4 Steps to Making Your Computer Immortal Online
By Ali Akhtar
Hi and welcome to this free report that tells you how you can download
whatever you want online without getting the slightest danger of
getting infected by a virus.This report simply offers 4 steps that tell you
what to do that gives you rock hard protection against viruses.These
four steps are:
1-Installing an Up-to-date Anti Virus Software
2-Installing a firewall.
3-Using File Extensions to your benefit.
4-Learning which websites and people to trust.
Getting started:
Step 1: Using an Anti-Virus Software:
Using an Anti Virus Software is the first thing you should do.An Anti
Virus program is a computer program that works in the background and
keeps an eye on all that's going on inside your computer.Whenever it finds
a program that's performing a malicious activity or one that intends to
perform one,or notices any activity that could harm your computer or
anything virus-like,it stops that activity at once and tells you about
that virus and gives you certain useful options,like repairing the
virus,deleting or quarantining the virus,or to ignore the virus(of course not
recommended at all).It can also scan any file or folder that you
suspect is a carrier of viruses.For example,you downloaded a file that claims
to be a game.But you don't want to take a risk and want to confirm that
this file isn't a virus.So,you simply scan that file for viruses using
your anti virus software.You can do so by simply right clicking on that
file and clicking on "Scan your viruses" or "Scan using ____!
___" where _____ holds the name of your anti virus software.If this
option is not available,you can scan that file using "Scan a file" option
available inside your AVS(anti virus software).You can scan multiple
files,or scan a whole folder in the same way.You can also scan your whole
computer using "Scan my computer" option.This would take some
time,probably one-two hours or more/less depending upon your computer's
speed.This option would scan simply EVERY file and folder in your computer to
see if it has a virus.If any virus is found,then you get the same bunch
of useful options to repair the file,delete it,etc.You should scan your
computer at least once a week to ensure maximum protection.
Keeping your Anti-Virus software up to date:
Normally,your AVS would come with protection against some thousand
viruses.However,every month tens of new viruses are written and
therefore,your AVS might not be able to detect the viruses that are written after
your installing that AVS on your computer.For example,let us assume
that you installed an AVS named X on your computer on 1st January,2003.On
15th January,a new virus named,say, ABC was written and started
spreading around the internet.You download the ABC thinking its a game.However
to ensure that its not a virus,you scan it using X.Now,since ABC was
created after the installation of X on your computer,X wouldn't be able
to detect that ABC is a virus because this virus wouldn't be in the
virus database of X.So,you would run ABC on your computer thinking its
harmless,which,infact,its not!
The solution:
The solution to this problem is quite simple.Update your anti virus
software constantly.Whenever a new virus is detected,the company
distributing Anti virus softwares provide updates for their produts so that they
can protect the pcs they run on against the virus.Once you install an
AVS,usually,whenever it detects an internet connection,it contacts its
publisher's website to see if any updates are available.If it finds any
updates,it asks you if you would like to receive the updates so that
you can be protected against new viruses.In this way,whenever new viruses
are detected,you simply update your AVS so it can protect you against
them.It is highly recommended that you constantly keep your AVS
updated,otherwise,it will protect you only against old viruses and you would be
completely unprotected against new viruses.
Which Anti Virus Software to use?
There are many AVS's available.However its recommended that you use
only one of the popular ones.Below is a list of the popular Avs's.Just
visit the website address given at the end to find out more about them:
Norton Anti Virus:
http://www.symantec.com/
Pc Cillin:
http://www.trendmicro.com/
Mc Afee:
http://www.mcafee.com/
Sophos Anti Virus:
http://www.sophos.com/
You might have to click on the "Products and services" link on some of
these websites to get to the actual thing.You can also search
Google.com for Anti Virus Software to find out more.
Step 2: Firewalls
Have you ever heard of the terms "Hacking" and "hackers"?Most
probably,you have.What hacking is,that,someone from another computer gains
access to your computer and gets to view and access your files and stuff
like that.A firewall is a kind of barrier that keeps such things away from
your computer.A firewall is a software or a hardware device that
filters the information coming through the internet.You can think of
it,as,the information coming to your computer through the internet first passes
through the firewall.If the firewall detects any suspicious data then
it is not allowed through.The following figure explains how data
transfers between your computer and the internet with a firewall installed:
Data from the Internet---------->Firewall------->Home Computer
And that's how data would transfer if you do not have a firewall
installed:
Data from the Internet---------->Home Computer
So obviously,its better to have a firewall installed.The advantage of
having a firewall is,that hackers do not gain access to your computer.It
also protects you from many other unwanted things.Although some
firewalls protect you from viruses,still,its worth the investment to install
an anti virus software.I won't get into more details about firewalls
because it includes some extremely technical things which I don't want to
get into because you might be a novice with computers.Go through your
firewall's user manual to find out more or visit this page.
Which Firewalls to Buy:
Below is a list of some of the popular firewalls:
Zone Labs.
http://www.zonelabs.com/
CheckPoint.
http://www.checkpoint.com/
Trustix AS.
http://www.trustix.com
Doorstop.
http://www.opendoor.com/doorstop/
Sun Microsystems:
http://www.sun.com/security/
Once you have installed a firewall,you should test its working.You can
do so by visiting http://www.grc.com/ and trying their free Sheilds Up!
security test.
Step 3:Using File Extensions to your benefit:
File extensions are the tiny little suffixes at the end of every file
in your computer.Let us suppose you created a file in Microsoft Word.You
named that file "me" and wrote anything in it.Say,you wrote a few lines
about yourself.You saved that file in the folder "C:\me".Now when you
open the folder "C:\ME" you see a file named "me.doc" in it.
OK..so you named the file "Me" but what's this ".doc" thing
about?Well,this .doc is what's known as the file extension.Almost every file on
your computer has file extensions.Just browse through your computer and
almost every file you come across has an extension like
".exe,.bat,.jpeg,.gif,.txt" etc after the real file name.
NOTE:If you can't see the file extensions,then follow these steps:
1-Open My computer.
2-Go to View-Options and click on the View Tab.
3-Uncheck the "hide file extensions for known file types" checkbox,and
choose the "show all files" radio button.
If you cannot see the options menu under view,then may be you should
try these steps:
1-Open My Computer.
2-Click on Tools-Folder Options
3-Click on View Tab.
4- Uncheck the "hide file extensions for known file types" checkbox,
and choose the "show hidden files and folders" radio button.
If none of these steps work for you,then open My Computer,Press F1.This
would show up the "Help" portion of your computer.Search for "viewing
file extensions" or "changing folder options" and follow the steps.
Anyways,file extensions describe what a file is and how the computer
will handle the file.For example,a file with the extension ".jpeg" is
supposed to be a photo or picture and the computer would use your
favourite graphics editing software to view that file.Similarly,a file with the
extension ".exe" is supposed to be a computer program and the computer
would simply follow the instructions in that file.
Now,file extensions play a very important role in detecting
viruses.Below is a list of the file extensions that are most likely to be viruses:
.exe
.bat
.com
.scr
.pif
.vbs
.shs
.dll
.ocx
Any file with these extensions has 80% chances of being a
virus.Therefore,whenever dealing with an untrusted person or website,never open
files which have one of these extensions.You might receive emails that
contain an attachment.Never download the attachment if it has one of the
above mentioned extensions unless you have an up to date anti virus
software and you can scan the file. Below is the list of file extensions
that have the minimum chances of being a virus:
.txt
.gif
.jpeg
.bmp
You can download files with these extensions from the internet without
really worrying about it.
A little problem:
Although you choose the option not to hide file extensions,there are
still some file extensions that wouldn't be displayed.For example,a file
with the extension ".txt.shs" would be displayed as a harmless text
file and Windows would hide the extension ".shs". This allows a virus
writer to write a virus,give it a name with the extension ".shs" and
forward it to people.Suppose a virus writer names its virus
"textfile.txt.shs".Now,if someone examines this file under Windows,it would be displayed
as "textfile.txt" and would occur as a completely harmless text file.In
fact,that's how many virus writers spread their viruses.
Solution:
The solution to this problem is by deleting a special entry from your
Windows Registry.Carry out the following steps:
Note:Be extremely careful when working with Windows Registry,because a
smallest mistake can produce extremely harmful results.Do only what is
instructed and DO NOT play around with it.Also,be extremely careful.
Before carrying out the following process,make sure you have already
set Windows to show all files.Do this by carrying out the steps mentioned
in the beginning of Step-3.
Follow these steps:
Close all open program.Then:
1-Click on Start.
2-Click on Run.
3- Type "Regedit" and click ok
4-This would open up the Windows Registry Editor.
5-Click on Edit and click on Find.
6-Uncheck the "Keys" and "Data" entries under "Look at"
7-Type "NeverShowExt"" in the Find what Box and click Find Next.(Make
sure you type the words exactly as given here.You may also copy these
words and paste them in the Find what box".
8-When a value is found,right click on it,and click delete.
9-Press F3 again.This would once again search the whole registry and
bring up with the next value containing "NeverShowExt".
10-Repeat step 9 and 10 until all values of NeverShowExt have been
deleted.
Congratulations!Ext have been deleted.
That's it.Whenever you come across a file that has the extension .exe,
.bat, .com,etc always scan it for viruses before opening it.Check out
the extensions given in Part 1 to know which extensions are dangerous
and which ones are not.
The following table gives you a list of the various file extensions you
may come across when working with windows,what those extensions mean
and their possibility of being a virus:
| Extension name: | Meaning: | Can it be a virus |
| .exe | Executable program | Hell Yes |
| .Bat | Dos batch File | Yes |
| .Com | Command file | Yes |
| .Dll | Application Extension | Yes |
| .Ocx | Active X control | Yes |
| .swf | Shockwave file | Not really |
| .txt | Text File | Not really |
| .VBS | Visual Basic Script | Yes |
| .Bmp | Bitmapped Image file | Not really |
| .Gif | Image File | No |
| .Jpeg | Image File | No |
| .Html/.htm | Html File | Yes |
| .Scr | Screensaver File | Yes |
| .Pif | Editable something | Yes |
| .Ink | Shortcut file | Yes |
| .Log | Log File | Not really |
| .Shs | Shell scrap or something | Yes |
| .Zip | Compressed Zip File | Yes |
*Please note that you should always be careful.Although I have tried my
best to be as accurate as possible,still,we never know what might be
the next thing that happens in the Virus industry.Therefore,do not
blindly open a .Log file just because I told you in this table that it
couldn't really be a virus.Always be careful.
Step-4: Learning which websites and people to trust:
Well,as for the people,I can't really say anything.It just depends on
your sense of judging people.I mean,you can always trust on someone whom
you know in real life.I mean,why would your best friend send you a
virus?However,there are some new viruses that send themselves in an email
that pretends to be from your loved ones and asks you to download the
attachment.Here I again want you to use the file extension tricks you
have learnt in step 3.As for other people whom you meet
online,well,someone might send you a file that claims to be his/her photo but is a virus
in reality.Here again you will use the file extension tricks you learnt
earlier to see if they are telling the truth.For example,if Tanya sends
you a file named "myphoto.exe" and tells you that its her photo,then of
course you could yell "Hey,its an executable program file,it can't be a
photo.If it were a photo it would have used the extension .jpeg or .gif
or .bmp." You should also use your sense of judging people.I!
mean,try to judge if a person just wants to be your friend or is
he/she trying to make you download a file or attachment.Here's a tip that
always worked for me.Whenever someone starts begging you to download a
file or accept a file transfer or open a file again and again,I mean,if
he goes anxious trying to make you do something that has to do
something with a file or with your computer or anything like that,then there's
a 99% chance that he's trying to trick you into downloading a virus.
Now to the websites.Well,if you visit a website that claims to provide
free games or software downloads,then you should judge it by the site's
appearence.A website with a professional look is less likely to be
trying to spread viruses.However,a website with a black background and
little description of the stuff it provides for download is more likely to
be trying to spread a virus.If a website allows you to download a demo
version of a game/software/anything and claims that you can buy the
full version,then try checking out if they really can accept orders online
by visiting their "Buy now" page.If they provide order accepting
service,then the common sense says that they are rather trying to sell a
virus free product than to spread viruses.I mean,they have to pay to get
that credit card processing account.And most virus writers do not want to
spend money to spread their creation.So..you can trust the websites
that can accept orders the most.Also,if a website can identify who!
they are,I mean,give their phone No. or contact information,and you
are SURE that the information they provide isn't fake.Then they are also
less likely to be virus spreading guys.
With that,I come to the end of this report.I hope that now you feel
secure downloading anything you like from the internet.
Happy Computing.
Resource Box:
By the way,wanna learn something about computer viruses that 90% of
people never tell you?Then you've got to read this free 2 day report by
me:
2 days to Learn all about NTFS ADS viruses.
Catch it at:
http://www.virustimes.cjb.net/tk/day1.html
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