As for me and my PC, we shall serve The Lord
PC Disinfection and Protection
Seminar Summary
If Joshua were alive today, he’d also say, “As for me and my PC, we shall serve the Lord”.
As Americans, 80% of us have in our homes the most flexible multi-purpose tool in history. More than half of us use our computers with high-speed hookups to the Internet. In the information age, that’s raw, unbridled, absolute POWER.
Unfortunately, that kind of power has always drawn the adversary, and this time is no exception.
Like a roaring lion, he prowls the wires, seeking to devour every member of our families by placing snares & temptations at every turn. With promises of save, cute, free, or lewd the first demon takes residence, and on a clean swept system, it doesn’t take him long to invite seven others, even more evil.
Our kids need PC’s for school, and Michigan’s state government intends to pass them out to every sixth grader. It’s so important that low-income family housing is now required to be wired for high-speed Internet access, or lose funding. We fear the corruption, can’t live without PC’s. We know that eternal vigilance is the price of our freedom, but how do we protect our kids doing homework in the next room while dinner is being prepared?
It will take time and effort, but here’s the list to get you started:
1) Stay current on operating system security updates
2) Install a firewall, router or other hardware protection
3) Keep your anti-virus software current
4) Run anti-spyware software that prevents infection and spread
5) Use filtering and accountability software to help defend against temptation
6) Eliminate file-sharing practices, it’s too often illegal, and too often a great free-ride onto your disk
Some guidelines to help you get there safely:
_ Enable your defenses before plugging your brand new PC into the Internet; recent worms can attack your PC faster than you can touch a key.
_ To save time, be sure your PC is clean before enabling defenses, otherwise you are building the defenses on shifting sand, and may need to start from scratch. Virus and spyware writers are now profiting from their efforts, and therefore working together. One “stealth” virus eluding Norton or McAfee can open the door for others, thereby earning the author a “commission”.
_ Understand your PC’s special administrative & security features, like “safe mode”, “system restore”, “emergency disk”, “user accounts” and passwords.
_ If any procedure suggests you need to “edit your registry” (10-15% or virus repairs require this) then be very careful, you’re performing brain surgery and better not slip.
_ Be sure you read through and understand all the features of your virus and spyware defenses. Default features are not always best, you’ll need to suit your situation.
_ Be sure the spyware solution you use is trustworthy. Several malicious marketers have begun to “camouflage” their own spyware inside a utility that will remove the competition, while stealing information from you.
_ If using wireless networking, be sure to enable the highest level of security. The original standard, WEP, is easily broken with free hackware.
_ If you see someone pointing a Pringles can toward your home or office, they have the free hackware and are attempting to steal from you. No I’m not kidding.
_ Realize that it is very easy for undesirable e-mail or other content to end up on a PC, even under innocent usage. E.g. www.whitehouse.gov gets you to DC, whitehouse.com gets lewd content on your system, and may open the door to automated scripts that download more, regardless of your good intentions.
_ Know that this is not “once and it’s over”. Your PC’s hygiene needs attention weekly. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The Joshua Project is an initiative of Computer Project Consulting to help families and businesses clean up their PC’s. CPC grants permission to copy and distribute this article among members of churches and schools in Southeast Michigan at no cost, as long as each copy maintains this notice and is unaltered. Before reproducing, visit Joshua-project.com to be sure you have the most up-to-date version and sign up for our Pur-IT newsletter.