Tip #1945 - Break in that new PC
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Weekly
Security Tip: Breaking in a new PC, Part 1
Everyone loves getting a
new PC. Why not? It's exciting and fun. However, there are a few things you
might want to do before you plug it in and start surfing the web. These good
practices include backing up data, taking care of online and physical security,
and a few other ideas to help make the migration to your new system as seamless
as possible.
According to Swedish security
company Sophos, 50% of unpatched systems are infected with some sort of malicious
code within 12 minutes of being online. Scary, but don't worry. The techniques
described here will help you avoid this nasty statistic, allowing you to surf
the web in complete confidence.
1. What do I want
from My old PC?
The first thing you want to do to your New PC involves taking a good thorough
look at your current PC. Do you want any of the programs or data? Should you
back it up or just leave it? Only you can decide what you want to bring over
to the new PC. There is a big difference between moving data and programs. In
most cases you can simply burn the data to CD. With programs, on the other hand,
you must have the original uninstalled program unless you have some 3rd party
program that can perform this operation.
A). Moving Data:
You'll probably want to scrap a lot of the data on your current system, or
at least put it on a disk to archive. You may want to transfer a lot of data
to the new PC, like your favorite images, documents, music, videos, favorites,
etc. The easiest way to perform this migration for the average end-user is
to simply burn the data (not programs) to disk. When doing this, you must
stay extremely organized and label everything clearly enough
that the label will be meaningful even months or years from now. If
you're giving your old PC away and wiping
your hard drive clean, then this is your last chance to get that data.
Once you get everything
you want on disk, you should be able to save the disks' contents onto to the
new PC easily. Keep the disks as a complete backup in case of disaster (i.e.
dead hard drive). I can't stress enough how important it is to be organized
at this step. Having lists and going over all your folders with a fine-toothed
comb can save you anguish down the road. You also want to check your backups
to make sure nothing is incomplete or corrupt. Trust me, finding this out
after you have formatted the hard drive is not a good feeling.
B). Moving Programs:
You can't just copy the application file out of your Programs folder and paste
onto a disk to be moved to the new PC. When Programs are installed, they get
scattered all over your system, files here and there. The program files look
nothing like they did before the install. For this reason you need the original
uninstalled version of the program, which usually means installing from the
original CD/DVD or burning a new uninstalled download to CD/DVD. Get all your
programs together with any serial
numbers and put them together with the data you saved from Step 1 in a
safe place until needed.
If the program was a
downloaded from the web, you'll need that original uninstalled download. You
can take all of the downloads you can fit onto a CD and burn them together.
When you're ready to start installing programs on your new system, you will
be able to do so quickly and offline. Don't forget about device drivers! You're
going to need those to properly use any of your old hardware (printers, scanners,
cameras, etc.) with the new system.
2. Getting rid of
the Promotional Software:
These new PC's seem to be “packed to the Ram” with ISP
promotions, demos, and trial versions of software. Thanks, but I'd rather have
hard drive space. If I want software, I know where to get it. Besides,
the pop-up messages asking you to pay for continued use once the trial periods
end are annoying. I
suggest removing all
the software that you aren't ever going to use.
3. Securing your
New System:
Now it's time to get that new system ready for the Internet. This is a key step
in a smart migration; secure your system before you get online.
You should have your
antivirus and firewall disk, but what about your spyware protection? Does your
PC already have SP2? All of these security solutions can be installed without
being online, protecting your system from the word “GO”.
· Anti-Virus
protection is the cornerstone of any good security strategy, and should always
be installed, updated, and running to effectively protect you from viral attacks.
· A Firewall
is the next thing you should have running, especially if you leave your broadband
connection ”ON". You can use the Windows XP Service
Pack 2 firewall, but I would look for something a little more functionality.
Check our current internet
utilities offerings in the Worldstart software store.
· Spyware
protection should be the next course of action, don't want to start getting
pop ups, or some web beacon day two of your online browsing. Again, check
the store.
· If your XP operating system are only SP1 then you should download
SP2 and burn it to disk. There are a lot of vulnerabilities that take
advantage of nonpatched systems.
4. Create User Accounts
and Secure the Administrator account:
If the Operating System
was already installed on your PC when you got it, which it probably was, then
you may want to create some user accounts now. If you just boot right into your
desktop, then you're probably using the Administrator
Account. Under that setup, anyone who boots up your system will have administrative
privileges. Yeah, not good.
Instead, we want to create
User Accounts
for the PC. Once you create a single account, Windows will hide the default
Admin account and log you into the new one. I would suggest creating an account
for everyone who plans on using the PC, and set their accounts to Limited
User. This will restrict the users form making significant changes
to the system. When this is done, you should password
protect the Administrator account, which should
stop the normal user from augmenting your system.
5. Firewall security:
In addition to the
Windows or software firewall,
you may want to consider installing a router or hardware firewall. These usually
do a superior job compared to their software counterparts, but the two different
kinds can work together
to offer you superior protection.
~ Chad
Stelnicki
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