Almost ready to go on-line
What would the total cost in time, effort and money be to you if you lost all of the data on your PC? How would you recreate what was lost, if it was even possible? Now that we have taken steps to protect your PC from electrical damage, some additional precautions need to be taken.
SECURE PASSWORDS: Get used to using strong passwords at all times. Use them for protecting your email, applications with password protection, financial accounts, administrative accounts and your router, and keep them secure. Software such as RoboForm can assist in managing your passwords. Some browsers, such as Firefox have built-in password managers for websites requiring registration. You can test the quality of your passwords with the Password Security Test.
BOOT DISK: In case of serious problems, having a boot disk on a floppy disk may enable you to get going again. See How To Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP.
BACKUP REGIME: Back-up your critical data and other important items. Since we’re just setting up, you don’t have much to lose yet. I’ll cover your options in a later post.
OK, so you promise to use strong passwords, have a boot disk ready, and have your finger on the ON/OFF switch. What do we need to watch out for?
WORMS: Connect to the internet for less than one minute, even on a dial-up account, and your PC can be infected by a worm. You can no longer safely log-on “just for a second”, without very real exposure to infection. New PCs are particularly vulnerable to infection, as they are the most likely to require security patches and other updates.
We need to make sure your computer is protected before connecting to the Internet even for one second. How to do that?
NAT ROUTER: If connecting via Cable/DSL, make the very important and relatively small investment in a Router with NAT (Network Address Translation). In today’s hostile Internet environment, no system should be without this protection. Routers can be purchased from your local Circuit City or other electronics or computer store.
Don’t go on-line to get one, you need it before connecting to the Internet.
A typical router is the LinkSys Etherfast Cable/DSL BEFSR41. The price for these units is about $40, and it will protect against the waiting ranks of inbound attackers. It is very easy to setup, and once configured doesn’t need any additional maintenance, except maybe dusting occasionally. There are other routers equally as good.
Make sure the Router is properly configured (as a minimum, change its password, block WAN requests, disable “remote management”, enable Stateful Packet Inspection or SPI, if available).
If you do not have a router or Windows XP, install one of the other software firewalls to protect your computer.
WINDOWS XP FIREWALL: If you have either a Broadband connection without a properly configured NAT router, or a dial-up connection without a properly configured software firewall providing protection, Microsoft XP’s Windows Software Firewall (WSWF), must be enabled. By turning WSWF on, you can use its limited protection against inbound threats to enable you to go on-line long enough to get the latest MicroSoft updates and patches, update or upgrade your anti-virus software, and to download a software firewall (SWF) that can give not only inbound protection, but can help protect you from outbound-oriented threats as well.
To confirm that WSWF is enabled, go to Start–> Control Panel —> Network and Internet Connections–> Network Connections–> Local Area Connection Properties –> Advanced. ‘Select “Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet”. Click OK.
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