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+---- Thread: PC Security Guide (/showthread.php?tid=94846)
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PC Security Guide - MikeM - Jun 27, 2009
Guide to PC Security
by Z4rthoraX
Introduction
This guide was made for users that want to have a much more safer
PC than they probebly got now. You don't have to use every single program
I choose to use but It can make you computer much more safer.
-Thanks for choosing to read my guide.
Anti-Virus
If you want to keep your computer safe an Anti-Virus is essential.
Anti-Virus protects your computer from various kinds of unwanted applications / tools.
Most of the Anti-Viruses today also come with an Anti-Maleware scanner.
What Anti-Viruses basiclly do is that they scan your memory, registry and your files for
known viruses.
Most of the Anti-Viruses do have a fast and a deep scan.
I'd recommend you to do a deep scan with your Anti-Virus once a week, and do a fast scan every
other day.
You can read more on how Anti-Viruses work here.
As I said before if you want to keep your computer clean anti-viruses are essential.
Here are good free ones to download:
AVG Free 8.5 Download.
Avira AntiVir Free Download.
Avast! Home Edition Download.
Firewalls
If you want you computer safe Firewalls are also essential.
Firewalls protect your computer from malicious program you have installed to
access the internet, it stops portscanning on your computer, It secures your from the
outside world. That means that it does not trust nothing unless its told to.
As I said Firewalls are essential to keep your Computer safe so here are some free ones that you can download:
Online Armor Free Download.
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall Download.
Comodo Free Firewall Download.
Pctools Free Firewall Download.
Anti-Malware
Anti-Malware are essential if you want to keep your computer safe.
And some of you may think whats the diffrence between Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware.
Well Anti-Maleware programs are programmed to find and remove malware. Anti-Malware does
often find more malware than a regular Anti-Virus does thats why it's good to have it.
The one and only Anti-Maleware I recommend to everyone is Malwarebyte's Anti-Malwarer (MBAM)
It is very good on finding infection and remove them.
Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware Free Download.
Anti-Spyware
Anti-Spywares are very good to keep Spyware, Browser Hijackers and Dialers off your computer.
Spyware programs collect information about your computer / system and what you do on you computer
and send the information back to the company you got the spyware from.
Browser Hijackers can be very annoying.
Browser Hijackers can change your homepage and so on.
Some Browser Hijackers does change the google search result to their site
aswell.
Dialers does use your modem to call things that costs money and then you will get the bill.
If you want to know more about what Spyware, Browser Hijackers and Dialers do then I would recommend you to check
this awsome tutorial about spyware,hijackers and dialers.
There is two good program I really recommend to keep Spyware, Browser Hijackers and dialers off your computer and those are:
Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware
Spybot Search & Destroy Download.
Ad-Aware Free Download.
I'd recommend you to scan regulary with Spybot Serach & Destroy and Ad-Aware to keep spyware, dialers and browser Hijackers off.
Startups
Most of the time when you got a Virus or an unwanted application they do start when windows start.
So here I'm going to tell you how to check your startups and to see if they are dangerous or not.
Go to Start > Run > And then type "msconfig" without the "" and press the enter key.
In the new window choose the Autostart tab.
There you will see a bunch of applications loading.
Uncheck the box if you don't want them to start when your windows starts.
How to check them if you don't know if they are dangerous:
Bleeping Computer has an awsome feature to check startups which you can find here.
You can also check the .exe in the location here.
I'd recommed you to go through your startups once every other week.
.Exe Files
The most kind of viruses are inside .exe files.
How can you recognize it if it is a virus?
Well first of all you can look if the .exe file have an icon.
I know thats easy to add an Icon but many amatures don't add it.
Another thing to check is how big the file is.
You can easy do it by right clicking on the file and choosing properties and
then you will see how big the file is.
Don't open the file if you see that it is like 500kb big. Ofcourse you can open it if you know
that It should be 500kb big. But most of the application are over 1MB big.
Everytime you downloa an .exe file you should scan it with either Virustotal or Jotti's Scan.
Or you can run the .exe on a virtual machine or in Sandbox.
Sandboxie download is avalible here.
Backups
It's very good that you keep your system backed-up if it happens anything.
You can do that by makeing a new Restore point, and it is very important also
that you have your most private / important files backed-up if anything happens.
Most of the time if you computer dies it's not the computer you are worried about it's the files.
I'd recommend you to buy an external harddrive so you could have your whole system backed-up and your most
important files.
But you could also just back-up your most important files on your USB flash drive.
Encryption
Encryption is very good to have on your most important files on your computer.
It is also very good to encrypt your external harddrive or USB flash drive.
Why is it good to encrypt your files?
If a hacker comes inside your computer he could look through all of your files.
If you have your files encrypted he won't be able to read / open them so he could never get
the important information he needed.
Why is it good to encrypt your External Harddrive or USB flash drive?
It is good to encrypt them because if they get stolen.
If somebody steals your external harddrive he won't be able to access your most
private files or any private files that you have encrypted so you don't have to worry about private
information if your external harddrive or USB flash drive gets stolen.
For encryption I recommend you to use the tool called TrueCrypt.
TrueCrypt can both make encryption Container and encrypt external harddrives, USB drives or Windows Partitions.
TrueCrypt can be downloaded here.
A tutorial on how to use TrueCrypt can be found here.
Temporary Files
When you have deleted a Virus some parts of the virus could still be left
in the Temporary files folder, so It's important to clear that folder aswell
after you deleted a virus.
There is one tool I strongly recommend to do this with:
It's called ATF-Cleaner and can be downloaded here.
This was a pretty basic computer security guide made by me (Z4rthoraX) and I hope you enjoyed it.
I maybe will make a more advanced guide in PC security in the future if I got time.
Also a BIG thanks to Vaqxine for his guide which you can find here that inspired me to make my own guide.
- Valiant - Jun 27, 2009
There are getting to be a big bulk of these kind of guides now, but a good guide nevertheless.
- MikeM - Jun 27, 2009
(Jun 27, 2009 07:33 AM)kk415kk Wrote: There are getting to be a big bulk of these kind of guides now, but a good guide nevertheless.
Thanks.
- zerovalue0 - Jun 27, 2009
Wowz its cool but......... to be safe i wouldnt download anything
- Valiant - Jun 27, 2009
I'll add this to the sticky later Z4rthoraX.
- MikeM - Jun 27, 2009
(Jun 27, 2009 08:52 AM)kk415kk Wrote: I'll add this to the sticky later Z4rthoraX.
thanks.
(Jun 27, 2009 08:49 AM)zerovalue0 Wrote: Wowz its cool but......... to be safe i wouldnt download anything
hmm ok, but the download links are from the developers homepage so I don't think it should be a virus.
- TZ- - Jun 27, 2009
don't pay attention to zerovalue0's comments, this is his default comment, even if nobody ask him for opinion or to download.
- MikeM - Jun 27, 2009
(Jun 27, 2009 10:08 AM)TZ- Wrote: don't pay attention to zerovalue0's comments, this is his default comment, even if nobody ask him for opinion or to download.
alright I didn't know that
* - atonelay - Feb 10, 2010
thank you very much.
* - solid_soldier - Apr 27, 2010
Thanks alot for this!
* - VirtualDoctor - Apr 27, 2010
Thank you for the guide =) but to many of them
* - Paradoxum - Apr 27, 2010
(Apr 27, 2010 02:14 AM)ApeGuru Wrote: Thank you for the guide =) but to many of them
They differ in content, anyway.
* - cobija - Apr 27, 2010
Pretty good guide overall. Thanks, and as Paradoxum said, some brush up on topics that others dont mention or describe more. Its like a book. "There are thousands of books on Christianity", they all have their own POV and style.
* - TheInvader - Apr 27, 2010
Nice guide man, thanks for uploading.
* - Blackrosex - Apr 28, 2010
Thanks a lot for this I had never bothered to encrypt before now but it makes sense. I thought just keeping my external drive disconnected was enough but good points on if someone hacks in while its connected or it gets stolen.