Desktop Security - How to avoid getting the latest bug

I was raised on a small farm in Idaho, where, believe it or not, one of my daily chores was to milk a cow – by hand. It was not a particularly difficult task, but did require a few essential pieces of equipment (aside from the cow), that being a bucket, cleaning supplies, and a wooden stool. The stool had three legs and was crucial to a successful outcome of the task.

Think about that 3 legged stool as we address the topic of desktop security; there is a lesson.

You should understand three important components to adequately address desktop security, trying to provide security with less can be a problem. They are:

1. A Firewall to block all of the ports into and out of your computer’s resources
2. Antivirus software to detect and destroy malicious code that arrives on your computer
3. Spyware/malware protection to avoid being tracked, hijacked, or otherwise taken for a ride

Although possible, it was rather hazardous to milk the cow using a one or even a two legged stool. And no stool at all was a real show stopper.Keep this corollary in mind as you consider how to protect your desktop from intrusions, virus’, and malware. Optimally you need all three, having none of them will eventually stop your computer from working – unless you have no connection to the outside world whatsoever.

What about one of the popular Security Suites?

A number of software companies provide security suites for PC’s. They attempt to combine all of the aforementioned security services into one package, and sometimes throw in some extras. Are these a good use of your resources? Generally, they are not and here is why.

The problem with most of the security suites on the market today is that they are akin to using a Lazyboy recliner to milk the cow (think of the above example).   Most of them just get in the way of getting the task at hand accomplished.

Let’s keep this real simple and cost effective to boot, by reviewing the three legs of the stool in more detail and how to construct them.

Desktop Firewall

Every Windows Operating System today has a built in firewall. It is more than adequate, especially now that most networks are protected by a gateway or perimeter firewall device. Even most consumer class DSL /Cable Modems, which connects you to the Internet now have this functionality.

So, rarely do you need to buy additional firewall software. In fact, part of the problems associated with added firewall software is the inevitable conflict with the Microsoft Windows firewall.  It either turns it off, tries overriding it, or attempts to co-exist with it.

Some of these third party firewalls are so obtrusive, they may actually block current programs or programs you are attempting to install. This in turn requires you to configure the firewall to allow access to these programs. And if you are installing one brand of security software that competes with the security software of another provider, the problem can even get worse.

As conflicts and performance issues arise, the firewall often gets turned off to accommodate running a particular program, defeating the entire purpose of the firewall in the first place.

My recommendation is to turn on the Windows Firewall and use it alone. If you have already purchased one of the Security Suites, simply uninstall or turn off the Firewall portion of that duplicate Firewall.

Antivirus Protection

Antivirus software is an essential part of securing your desktop or laptop. But having tried just about every brand out there, it is my opinion that few difference exists between them. No doubt there are minor differences in function and form, but most provide the same basic protection and nearly all Antivirus Software manufactures share Virus Signatures with each other in a cooperative manner, especially true during a new Virus outbreak.

It really boils down to price, and I mean total price.

Manually installing 100 copies of a free Antivirus solution in your school may be much more expensive that doing a centralized “push” type of installation from a server or management console, using a commercial antivirus solution. In other words, the hidden cost of labor could far outweigh the savings of “free” software.

My recommendation for organizations of 10 or less PC’s is to use one of the free antivirus programs available. My favorite is Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free (currently), reasonably light weight (meaning it is not a resource hog), and effective.

You can obtain a copy at the following URL: www.microsoft.com/security_essentials (don’t miss the underscore if you type that url) If you have a Microsoft school agreement, you can buy anti-virus, (end point ) protection for a few dollars per computer per year.

Spyware/Malware

The difference between a Virus, Spyware, or Malware infection can be very slight, indeed there is significant overlap in the two areas. And while much of the spyware or malware software is relatively harmless, it is a great idea to understand what software on your system may be running in the background without your knowledge or consent.

Common purposes of more serious Spyware/Malware programs are to harvest information from your system, utilize your system for unsavory purposes (such as sending out SPAM), track your browsing habits, and/or taking control of your computer.

There are all types of clever ways you can become infected with these programs, so you do need protection.  A common trick used to infect your system convincing you to install a free “Antivirus Program” or click on “Free Malware Scan”. This is usually accompanied by an unsolicited  pop-up telling you that your computer is infected.

I won’t even try to list the good, the bad, or the ugly when it comes to the enormous variety of programs in this category. I like to keep things real simple and cost effective.

My recommendation, again, for organizations of 10 or less PC’s is to use Microsoft Security Essentials. If you are still running Windows XP, then you'll need to look for Windows Defender, instead; it is still available for computers running earlier versions of Microsoft Windows. For a larger numbers of computers, please consider adding the software for your Microsoft School agreement.

Summary

I am quite aware these are all Microsoft solutions, but I make no apologies. In education, particularly, Microsoft provides a compelling value for software of all kinds. And who better is capable of understanding the real security issue of the Windows operating system than the company that created it.

And in spite of problems that are common to any mega Corporation, Microsoft has a wide variety of software solutions for education that perform as good or better than most other companies (especially in light of the wide variety of solutions they offer),and you can trust a genuine Microsoft product to actually work as specified.

Best of all - the programs mentioned above are free, or very close to it, and work quite happily together; or in larger quantities can be bundled with your School agreement at a fraction of the cost of buying antivirus software commercially.

One final note. You can dramatically improve desktop and laptop security by keeping your operating system up to date. Optimally, that would include a Windows 7 upgrade. As a minimum, be sure your installed operating system has all of the latest security patches. All versions on Windows have an update facility built right into the main menu.

Stay safe out there!