Maintaining your computer is like maintaining anything else. You need to change the oil in your car, the air filter in your house, and you need to check for patches for your system on a regular basis.
The process is straightforward. Using Internet Explorer, go to the Windows Update website (http://www.windowsupdate.com). On the main page, you will see a "Scan for updates" button". Press it to begin the process. You may get message asking if you want to install or run some software on your machine. This is needed to allow the Microsoft computer to analyze your computer. Your computer will then be scanned for trouble and Microsoft will recommend any fixes or updates for potential problems. You should be safe (usually) by selecting all of the critical updates and service packs. Microsoft will give you the opportunity to review the changes, but you'll be fine by clicking the "Install Now" button. The system will then download and install the patches and may reboot your computer. After that, you should be safe - for a little while.
Anyway, you can go the the Symantec or McAfee websites and download the trial scanners. They are the full version, but they expire after 30 days. We only need it for one. After you download it, install and run it according to its instructions. Once your system is clean, you can uninstall the virus scanner by using the Add/Remove Programs feature in Control Panel (Start Button...Control Panel...Add-Remove Programs).
Whatever email client or web browser you choose, there is one rule that you need to follow very carefully. Ahem...
DO NOT EVER, IN A MILLION BILLION YEARS, OPEN AN UNEXPECTED ATTACHMENT IN AN EMAIL,
even if it is sent by someone you know. Many virus programs will forge email headers to make it look like someone you know. They may also use a fake "Re: Topic" in the subject line and the topic will be something you sent that person. Unless they call you or communicate in some other way that this is coming, DO NOT OPEN IT. This is the number one way to get infected. Even if you have a virus scanner, the virus may be new or your machine may not have updated virus definitions, which will allow the virus to get through to your inbox.
If you have online email, such as AOL, Yahoo, Google or MSN, they will generally run a virus scan on your incoming email. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are also offering these services as part of their package. But for ISP's, you usually need to opt-in to the program, it is not on by default. Take advantage of it so that you don't have to worry so much about viruses in your email.
Internet explorer also can have security problems. Troublesome websites can present a supposedly informative message and present you with an official looking "OK" button. In reality they can install spyware or even viruses and other malware (maliscous software). These often get incorporated into the browser as a plug-in, which then opens the door for the real bad software to enter your system. The basic rule of thumb is to not follow any questionable links. Go online, do your thing, and get offline. Don't be tempted by flashy offers or scary messages like "Your computer has a serious security flaw, press OK to download a fix". If you are going to read the news, go to your website, read the news, and don't follow links to other questionable sites. You can see what site a link points to by looking at the bottom of the browser while your mouse is over the link. If it is not what you expected, be wary.
Pop Up Blocking - Mozilla has the very useful option of being able to turn off pop-up ads. This "feature" that allows a web page to open a new window without your consent is often annoying and possibly dangerous. By telling Mozilla to only open links that have been clicked by the mouse, you can prevent these windows from appearing. Good bye pop-ups. Internet Explorer requires that you install extra software for at least $20 to do this.
Security - Mozilla does not have the security problems that Internet Explorer has because they do not support features that let web pages run dangerous programs on your computer without your knowledge. You may not be able to visit IE-only webpages, but you will still have IE installed if you need it (like for Windows Update). The other nice thing is that since Mozilla/Firefox is open to the public and more mindful of security, fixes are submitted very quickly. With Internet Explorer you have to wait for Microsoft to go through its motions.
Tabbed Browsing - This allows you to have one Mozilla window with several websites open at the same time. You can then switch back and forth by selecting a tab at the top of the screen. Furthermore, you can elect to have a link opened in a new tab, incase you are not done with the current article. These features can be added in Internet Explorer, but Mozilla/Firefox has it built in.
No execution of email attachments - Even if someone sends you a dangerous email attachment and you foolishly click on it, Mozilla will not run the program. All it will do with attachments is save them to disk or open them in a text viewer. This means that for you to infect your machine, you would need to save it to disk, open the directory where the attachment was stored, and execute the attachment. If you do all this and get infected, you can't say you didn't mean to run the program.
Stored profiles - If you share a computer with several people, Mozilla allows you to create a profile for each person. This profile stores their bookmarks, preferences, and passwords in an encrypted directory on your disk. If you want to back this up, simply back up the directory. Internet Explorer scatters this information all over the system, which means that special software must be installed to back up your internet settings.
Software firewalls install onto your computer and protect it at a very low level. The firewall software examines all the packets coming into your system from the internet and discards the dangerous ones. All of your requests and the responses to those requests are let through, so you really do not see any difference from your point of view.
Hardware firewalls are small machines, about the size of an external modem, that sit in between your internet connection and your computer. The advantage to hardware firewalls is that by filtering right after the internet connection, they can protect many computers connected together on a network. The computers on the network need not worry about intruders from the internet. This makes it easy to secure and when you upgrade your computers, the firewall will still run happily along.
Copyright (C) 2004 by Brian Rose, all rights reserved.