Thursday, 6 November 2008
Or, Fixing a Computer, part 2! Let me tell you, Virtumonde is near the top of my list of reasons to steer clear of Windows machines. It is dirty and horrible, and I spent waaay too long wrestling with that sucker and all the crap it brought with it.
So the following is as much a quick-reference for links for when I need to rescue people’s computers as it is a guide, and I think a fair amount of you won’t really need to read on.
Anyway, here is a quick tip for Windows users from someone who hasn’t actually used Windows regularly in a couple of years: Install the following programs on your Windows machine ASAP. If it’s a new machine, try and use someone else’s computer to download this stuff, stick it on a thumbdrive or a cd and install it on your computer before you even try and connect to the Internet. For reals. (Oh and they’re all free):
Mozilla Firefox: the free, open-source, more secure, and basically better-in-every-way alternative to IE. It also displays the web far more competently, and web designers will thank you for using it.
ClamWin Antivirus (download link is on the left): it’s an open-source antivirus program that doesn’t require a subscription. (I hate that it’s acceptable to most people to pay an additional monthly fee just to keep their computer functioning…! Guys, this is dumb!) Be sure to set it up to do regular scans and updates.
Spybot: Search and Destroy: an excellent anti-spyware program. Again, set it up to do regular scans and updates.
ZoneAlarm (click the gray button on the right to download): a free firewall program that I’ve found works quite well. The Check Point guys really want you to buy one of the fancier versions of their product, but the basic version is still free…
And if you use Outlook/Outlook Express, get Mozilla Thunderbird. The Outlook family are notoriously weak on security, and Thunderbird will prevent a lot of e-mail-borne viruses from installing themselves on your machine.
Also, assuming you have a legal copy of Windows, make sure auto updates are on, as a lot of these are security updates.
Or just get Ubuntu (also free). Or a Mac, even. Then you won’t have to worry about all of this nonsense. If that’s not an option though, get the person who you pester for computer help to configure all of this stuff. They’ll grumble and complain as usual, but they’ll be glad that they won’t have to deal with Virtumonde and the like down the line.
November 6th, 2008 at 01:41
I much prefer Chrome over Firefox, but I get my new MacBook tomorrow so I’m going to have to go back to Firefox I guess…
AVGfree is also a good free virus scanner…
Also I haven’t scanned my computer for viruses in almost six months and I never use firewalls, I’m surprised my computer works.
November 6th, 2008 at 09:41
I have a Windows partition that I use solely for word processing (and possibly, in the future, 3D gaming). After reformatting it a couple of months ago, I never bothered to put any of that protection on. I wonder if I’m already infected?
Also: Wine? That’s straight class. Are certain years better for coloring?
November 7th, 2008 at 12:11
Who knows, I read some statistic that unprotected PCs pick up their first malware in an average 12 minutes after being connected to the net. But I have no recollection of where I heard it so I may as well have just made it up.
Also, you can’t word process in Ubuntu?
November 7th, 2008 at 07:34
I have to grit my teeth every time I use OpenOffice. I find myself fighting with it more than than I actually spend typing anything. OO.o 3.0 hasn’t been pushed through the repositories yet, so maybe it’s better, I don’t know. Office 2007 is actually a good piece of software (and I’m the type that sees a Microsoft label as a seal of shittyness) and also has a really good built in equation editor, which comes in super handy all the time with the type of word processing I do.
Also, it’s a lot easier to be productive when I’m working in an environment with hardly any programs installed and a Firefox profile that has none of my bookmarks.
November 9th, 2008 at 05:13
Mmm, I figured there might be a “fewer distractions” element to it…I’m surprised that OO.o aggravates you so, it seems like a pretty standard and well-featured word processor to me. But then I imagine we do fairly different types of word processing, as you mentioned. I’ve only ever used Office 2007 once, but it did seem pretty good and well laid-out, if a bit flashy.