Am I SECURE Enough ?

Totally agree, I have personally experienced customers who have bee continuously infected and reinfected by viruses, yes the AV would pick it up, however as soon as they connected to the internet, it would return, Opaserv springs to mind...

You need those Windows updates, take them a few at a time, like eating a apple, if you try to swallow it whole you'll choke, however, one bite at a time it is easily eaten

Cheers

 

I used to use GNU/Linux Mandrake distribution before coming back to the Windows world... I still think I'm alright for everything without the patches but it shouldn't matter because as long hackers don't see me online (stealth) I'll be alright. And the majority of attacks are blocked by the firewall... I've got the lastest version of Firefox so that is what matters...

It is easier for a person who has wide access to broadband to say to get the lastest Windows update just like that. But here in Australia, dial-up is still a popular choose and it would as I said a burden to download these patches 60 or 70 of them - which equvalates to around a couple of hundred megabytes...

The Windows XP SP2 CD-ROM is not available to Australian people for FREE yet so... it is virtually an impossible task for me...

 

Looks pretty impressive.

I don't have SafeXP so it may do everything that WWDC does. But, WWDC was able to close 2 things even after I was fully patched(everything but SP2) and ran the full GRC suite.

See if your motherboard has some form of BIOS protection (like CIH 4 way protection). It is usually a setting in BIOS that requires the use of special BIOS Flash utility so malware can't mess with your BIOS.

Get the SP2 CD when available.

Windows restore is all right, but you might consider an imaging program to back up to another HD. Or at the very least, to the same hard drive.

Alternatively, you could try a image/system retoration utility like First Defense/ISR, or GoBack.

Anyway, looking good!

 

That is because those customers don't have a firewall... that it would return...

 

Backup to another hard drive ? ... a different hard drive... or a partition on the same computer... I don't have a different hard drive though so not the previous.

Would backing up to a partition be as simple as creating a partition then copy and pasting everything from C:\ to a partition ?

 

No. OS will prevent proper copying due to file locks, page file, etc.
You need a real backup program.

 

Have you worked out how much your dialup Internet is costing?

Try these simple average sums:

1. Internet access = $30.00 per month

2. Local calls every time a connection to the internet is made;
25c per call x 4 calls per day x 30 days = $30.00 per month

Total = $60.00 per month

Broadband is the same price or cheaper:

1 You no longer require your Internet Service Provider (ISP), you will be going with a Broadband ISP.

2 Calls to the internet are NOT made anymore – Broadband ADSL piggy-backs an existing line. Broadband Cable is brought in from the street. Both methods do NOT use any form of phone call to make their connection to the internet.

Broadband as an example - Internode www.internode.on.net have this plan:

PADSL-256-Unlimited-Red $49.95 256k/64k 12 GB

Should you go over your limit, Internode “Shape” (slow down) your connection speed until the end of the month you are in.

And this is but one of the many hundreds of providers out there…

Cheers

 

I don't think imaging a hard drive on a partition would work... because what about the registry entries ?... If i copy and pasted wouldn't the new pasted contents of the drives depend on the registry..

 

I would say three things on this issue........

1. It is this very thing that makes drive imaging software a security tool. If you have a "good" image with Windows tweaked the way you want it, etc. You can just - at anytime - take the hour that it takes to put the system back in its "perfect" state. You would have your firewall, all of your other security products, the latest patches (I image once a week), etc. all on the system and protecting you from the first second of connectivity.

Otherwise,

2. Software firewall as priority one.

3. Even if you don't have multiple computers using your internet connection - get a router! The router/firewall will serve you well and allow you greater security with it's various configurations. But, even in default status, you're doing fine to get on the internet without attacks that may be directed at you and your IP personally. Routers are still dropping in price - a used one on eBay can be had for as little as $10-$15. A new router can be as little as $25 with rebates.

I posted this in another thread about a similar issue. With one of these three things, a combination, or all three of these - there is no longer a problem from the moment you are on the net.

For replicating files and other bombardments that need emergency first aid - I posted this thread that might help.

John
Luv2BSecure

.

 

Heres approx.

1. Internet Access is around $20 per month (iPrimus)
2. On the plain, get around 50 or someting free calls a month

So around less then $10 a month ... and theres unlimited time and downloads too I think

 

A clean image restores your system back to a "perfect" state by replacing everything on the drive - bit by bit, byte by byte, everything is as it was when you made your clean "perfect system" image - registry included.

John
Luv2BSecure

.

 

Yes it would. With Ghost 2003, you can do exactly that: image one partition to another even if it is on the same drive. Although you do not get the hard drive crash protection that you would if you imaged it to another HD.

 

What if i limit the time I use the computer and Internet in particular altogether, I won't think that these would be really necessary

 

System Restore may not be the best, but it's good enough as long as I don't do anything drastic... These Ghost program thing they cost $$$ ... if only there were some free program...

 

Not sure what you mean. You can be attacked within seconds of being on the internet. A study recently showed that the average time before infection on an "open" computer - without protection - is twenty minutes.

on edit: Gambling like that is called Russian Roulette.

John
Luv2BSecure

.

 

I did say average

I had someone in my shop last week that was above average (with teenagers) and had just ordered a 2nd phone line, so her costs were well over $100 per month...

You may want to check out what your current provider has in the way of Broadband plans, or you can take a look here:

http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/

for all ISP Broadband Providers and the plans available...

Cheers

 

Security or lack thereof has nothing whatsoever to do with time and placing a limit on such...

Cheers

 

Yes I agree with the seconds of being attacked, it happened to me, when I was download Kerio Firewall, by the time i even downloaded a small firewall like look n' stop to temporary stop attacks in order to download a better firewall... computer got cracked and had to reinstall from the computer manufacturer's restore cds which not only reinstalls the O/S but other useless programs and stuff, to factory condition and it took a long time for that... and i had to reconfigure EVERYTHING and download and install EVERYTHING again...

I wonder if that 20 minutes is 20 minutes without protection of any kind (AV, FW etc.) or 20 minutes without any security patches... and if the later - how come i've only got 2 (almost nothing) and after months of using (with the adequete protection) have not get hacked, not a single additional process or something

 

I did some browsing and came along a list of freeware system backup utilities and are any of them comparable to Norton Ghost... like some of them says they can backup to the same HD... so why is it pay for Norton Ghost when there are free alternatives

http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/system/fwbackup.html

 

It really depends on how important security is to YOU.
Your hard drive WILL fail no matter what security practices you do. It is merely a matter of time. If you backup to the same drive, you will not be protected from hard drive failure. But you will be able to recover from some types of infection.
To have a top notch security setup, you are going to have to spend some $$$. You can get away here and there with some free things, but some things just cost.
That said, don't buy Ghost by it$elf. Buy Norton SystemWorks Pro 2003 it is just $11 here (note: I am an independent user and have no affiliation with the company). It includes Ghost 2003 and can be found cheaper then Ghost by itself. Only install Ghost not the rest of the Symantec Riff Raff! For a little more $$$, about $35, you can get the 2004 edition which includes GoBack as well.
Other options would be Bootit NG and Drive Snapshot.

I looked briefly at all those freeware shareware utilities. They are little more than a glorified Windows Back Up.

Here is the difference between a backup utility and a real hard drive imaging program:
Let's say you get hit with a destructive worm (I know it won't happen in your case, but a false sense of security is the biggest security weakness ).
The worm wipes out your boot partition including system restore.
Fortunately, you had just used the Windows Backup (or one of the other free utils you mentioned) and saved the backup file to another unharmed partition.
The util only works in windows, so to restore, you will have to reinstall windows completely (with no security apps), and run the restore. What a waste of time.

Using a real imaging program in the same situation (boot partition wiped out) would be like this:
Insert Ghost boot floppy and reboot.
restore image from good partition.
Back in business.

A real imaging program doesn't cost that much if you know where to shop.
Yes you could use those freebie backup utils, I have in the past (windows backup) and it wasn't worth it (even being free).
I agree with John, backup should be #2 or #3 after firewall in importance.

If you are interested, here is info on the 20 minute worm issue.

I wish you the best of luck, and a good security solution that works for you.

 

Thanks Devinco for your reply,

I was downloading some backup program, but after viewing your post I found out it would be essentially useless because windows might fail as with the boot thing... I already have AVG boot protection and abtrusion boot protection it now takes for Windows XP to move the loading bar twice (yes, twice i tweaked windows xp) to now around twice and a half but it's worth it. I would just use system restore.

This is a disadvantage of windows, there are programs that i use and are required to be download but in linux, nearly all the programs are included on the cd, and if it fails i can just use the cd and installing would only take a few minutes and i don't have to reconfigure EVERYTHING and INSTALL everything again...

I used WWDC after a suggestion in this forum, and it found 2 things... the RPC Locator and the Netbios not being completely disabled... to my suprise, i thought i was secure enough... i guess there is room for some improvement...

 

I THINK i'll order the windows xp SP2 cd, if it is FREE with no strings attached... there are already a Windows XP SP2 Express which is around 80mb or something which is the same thing as SP2 without the use corporate stuff that people may not need, but it is still large.

http://www.flexbeta.net/main/modules.php?modid=8&action=show&id=128

 

You're welcome. Anytime.

That's the spirit!
I am just starting to learn about security and one of the most important things I learned is that security is an ongoing process. It is not a program, a set of programs, or a specific configuration. It is everything put together, constantly improving and changing.

 

OK, I found that my current security setup > see post 24 of this thread is good enough and further it works for me, all the programs are stable and works pefectly... It is strong but with only a small setup of programs so i still get a strong defense but don't have to worry about updating a whole bunch of programs... It works for me... I DO NOT think i'll want to add a bunch of other programs... If it ain't broke why should I fix it ?... i've been using it for months without ANY problems whatsoever...!!

Thanks to all who have replied
It is much appreciated...

squash

 

While it is true that Proxomitron's author Scott Lemmon did sadly pass away (see this ComputerCops thread for more details) I fail to see why this should affect how much someone should "trust" Proxomitron. Although development was halted previously (at version 4.5), it is the filters which provide the real power and not only can these be freely edited but new ones are being offered by sites like JD5000.net and the Kye-U forums. As for the GUI, if you don't like the colours or bitmaps you can disable them (Config/Visuals - check the "Don't use textures" box) to get a more "standard" look. There's also ProxoPatcher which makes significant UI changes. The biggest difficulty with Proxomitron is learning the filter language (based on regular expressions) and HTML - which you only need if you want to create your own filters.

However if open-source is your main criteria then Privoxy (based on the Junkbusters filter) may be a more attractive option. See this Proxomitron vs Privoxy thread for some discussion on this.

The only thing not addressed is online privacy - your Internet traffic and the URLs you visit can be recorded and viewed by your ISP and many countries are making this a legal requirement. The only way to avoid this is to use an anonymising proxy (that encrypts the data between your PC and a proxy server) and the one I would recommend is JAP.

I have posted on this often in the past so a forum search should turn up lots of information but the key points are that it is open source (so attempts to backdoor it can, and have, been discovered), cross-platform and browser independent (it uses Java) as well as currently being free (though you can make a donation).

I would certainly agree with the wisdom of having a full image backup - trying to reinstall Windows, all your programs and reconfiguring everything can take days if not weeks. Hard drives will fail at some point though so you should store images on a separate disk (these are pretty cheap nowadays).

I would suggest Drive Snapshot or Acronis TrueImage rather than Norton Ghost though - Ghost requires you to shut down your system while it does a backup while Snapshot and TrueImage allow you to continue working on your system while the backup is running. Also Symantec have been adding product activation to many of their products (see their Activation FAQ for the full list) which, in my view, is a good reason to avoid them completely.

Check the TrueImage forums here for more details on Acronis (there do appear to be issues with the latest version 8 though). Drive Snapshot is more minimalist (the program is only 140K in size!) and is available as a trial download (with limited backup and unlimited restore capability) which means (if you are a real cheapskate ) that you could just download a new copy every month to avoid having to buy a licence.