Helpful programs for Windows users

Posted on May 3, 2004 
Filed Under computers

   Every day the Internet becomes a more hostile place. I’ve spent entire mornings at work recovering someone’s Internet Explorer from a “hijacking”. Hijacking a browser, when your Homepage and Favorites are undesirably changed to websites you’ve never heard of, is just one of several new forms of “malware” floating around cyber-space. Traditionally, malware was limited to viruses, but new forms spring up every day. Some common new examples include:
   1. Worms use either your email address or just your computer as a conduit to 1) bombard Microsoft, SCO, or other network targets with hundreds of millions of requests for information in an attempt to overwhelm and shut down the targeted servers, and 2) propagate the worms themselves, sending the worm on to other email addresses. The scary thing about worms is how quickly they spread. Some rely on an unsuspecting computer user to open an attachment; some don’t. Some worms install themselves on computers running no firewall simply through a computer’s network or even dial-up connection to the Internet. This means that you don’t have to do anything except browse the web to pick up some kinds of worms, which explains why most people with infected computers don’t even know it.
   2. Spyware typically tracks what kind of websites you visit, how often, and what you purchase from them. Then, the spyware developers often sell information about you to advertising agencies who try to show you (though pop-ups or emails) only what they think you want to see.
   3. BHOs (browser helper objects) can hijack your browser. The next time you open Internet Explorer, you may be directed to some websites you don’t want to visit.

Ways to steer clear of malware:

   1. If you still use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), please consider switching to another browser. Much of the malware associated with web-browsers targets and exploits vulnerabilities in IE. I recommend Mozilla Firefox. It’s more secure and even a little faster then IE. It suppresses pop-ups, has a built-in Google toolbar (I know many of you can’t live without this), and it is generally not a target for the hackers who write malware. It not only imports all of the Favorites you’ve collected in IE or bookmarks in Netscape, it also has more efficient ways of organizing them. Give it a try. To install it, download the installer here, and execute the file from your computer. During the installation process, you will be prompted to tell Firefox what browser you currently use so that it can import your previous settings.
   If you’d like to read more about other alternative browsers, TechSoup has a helpful article here.
   If you’re going to stick with Internet Explorer, then I recommend you install the Google toolbar. If you don’t already know and use the Google toolbar, then you’re missing out. It not only integrates an excellent Internet search engine into the frame of your browser, it also suppresses pop-ads and also facilitates web-searches in some interesting ways.

   2. Please run some of the malware safeguards. Spybot and Ad-Aware do a great job of detecting and cleaning up spyware and BHOs that are already on your computer. The first time you install and run one of these programs, you’ll be amazed by how much malicious material is on your computer without your knowledge. Either one of these programs will catch 90% of the known spyware, and the other will clean up the remaining 10%. SpywareBlaster will help prevent much of the spyware from ever being installed in the first place.

   3. If you are using a Windows XP machine, be sure that the built-in firewall is running. To do this, look in the bottom right corner of your screen and find the icon with two computer screens alternatively blinking Carolina-blue. Right click on this icon, and left click on Open Network Connections. A new window should appear on screen with a LAN or Local Area Connection icon. If the firewall is enabled, the icon will have a gold lock on it, and it should say something like “Enabled, Firewalled”. If the firewall is not currently enabled, then double-click Local Area Connection and click the Properties tab. When the new dialogue box opens, click the Advanced tab. There’s your toggle for the firewall.
   Unfortunately, Windows operating systems prior to XP (e.g. 2000, 98, ME, etc) do not have a built-in firewall. If you have an older Windows operating system, or you want more protection/control than the XP firewall offers, then you can install a third-party firewall. I recommend a free firewall called Zone Alarm for any Windows machine. Download it to your computer, and run the executable installation program by double-clicking the file you downloaded. The setup is fairly interactive; the program will ask you how much you know about Internet security.
   Once you’re using ZoneAlarm, an icon will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen. When a new program attempts to access the Internet, ZA will ask you whether you want to allow it. This is how it builds a set of rules for each program. Some programs are obvious: your web browser and your email program need access to the Internet. Others are not so obvious. By default, I don’t allow anything to “act as a server”. Unless you’re hosting a webserver or need server-like ports open for P2P software to work, then you don’t need any of the server ports open. But, then again, if you are hosting webservers, then you don’t need to be reading this anyway.

   4. Be sure that you have a good anti-virus program, such as Symantec (sometimes called Norton) or McAfee. Since your virus program works only if your virus definitions are up to date, be sure that you update them regularly. Although there are far fewer viruses on Macintosh computers, there are some. I also recommend Norton’s Anti-Virus product for Mac users.
   When Windows-based anti-virus programs are running, they usually show an icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. Variations on double-clinking and right-clicking this icon usually reveal some way to update your virus definitions.
   If you don’t want to purchase an anti-virus software product (you can’t afford to or on principle you’re trying to do everything with free software), there are some free anti-virus products. I’d start with Avast!. There are other programs out there, so you might do some research. See what CNet recommends. In my experience, the free anti-virus programs are a little more cumbersome to update than Symantec or McAfee.

   5. And, of course, monitor your email. It’s not a good idea to open attachments from anyone you don’t know, especially if the attachments have extentions (for example, .scr or .pif) that you don’t recognize. Files with extentions .doc are MS Word documents and .wpd are Word Perfect documents, but I still wouldn’t open one from someone I don’t know.

   6. Speaking of email, you’re probably receiving more spam (or junk email) than ever before. Despite federal anti-spam laws that took effect last year, there is more unwanted, solicitous email floating around cyberspace than legitimate email. In fact, estimates are that 2/3rds of all email any given day is spam. And the spammers are finding new ways to put their products in your face - html-embedded messages use your email program like a browser, loading images in the body of the email before you have a chance to ignore it.
   There’s no way to be sure not to receive spam, but you can use an email program with a spam-filter. I recommend Mozilla Thunderbird. Hands down, I think it’s the easiest to use, most intuitive, and most powerful open-source email client available. The installation process walks you through setting up the first email account (you can use it to check several), asking you for the typical information. If you want to add others later, click Tools, then Account Settings once Thunderbird is open.
   Once you have Thunderbird running and connected to your email account, click Tools and Junk Mail Controls. In this dialogue box you can activate a Bayesian decision theory based junk mail filter: in English, this is a trainable email filter than gets smarter, and thus better at identifying junk mail, as you use it. You need to train it by marking junk mail as junk and marking legitimate email as legit, but after a while, it predictably filters the emails with ads into a Junk Mail folder and ushers friendly email into your Inbox.
      Typical bits of information you’ll need to set up an email client are the incoming mail server, the outgoing mail server, and your login ID and password.

ISP
Incoming Mail Server
Outgoing Mail Server
 login / username / account name
Earthlink pop.earthlink.net smtp.earthlink.net username@earthlink.net
RoadRunner pop-server.nc.rr.com smtp-server.nc.rr.com username
BellSouth mail.bellsouth.net mail.bellsouth.net username
AT&T postoffice.att.net mailhost.att.net username
Mindspring pop.earthlink.net smtp.earthlink.net username@mindspring.com
Sprint DSL pop.earthlink.net smtp.earthlink.net username@sprint.com

   You ought to be able to install any of these programs in about 10 minutes and all of them in about a half-hour. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me or post a comment.

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