DJpailo's massive Guide to security

[DJpailo]

Ok, before you download anything, make sure you back up your registry onto cd, usb stick etc... This is because, if anything does go wrong, you will have a saved document of your entire PC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To do this go to start>run>type "regedit" (without the speech marks)>(a box will open)>File>export>save as (make sure "all" is selected underneath, and also make sure you save it on your desktop, then you can transfer it to cd by right clicking the icon and send to cd.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all the downloads, make sure you read all the requirements, at that your PC can tolerate the programme. to find out some details about your P.C, go to start>run>type "winver" (without the speech marks). Also, go to start>all programmes (optional)>accessories>system infomation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you need another download page, a mirror site, (quite reliable) is found here: Major Geeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before you do anything, remember to update your computer. Windows 2000 users and above can use microsoft update and office update, but these will only work in internet explorer. Download all the critical updates. The optional updates are not necessary. If you are having any hardware issues, download the related hardware update, but if you are not, do not use this, as sometimes, after downloading the hardware update, that piece of hardware may not work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: Browser Security

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of ways in which you can protect yourself using your very own browser. In Internet Explorer, go to tools > internet options... > Security > and you can add sites to the restricted list. If you go to the general tab of that same box, you can delete the cookies. This is useful if you think you have downloaded some bad scripts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you use Mozilla, you can delete your cookies by going to tools > options > Privacy > and press clear which is next to the cookies section. You can also block pop ups by going to the same box, but choose web features, and tick block pop ups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of free plug-ins available to mozilla, some of which are very useful.

 

 

 

Adblock blocks all ads, and No Script allows you to block or unblock scripts from any sites in mozilla.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: Anti Viruses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anti-Viruses in one of the most important things your computer will ever have. Most remove viruses, worms, and a few trojan horses. A few can remove "bits and pieces" of spyware, but you should not rely on an anti-virus software to remove spyware. There are 3 main free anti-viruses. Remember you should only use one anti-virus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AVAST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use this anti-virus. The userface is very nice, and it is very simple to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Avast

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Avast

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Avast Requirements List

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AVG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This anti-virus is made by grisoft. I have never used this, but a vast amount of people recommend it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- AVG

 

 

 

Official Download- Download AVG

 

 

 

Official Requirements- AVG Requirements List

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*note, that the requirements list for AVG is a pdf file. You will need Adobe reader to view it, or a simlar programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A-SQUARED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a relatively unknown anti-virus, but has some decent reports to its name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- A Squared

 

 

 

Official Download- Download A-Squared

 

 

 

Official Requirements- List unknown. Please check download page, and possibly download english help files.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The payable one which I'd go for are Kaspersky. I honestly believe you should not go for norton or mcafee. These pieces of software are seriously bloated, and make your PC run much slower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANTI-VIRUS REMOVAL TOOLS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a list of some common anti-viruses with their remval tools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W32.sober and variants. here

 

 

 

W32.sasser and variants. here

 

 

 

W32.Beagle.J@mm and variants here

 

 

 

These are just a few. Lots of virus removal tools can be found here: Symantec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, Microsoft have their own removal tool which is very useful for the major viruses out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also just type the virus name (case sensitive) into google.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: Firewalls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firewalls tell you who is trying to get into your pc and then block that user or programme. When you first download the firewall, lots of pop ups will come up telling you certain things are trying to communicate with your PC. Some things are genuine, others are not. If you are unsure, type the process in google. ie "Win Generic Host32[Caution: ExecutableFile]" etc. There are only really 4 free firewalls out there. Remember you should one use one firewall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if you use broadband, you can buy a router. A router is basically a hardware firewall. To configure the router, see its manual, buy usually you type 192.2.1 is internet explorer. Then, you can configure your internet connection, password protect it, block IP's etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft also provide a free firewall is windows xp sp-2 users and above. To get sp-2 for xp, update your machine using.microsoft update The windows firewall can then be configured by going to control panel and then security. The windows firewall only blocks in coming infomation, but will not block out going infomation, so if you have a trojan horse already in your PC, it will not stop it transmitting your data to a hacker. Nonetheless it is a very useful firewall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SYGATE (version 5.6.2808) (5.5MB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sygate was recently accquired by Symantec whom own norton. Due to this, people are saying Sygate will become bloated, but as of yet, it is still one of the best firewalls out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Sygate

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Sygate

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Sygate Requirements List

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ZONE ALARM (version 5.6) (9MB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This firewall is probably the most well known firewall, however, I feel it lacks ability in wireless networks, it is much more simple to understand then sygate. This firewall has known conflicting issues with avast anti-virus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Zone Alarm

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Zone Alarm

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Zone Alarm requirements list

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KERIO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This firewall is relatively unknown, but from many computer forums, including neowin, and have heard good reports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Kerio

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Kerio

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Kerio Requirements List

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUTPOST (Version 1.0.1817) (2.5MB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a highly unknown firewall, but I have heard a few rumors that its starting to surface amoung the big three and a major contender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*note that the free firewall service may be discontinued. You may still find the download links on google, but I believe the firewall is no longer free anymore. If I see any more news it will be posted. 9/9/2005*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I have added a link to download outpost from an unofficial download site.23/09/05*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Outpost

 

 

 

Unofficial Dowload - Download Outpost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: Anti-Malware

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malware consists of; spyware, pop-ups, trojan horses and keyloggers. There are only really 3 big free ones, one of which is in the beta phase, meaning it is still buggy. The main thing to remember with this products, is that it is ok to use more than one. They will not interfere with each other like firewalls and anti-viruses. They are also products which prevent malware getting to your PC. This products may interfere, but I will explain in more detail later on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AD-AWARE SE (version 1.06) (2.7MB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is probably the best free product you will ever come accross. This software is a must, and is probably the best at stopping keyloggers, and it removes tracking cookies very well. Some cookies contain keyloggers and handle personal infomation, howeverif you block cookies, you may hamper your browsing experiance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Ad-Aware se

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Ad-Aware Se

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Ad-aware SE requirements list*top paragraph*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPYBOT SEARCH AND DESTROY (version 1.4) (4.89MB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is highly recommended and works fabulously well with ad-aware. If ad-aware misses anything, this will be sure to find it. Previous versions had a bug with "DSO exploit" but this big has now been fixed in version 1.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Spybot Search and Destroy

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Spybot Search and Destroy

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Spybot Search and Destroy Requirements List*scroll down to view*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MICROSOFT ANTI-SPYWARE (BETA 1) (6.7MB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is very good, in that it has a built in feature which also prevents spyware. This software used to be owned by GIANT, but as the company went bust, microsoft brought the company and "stole" the rights of thier products and put thier name. Due to this being a beta, they may be still a few bugs. One noticable bug, is that in "task manager" the process is still called Giant. One major downside to this product, is that its only available to win 2000 up, and went it officially comes out of beta, it will only be for win xp sp-2 and above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Microsoft Homepage

 

 

 

Official Download- Download Microsoft Anti-Spyware

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Microsoft Anti-Spyware requirements list

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREVENTING SPYWARE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Javacool, provide two products, which do not interfere with eachother, or any products mentioned above, and they stop spyware. Highly recommened. I just use Spyware Blaster, but you can use both..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spyware Blaster and Spyware Guard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- JavaCool

 

 

 

Official Download- Download list

 

 

 

Official Requirements- unknown. Should be compatible with win 2000 and above. win 98 may be compatible, and win 95 users must check.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: Cleaners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleaners will clean out your cache, ie, your temporary files which you have downloaded of the internet. These includes cookies and images. Quite useful, may make your browser go slightly faster, but the first scan with them will increase your hard drive space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CWSHREDDER (version 2.18)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This product sweeps your computer clean for the most annoying spyware ever created "Cool Web Search" and variants. It is highly useful, but not very neccessary if you don't have much malware. Ideally, you only need to scan with this product once a month. The product was owned and created by merijn, but has since been brought by another company; intermute and then trend micro, but thankfully it has been kept free of charge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- Trend Micro

 

 

 

Official Download- Download CWShredder.

 

 

 

Official Requirements- CWShredder Requirements List

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CCLEANER (version 1.25.201) (513KB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CCleaner, a.k.a crap cleaner, is probably the best at doing this. It will also find invalid registry keys. I have never ever had any problems deleting registry keys it finds. I highly recommened this product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Homepage- CCleaner

 

 

 

Official Download- Download CCleaner

 

 

 

Official Requirements- Requirements list uknown. I can't find a list of reqs anywhere. An alternative list of requirements, which is unofficial is found here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I have never come across a product which evens comes close to this one. A lot of cleaners, which are specified to clean registry keys, are highly dangerous. From personal experiance, DONT GO DOWN THIS ROAD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: Test your Programmes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is all well and good downloading all these security programmes, but you must make sure they are working with your PC to block all these nasty things on the web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This site offers a free scan to test your security features. Choose shields up and the leak test to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portscan link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SYGATE SAFETY CHECKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sygate offer brilliant help in checking your computer is secure. The tests are accurate and probably one of the best I have seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sygate Safety Checks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SYMANTEC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The company behind norton, offer free security checks. These similar to syagte, and very reliable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Symantec Security check

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: USEFUL LINKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merijn: A great source of infomation and fixes and provides links to many useful downloads. This is the creator of hijack-this, a product which is used in computer forums to solve extreme spyware. Hijack-this scans your PC for processes and provides a list. Do not use this programme. It is for advanced users only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Process Library: Processes keep viruses and spyware running. To see a list of your processes, press crtl>alt>delete at the same time. This will bring your task manager up quickly and will show your current processes. Write them in this site to find out what they are and if they should be stopped. Remember that all processes are case sensitive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sophos- This site provides an extended list of viruses, worms and trojans horses. It wont tell you how to remove them, other then buy their products, but will give you lots of infomation on what you are dealing with. You can then type the virus in google to get more infomation on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neowin- This is a brilliant site, concerning everything to do with computers. If you need computer help, a quick browse in their forums is a great idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sys Internals A useful site with lots of link to utilites and infomation, but for the advanced user. (credit to Hannibal for the link.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also other alternative browsers which you could use. Firefox and Netscape. Firefox uses a totally different engine from internet explorer to load webpages. Thus the pages may look different. However, pages load much faster in firefox, and in firefox, there is tabbed browsing. Netscape stole firefoxs' engine, and their latest browser is stunning. They have a cool feature of using Internet Explorer's enginer, and Mozilla's (who make firefox) engine. They have a small icon on the bottom left, so you can easily switch between the two. The downside with netscape, is that you may have to download other junk with it, and the download is much bigger then firefox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this guide was useful to you. It took nearly 3 hours to make :P and find all the links. Use it wisely. This guide has been written by DJpailo, and was not copied (except copying from old forums to new forums ;)). The infomation was gathered after good experiance with security over the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*note, that previous versions are found on my website, and dvclan forums and the old sals forums..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Latest update to the guide was adding version numbers and adding download sizes for conveniance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJpailo[/b]

[Guest andyizcool]

Very useful guide you've written here and I might look into some things I haven't heard about before. I personally use Ad-Aware Personal, AVG Free, Microsoft AntiSpyware, Spybot - Search & Destroy, and of course FireFox as my web browser. I do spyware scans nearly every night because my PC is fast enough to do them very fast. I also do an anti-virus scan every week or when I download a file just to check things are safe.

[Sharper]

I find following these 3 steps is a great start to making your venture on the internet alot safer in a standard Windows XP installation (SP2).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) Enable Windows Firewall.

 

 

 

2) Set Internet Explorer to block all Popups, unless you specify an allowed website.

 

 

 

3) Set Internet Explorer security settings to Medium and do not let it automatically install any content that is not signed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following these steps you just require a little common sense when browsing the internet. Don't open illegal websites or download files that aren't from verified websites. And lastly don't install ActiveX controls unless you are on a secure or verified website.

[Futurama]

Awesome guide. S'how they should be, short and to the point, no bullcrap :)

 

 

 

Great work m8

[Hulk12]

Nice guide. Really gets ya thinking about security.

[Peter]

Great guide. As a measure of prevention I use the NoScript plugin for Firefox, which prevents scripts from running on your browser. You can select sites that it works on, etc. It's a pretty good plugin. I use it in conjunction with Adblock, also a plugin for Firefox, which allows you to block annoying ads.

[Hannibal]

Some issues I have with this guide:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 
   
   
   
  [*:w5das7sz]Nothing about browser security, the only reason you give to switch is speed and tabbed browsing (like everyone will know what the latter is). Why not give advice on some of the options in IE to disable ActiveX controls, or control their execution more stringently?
   
   
   
  [*:w5das7sz]Sygate Personal Firewall: I have repeatedly attempted to download it from various mirror locations, and each time, both in IE and Firefox, the download stalls at 80%. I have tried this from my home, my parents' home and from uni, so I'm fairly sure it's not the internet connection. I think something about the exe they make you download is broken, but that's just me (bad byte sequence terminating the transfer or whatever).
   
   
   
  [*:w5das7sz]Nothing about Windows Firewall, and the importance of upgrading to SP2.
   
   
   
  [*:w5das7sz]Nothing about the Windows Malware removal tool. I know you mentioned the spyware beta thing, but they also have a removal tool for common viruses and malware, which can be downloaded from their site or from windows update. Rumour has it that this will also cope with Sony's rootkit soon enough. Which is good, of course.
   
   
   
  [*:w5das7sz]
   

Malware consists of; spyware, pop-ups, trojan horses and keyloggers. There are only really 3 big free ones

 
 
 
Makes it sound like there's free malware. Of course there is, but I doubt that was what you intended to say.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]Nothing about routers and their builtin-firewalls, and/or hardware firewalls.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]According to you, firewalls 'tell you who is trying to get into your pc'. Uhh, I think they also stop them? Well, mine does, anyway. Also, 'genuine' is not a good word to use in this context. I would suggest 'necessary' or 'useful' or even 'benevolent'. Maybe using the opposite (ie, a 'bad' word like 'malicious') would make more sense. Genuine is whether something is a fact, or actually happening. Believe me, the firewalls you listed should not tell you about attacks that are not really happening.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]I dislike your approach in only naming free software. While I generally like free software (as in libre, beer, freedom) better, security-wise there are plenty of good paid products on the market, some or maybe most better than the free ones. A definite first on that list would be Norman, imho, because as you said, Norton is kind of bloated. I have no experience with McAfee, I'll take your word for it. Norman is good though, and it's used by most industrial and educational institutions for their network security. Consider adding some links to your guide.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]Your first suggestion says to backup the registry. While this is useful at a lot of times, I think you should explain why you're suggesting it here. Telling people what to do without telling them what they're doing, or why, is bad.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]Testing software. How secure are you? Why not link the portscan site from grc.com, or Microsoft Baseline security Analyzer.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]Upgrade, update, upgrade, update!
 
 
 
You didn't mention anything about that. While it's about the most important thing in keeping your computer safe; if you don't update, all that software is not going to protect you against new worms, viruses and other trash that gets out.
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]Rootkits. As the new hype in (in)security-land, some links regarding Sony's new rootkit system, and the detection program on sysinternals.com could use some linkage (heck, most of the stuff on sysinternals.com could do with linking, though it's generally intended to be used by people more into computers than the average home user).
 
 
 
[*:w5das7sz]General spelling and grammar issues. Please reread the entire guide and fix them. It'd make it much more readable.

[tgn157]

omg dude spyware doctor.. especially if you can 'acquire' the full version :wink:

 

 

 

but if you do that never try to update :shock:

[DJpailo]

omg dude spyware doctor.. especially if you can 'acquire' the full version :wink:

 

 

 

but if you do that never try to update :shock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't include spyware doctor because it is only a trial, I only include free products because many users on these forums are under 16 (inc me! lol).

[Mercifull]

many users on these forums are under 16 (inc me! lol).

Many of the people on this forum also have parents. Paying for security isnt only up to the children to sort out. Adults must be told about the dangers and precautions to be made.

[DJpailo]

Some issues I have with this guide:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 
   
   
   
  [*:1rhqoxbb]Nothing about browser security, the only reason you give to switch is speed and tabbed browsing (like everyone will know what the latter is). Why not give advice on some of the options in IE to disable ActiveX controls, or control their execution more stringently?
   
   
   
  [*:1rhqoxbb]Sygate Personal Firewall: I have repeatedly attempted to download it from various mirror locations, and each time, both in IE and Firefox, the download stalls at 80%. I have tried this from my home, my parents' home and from uni, so I'm fairly sure it's not the internet connection. I think something about the exe they make you download is broken, but that's just me (bad byte sequence terminating the transfer or whatever).
   
   
   
  [*:1rhqoxbb]Nothing about Windows Firewall, and the importance of upgrading to SP2.
   
   
   
  [*:1rhqoxbb]Nothing about the Windows Malware removal tool. I know you mentioned the spyware beta thing, but they also have a removal tool for common viruses and malware, which can be downloaded from their site or from windows update. Rumour has it that this will also cope with Sony's rootkit soon enough. Which is good, of course.
   
   
   
  [*:1rhqoxbb]
   

Malware consists of; spyware, pop-ups, trojan horses and keyloggers. There are only really 3 big free ones

 
 
 
Makes it sound like there's free malware. Of course there is, but I doubt that was what you intended to say.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]Nothing about routers and their builtin-firewalls, and/or hardware firewalls.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]According to you, firewalls 'tell you who is trying to get into your pc'. Uhh, I think they also stop them? Well, mine does, anyway. Also, 'genuine' is not a good word to use in this context. I would suggest 'necessary' or 'useful' or even 'benevolent'. Maybe using the opposite (ie, a 'bad' word like 'malicious') would make more sense. Genuine is whether something is a fact, or actually happening. Believe me, the firewalls you listed should not tell you about attacks that are not really happening.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]I dislike your approach in only naming free software. While I generally like free software (as in libre, beer, freedom) better, security-wise there are plenty of good paid products on the market, some or maybe most better than the free ones. A definite first on that list would be Norman, imho, because as you said, Norton is kind of bloated. I have no experience with McAfee, I'll take your word for it. Norman is good though, and it's used by most industrial and educational institutions for their network security. Consider adding some links to your guide.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]Your first suggestion says to backup the registry. While this is useful at a lot of times, I think you should explain why you're suggesting it here. Telling people what to do without telling them what they're doing, or why, is bad.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]Testing software. How secure are you? Why not link the portscan site from grc.com, or Microsoft Baseline security Analyzer.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]Upgrade, update, upgrade, update!
 
 
 
You didn't mention anything about that. While it's about the most important thing in keeping your computer safe; if you don't update, all that software is not going to protect you against new worms, viruses and other trash that gets out.
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]Rootkits. As the new hype in (in)security-land, some links regarding Sony's new rootkit system, and the detection program on sysinternals.com could use some linkage (heck, most of the stuff on sysinternals.com could do with linking, though it's generally intended to be used by people more into computers than the average home user).
 
 
 
[*:1rhqoxbb]General spelling and grammar issues. Please reread the entire guide and fix them. It'd make it much more readable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have updated the guide to fix these guidelines. Anything else wrong?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the input so far.