With news of Conficker appearing again nearly 11 months after it first arose I thought it might be time to write a more detailed article on how to protect yourself. Regular visitors may have read my article Computer Security: Something You Don't Want to Ignore! which detailed some important points relating to computer security, but this article will focus more on a few specific things that are available (or will be available very shortly) to help you keep secure. Keeping yourself secure online is your duty to everyone - it's like getting vaccinated for diseases, if everyone is vaccinated - then the disease has an extremely hard time infecting you.
Firstly Windows Update. I can't remember the amount of times I've had to say - KEEP YOUR WINDOWS UPDATE, UP TO DATE!
This is one very important point. So I will now detail exactly what you need to do. If you are using Windows Vista (or Windows 7 which is available from October 22 which I highly recommend) then these steps are for you. XP users keep reading on later.
- Click Start (the round Windows Flag) and in the search box, type Windows Update and then pick Windows Update from the menu that appears.
- In the Windows Update Window that appears - click Check for Updates on the left and let Windows do it's work - this can take a little while depending on the speed of your connection.
- Now if updates are available you will be asked to click Install Now. If not then you'll be told again that there's nothing available and you should have a Green Tick. If you do have to install updates and it asks you to restart then please do it ASAP, you're not protected until you do that restart. It only takes a few minutes.
- Lastly - you should check you're set so that Windows Update automatically downloads and installs updates, so you only have to check this once every 3 or so months. In the Windows Update screen you opened in step 1, click Change Settings.
- In the drop down under important updates make sure it's set to Install Updates Automatically. That's the best setting and will give you the least amount of work to do!
XP Users need to follow these following steps. My first Tip would be to move to Windows 7 in October. This version of Windows has 10 times better security than Windows XP has.
- Click Start, All Programs, Windows Update. This will launch Internet Explorer and take you to the Windows Update website.
- On the Windows Update website - check that the box on the right has a green tick. If not then click the link to fix it, so a green tick appears. The green tick means Windows XP is automatically getting the updates it needs. Then click Express Install and it will spend some time searching for updates.
- Ok - once it finds all the updates, make sure they're all ticked, you shouldn't have a reason to untick any updates and then click Install Updates.
- Ok - that's it - now all you have to do is wait and if it asks to to restart the computer, it's important you do it ASAP as to let the updates actually take effect!
Ok - Now we've got Microsoft Update Sorted out. We should move on to the Anti-Virus now. Everyone seems to be aware of this, but the problem is - most people get a TRIAL anti-virus when they buy their laptops, but these things run out eventually and will stop protecting you. Microsoft is fixing this problem with their own anti-virus solution. Microsoft Security Essentials is now available and this is what you do when you get it.
- You visit http://www.microsoft.com/SECURITY_ESSENTIALS/ and download Microsoft Security Essentials and download the version in your Language and that works with your version of Windows. It will work on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and 3, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
- Run the installer - it requires about 3 clicks of Next - and also requires you have a LEGAL copy of Windows.
- Forget about it. Microsoft Security Essentials should never need your user input again. It will automatically scan and update using Windows Update you configured earlier and unless something goes wrong, you should never see it again, but it will keep your system secure.
Lastly - if you suspect you have something wrong, then try this. Goto the Start button and click Run (or type in the search box for Vista/7) "mrt" without the quotes and press Enter. This should run the Malicious Software Removal Toolkit which may help some compromised machines to delete infections.
