*WARNING* This is a LONG spill, all in plain text and simplified so thateven non-techs should be able to understand it. Hopefully this willassist some people in not only repairing their systems, but in makingthem faster and more stable tools for them to use. It contains adviceon many things, many considered "common knowledge" to 'IT' peopleeverywhere. It is split into major sections, hopefully this will makeit easier to navigate. *WARNING* Suggestions on what you can do to secure/clean your PC. Every attempthas been made to be general and an assumption of a "Windows" operatingsystem is made here as well - although in some ways, this could beadapted to any OS. GENERAL UPKEEP AND CLEANUP-------------------------- You should periodically defragment your hard drives as well as check themfor errors. How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314848 How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315265 How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310312 You should also empty your Internet Explorer Temporary InternetFiles and make sure the maximum size for this is small enough not to causetrouble in the future. Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink thesize it stores to a size between 120MB and 480MB.. - Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the following: - Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK) - Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 120MB and 480MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.) - Click OK. - Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or more.)- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet Explorer. Uninstall any software you no longer use or cannot remember installing(ask if it is a multi-user PC) - but only if you are sure you do notneed it and/or you have the installation media around to reinstall ifyou need to.
http://snipurl.com/8v6b may help you accomplish this. If things are running a bit slow or you have an older system(1.5GHz or less and 256MB RAM or less) then you may want to look intotweaking the performance a bit by turning off some of the memoryusing Windows XP "prettifications". The fastest method is: Control Panel --> System --> Advanced tab --> Performance section,Settings button. Then choose "adjust for best performance" and younow have a Windows 2000/98 look which turned off many of the annoying"prettifications" in one swift action. You can play with the lastthree checkboxes to get more of an XP look without many of theother annoyances. You could also grab and install/mess with one(or more) of the Microsoft Powertoys - TweakUI in particular:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa...ppowertoys.mspx You should also verify that your System Restore feature is enabled andworking properly. Unfortunately, if seems to have issues on occasion,ones that can easily be avoided by turning off/on the system restore andmake a manual restoration point as one of your periodic maintenance tasks.This is particularly important right before installing something major(or even minor if you are unsure what it might do to your system.)(This, of course, will erase any previous restore point you have.) Turn off System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310405 Reboot. Turn on System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310405 Make a Manual Restoration Point.
http://snipurl.com/68nx Also, you should look into backing up your valuable files and folders.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308422 And keep your original installation media (CDs, disks) safe with theirCD keys and such. Make backups of these installation media sets aswell and always use strong passwords. Good passwords are those thatmeet these general rules (mileage may vary): Passwords should contain at least six characters, and the character string should contain at least three of these four character types: - uppercase letters - lowercase letters - numerals - nonalphanumeric characters (e.g., *, %, &, !) Passwords should not contain your name/logon name. UPDATES and PATCHES------------------- ** Side Note: *IF* you are about to install Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP, I suggest you clean up your system first. Uninstall any applications you do not use. Update any that you do. Download the latest drivers for your hardware devices. Defragment and run a full CHKDSK on your hard drives. Scan your system and clean it of any Spyware/Adware/Malware and for Viruses and Trojans. Below you will find advice and links to applications that will help you do all of this. If this advice helps you, please - pass it on. Print it, email it, forward it to anyone you think it might help. A little knowledge might help prevent lots of trouble. This one is the most obvious. There is no perfect product and any companyworth their salt will try to meet/exceed the needs of their customers andfix any problems they find along the way. I am not going to say Microsoftis the best company in the world about this but they do have an optionavailable for you to use to keep your machine updated and patched fromthe problems and vulnerabilities (as well as product improvements in somecases) - and it's free to you. Windows Update
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ Go there and scan your machine for updates. Always get the critical ones asyou see them. Write down the KB###### or Q###### you see whenselecting the updates and if you have trouble over the next few days,go into your control panel (Add/Remove Programs), match up the latestnumbers you downloaded recently (since you started noticing an issue) anduninstall them. If there was more than one (usually is), install them backone by one - with a few hours of use in between, to see if the problemreturns. Yes - the process is not perfect (updating) and can cause troublelike I mentioned - but as you can see, the solution isn't that bad - and isMUCH better than the alternatives. Windows is not the only product you likely have on your PC. Themanufacturers of the other products usually have updates as well. Newversions of almost everything come out all the time - some are free, someare pay - some you can only download if you are registered - but it is bestto check. Just go to their web pages and look under their support anddownload sections. For example, for Microsoft Office update, you shouldvisit: Microsoft Office Updates
http://office.microsoft.com/ (and select "downloads") You also have hardware on your machine that requires drivers to interfacewith the operating system. You have a video card that allows you to see onyour screen, a sound card that allows you to hear your PCs sound output andso on. Visit those manufacturer web sites for the latest downloadabledrivers for your hardware/operating system. Always (IMO) get themanufacturers hardware driver over any Microsoft offers. On the WindowsUpdate site I mentioned earlier, I suggest NOT getting their hardwaredrivers - no matter how tempting. First - how do you know what hardwareyou have in your computer? Invoice or if it is up and working now - takeinventory: Belarc Advisor
http://belarc.com/free_download.html Once you know what you have, what next? Go get the latest driver for yourhardware/OS from the manufacturer's web page. For example, let's say youhave an NVidia chipset video card or ATI video card, perhaps a CreativeLabs sound card or C-Media chipset sound card... NVidia Video Card Drivers
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp ATI Video Card Drivers
http://www.atitech.com/support/driver.html Creative Labs Sound Device
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/ C-Media Sound Device
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/e_download_01.htm As for Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP, Microsoft has made thisparticular patch available in a number of ways. First, there is theWindows Update web page above. Then there is a direct download siteand finally, you can order the FREE CD from Microsoft. Direct Download of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP
http://snipurl.com/8bqy Order the Free Windows XP SP2 CD
http://snipurl.com/8umo Microsoft also have a bunch of suggestions, some similar to these,on how to better protect your Windows system: Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/ FIREWALL-------- Let's say you are up-to-date on the OS (operating system) and you haveWindows XP.. You should at least turn on the built in firewall. That willdo a lot to "hide" you from the random bad things flying around theInternet. Things like Sasser/Blaster enjoy just sitting out there inCyberspace looking for an unprotected Windows Operating System and jumpingon it, doing great damage in the process and then using that Unprotected OSto continue its dirty work of infecting others. If you have the Windows XPFW turned on - default configuration - then they cannot see you! Think ofit as Internet Stealth Mode at this point. It has other advantages, likeactually locking the doors you didn't even (likely) know you had. Doingthis is simple, some helpful tips for the SP2 enabled firewall can be foundhere:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community...guy/cg0204.mspx If you read through that and look through the pages that are linked from itthroughout - I think you should have a firm grasp on the basics of theWindows XP Firewall as it is today. One thing to note RIGHT NOW - if youhave AOL, you cannot use this nice firewall that came with your system. Thank AOL, not Microsoft. You HAVE to configure another one.. So wecontinue with our session on Firewalls... But let's say you DON'T have Windows XP - you have some other OS likeWindows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT, 2000. Well, you don't have the nifty built infirewall. My suggestion - upgrade. My next suggestion - look through youroptions. There are lots of free and pay firewalls out there for home users.Yes - you will have to decide on your own which to get. Yes, you will haveto learn (oh no!) to use these firewalls and configure them so they don'tinterfere with what you want to do while continuing to provide the securityyou desire. It's just like anything else you want to protect - you have todo something to protect it. Here are some suggested applications. A lot ofpeople tout "ZoneAlarm" as being the best alternative to just using theWindows XP FW, but truthfully - any of these alternatives are much betterthan the Windows XP FW at what they do - because that is ALL they do. ZoneAlarm (Free and up)
http://snipurl.com/6ohg Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) (Free and up)
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html Outpost Firewall from Agnitum (Free and up)
http://www.agnitum.com/download/ Sygate Personal Firewall (Free and up)
http://smb.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall (~$25 and up)
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/npf/ BlackICE PC Protection ($39.95 and up)
http://blackice.iss.net/ Tiny Personal Firewall (~$49.00 and up)
http://www.tinysoftware.com/ That list is not complete, but they are good firewall options, every one ofthem. Visit the web pages, read up, ask around if you like - make adecision and go with some firewall, any firewall. Also, maintain it.Sometimes new holes are discovered in even the best of these products andpatches are released from the company to remedy this problem. However, ifyou don't get the patches (check the manufacturer web page on occasion),then you may never know you have the problem and/or are being used throughthis weakness. Also, don't stack these things. Running more than onefirewall will not make you safer - it would likely (in fact) negate someprotection you gleamed from one or the other firewalls you run. ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE------------------ That's not all. That's one facet of a secure PC, but firewalls don't doeverything. I saw one person posting on a newsgroup that "they hadnever had a virus and they never run any anti-virus software." Yep - I usedto believe that way too - viruses were something everyone else seemed toget, were they just careless? And for the average joe-user who is careful,uses their one to three family computers carefully, never opening unknownemail attachments, always visiting the same family safe web sites, neverinstalling anything that did not come with their computer - maybe, justmaybe they will never witness a virus. I, however, am a Network SystemsAdministrator. I see that AntiVirus software is an absolute necessity givenhow most people see their computer as a toy/tool and not somethingthey should have to maintain and upkeep. After all, they were invented tomake life easier, right - not add another task to your day. Youcan be as careful as you want - will the next person be as careful? Willsomeone send you unknowingly the email that erases all the pictures of yourchild/childhood? Possibly - why take the chance? ALWAYS RUN ANTIVIRUSSOFTWARE and KEEP IT UP TO DATE! Antivirus software comes in so manyflavors, it's like walking into a Jelly Belly store - which one tastes likewhat?! Well, here are a few choices for you. Some of these are free (isn'tthat nice?) and some are not. Is one better than the other - MAYBE. Symantec (Norton) AntiVirus (~$11 and up)
http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_9xnt/ Kaspersky Anti-Virus (~$49.95 and up)
http://www.kaspersky.com/products.html Panda Antivirus Titanium (~$39.95 and up)
http://www.pandasoftware.com/ (Free Online Scanner:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/) AVG 6.0 Anti-Virus System (Free and up)
http://www.grisoft.com/ McAfee VirusScan (~$11 and up)
http://www.mcafee.com/ AntiVir (Free and up)
http://www.free-av.com/ avast! 4 (Free and up)
http://www.avast.com/ Trend Micro (~$49.95 and up)
http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm (Free Online Scanner:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp) RAV AntiVirus Online Virus Scan (Free!)
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/ Did I mention you have to not only install this software, but also keep itupdated? You do. Some of them (most) have automatic services to help youdo this - I mean, it's not your job to keep up with the half-dozen or morenew threats that come out daily, is it? Be sure to keep whichever one youchoose up to date! SPYWARE/ADWARE/POPUPS/HIJACKS----------------------------- So you must be thinking that the above two things got your back now - youare covered, safe and secure in your little fox hole. Wrong! There aremore bad guys out there. There are annoyances out there you can get withouttrying. Your normal web surfing, maybe a wrong click on a web page, maybejust a momentary lack of judgment by installing some software packageswithout doing the research.. And all of a sudden your screen starts fillingup with advertisements or your Internet seems much slower or your home pagewon't stay what you set it and goes someplace unfamiliar to you. This isspyware. There are a whole SLEW of software packages out there to get ridof this crud and help prevent reinfection. Some of the products alreadymentioned might even have branched out into this arena. However, there area few applications that seem to be the best at what they do, which iseradicating and immunizing your system from this crap. Strangely, the bestproducts I have found in this category ARE generally free. That is a trendI like. I make donations to some of them, they deserve it! Two side-notes: Never think one of these can do the whole job.Try the first 5 before coming back and saying "That did not work!"Also, you can always visit:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htmFor more updated information. Spybot Search and Destroy (Free!)
http://www.safer-networking.net/en/download/index.html Lavasoft AdAware (Free and up)
http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/ CWShredder (Free!) ** No longer updated as of July 29, 2004 - however, still a great product and should still be ran **
http://www.softbasket.com/download/s_8114.shtml Hijack This! (Free)
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/ ( Tutorial:
http://hjt.wizardsofwebsites.com/ ) SpywareBlaster (Free!)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html IE-SPYAD (Free!)
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm ToolbarCop (Free!)
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner (Free!)
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/ Browser Security Tests
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/ Popup Tester
http://www.popuptest.com/ The Cleaner (49.95 and up)
http://www.moosoft.com/ That will clean up your machine of the spyware, given that you download andinstall several of them, update them regularly and scan with them when youupdate. Some (like SpywareBlaster and SpyBot Search and Destroy and IESPYAD)have/are immunization utilities that will help you prevent your PC from beinginfected. Use these features! Unfortunately, although that will lessen your popups on the Internet/whileyou are online, it won't eliminate them. I have looked at a lot of options,seen a lot of them used in production with people who seem to attract popupslike a plague, and I only have one suggestion that end up serving doubleduty (search engine and popup stopper in one): The Google Toolbar (Free!)
http://toolbar.google.com/ Yeah - it adds a bar to your Internet Explorer - but its a useful one. Youcan search from there anytime with one of the best search engines on theplanet (IMO.) And the fact it stops most popups - wow - BONUS! If youdon't like that suggestion, then I am just going to say you go towww.google.com and search for other options. Please notice that Windows XPSP2 does help stop popups as well. Another option is to use an alternativeWeb browser. I suggest "Mozilla Firefox", as it has some great featuresand is very easy to use: Mozilla Firefox
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ One more suggestion, although I will suggest this in a way later, is todisable your Windows Messenger service. This service is not used frequently(if at all) by the normal home user and in cooperation with a good firewall,is generally unnecessary. Microsoft has instructions on how to do this forWindows XP here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/usi...te/stopspam.asp SPAM EMAIL/JUNK MAIL-------------------- This one can get annoying, just like the rest. You get 50 emails in onesitting and 2 of them you wanted. NICE! (Not.) What can you do? Well,although there are services out there to help you, some emailservers/services that actually do lower your spam with features built intotheir servers - I still like the methods that let you be the end-decisionmaker on what is spam and what isn't. If these things worked perfectly, wewouldn't need people and then there would be no spam anyway - viciouscircle, eh? Anyway - I have two products to suggest to you, look at themand see if either of them suite your needs. Again, if they don't, Google isfree and available for your perusal. SpamBayes (Free!)
http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/ Spamihilator (Free!)
http://www.spamihilator.com/ As I said, those are not your only options, but are reliable ones I haveseen function for hundreds+ people. DISABLE (Set to Manual) UNUSED SERVICE/STARTUP APPS--------------------------------------------------- I might get arguments on putting this one here, but it's my spill. There arelots of services on your PC that are probably turned on by default you don'tuse. Why have them on? Check out these web pages to see what all of theservices you might find on your computer are and set them according to yourpersonal needs. Be CAREFUL what you set to manual, and take heed and writedown as you change things! Also, don't expect a large performance increaseor anything - especially on today's 2+ GHz machines, however - I look at eachservice you set to manual as one less service you have to worry aboutsomeone exploiting. A year ago, I would have thought the Windows Messengerservice to be pretty safe, now I recommend (with addition of a firewall)that most home users disable it! Yeah - this is another one you have towork for, but your computer may speed up and/or be more secure because youtook the time. And if you document what you do as you do it, next time, itgoes MUCH faster! (or if you have to go back and re-enable things..) Task List Programs
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm Black Viper's Service List and Opinions (XP)
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm Processes in Windows NT/2000/XP
http://www.reger24.de/prozesse/ There are also applications that AREN'T services that startup when you startup the computer/logon. One of the better description on how to handle theseI have found here: Startups
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php That's it. A small booklet on how to keep your computer secure, clean ofscum and more user friendly. I am SURE I missed something, almost as I amsure you won't read all of it (anyone for that matter.) However, I alsoknow that someone who followed all of the advice above would also have lessproblems with their PC, less problems with viruses, less problems with spam,fewer problems with spyware and better performance than someone who didn't. Hope it helps. -- <- Shenan ->-- The information is provided "as is", it is suggested you research foryourself before you take any advice - you are the one ultimatelyresponsible for your actions/problems/solutions. Know what you aregetting into before you jump in with both feet.
[SIZE=12pt] [/SIZE]
