CD bundles. Stuff I gotta have on my box.
   Old Data (G:) = Stuff already on CDs.
   Data (H:) = Stuff not on CDs. Working drive, so to speak, hold Desktop, Etc. folders.
   S am T tech (I:) = Everything about my business, 650Mb, If full, time to burn a CD.
   650mb drive (J:) = used for creating themed CDs.
   K: and L: = CD burner and CDROM.

   SamT

   Arguing with a Breaktimer is like mud-wrestling a pig -- Sooner or later you find out the pig loves it. Andy Engel

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 28, 2004 02:55am | #11

   thanks sam.. et al..

    just got back from NC...16hrs down...14 hrs back..

    picked up my  computer.. will probably get a chance to implement some of this tomorrow..

   lot's of good advice in this thread ..

    thanks againMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore