You may have heard of the Conflicker Worm on the news. This nasty infection shuts down security services, prevents your computer from going to security websites where you might download something that will prevent Conflicker from doing it’s dirty deed. First discovered in November, Conflicker’s main goal is to infect your computer with more infections.

You may have Conflicker on your computer and not even know it unless you tried to go to a security website. Conflicker won’t do much else until April 1st when it will begin downloading infections to all of the computers it is on.

To protect yourself, make sure you have a good anti-virus/anti-spyware security program that is up to date. If you don’t have that, make sure you get it before April 1st. Even if  you do have a good and up to date security program, it would be a good idea to do a full scan of your computer before April 1st, just to be safe.

You should also make sure you have all of the latest updates from Microsoft. Here’s how to do that.

If you have Windows XP, look for the little yellow shield in the area down near where the time is displayed. If it’s there, click on it to install updates. If the shield isn’t there, either you have all of the latest updates, or Automatic Update is turned off on your computer. To check to see if Automatic Update is turned on, click on Start and then click on Control Panel. Now double click on Automatic Updates. To manually check for the latest Windows Updates, you can also click on Start, All Programs, Windows Update. Use the Express button and keep doing that until it says there are no more high priority updates.

If you have Vista, the icon for Windows Update will also be down near where the time is displayed, but the icon looks different from XP’s Windows Update icon. The icon is pictured to the left. If you see this, click on it to install the latest updates. If you don’t see it, you either have all of the latest updates, or Automatic Updates is turned off. To check, click on Start and then click on Control Panel. Now type “update”. Click on Windows Update. You can tell it to check for the latest updates. Over on the right side, you can click on “Change Settings” to change the automatic update settings.

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In a word, yes. You can have too much security on your computer. Too much security can lock down your computer so much that you can’t do the things you need to do. Too much security can slow your computer down. Too much security can cause your computer to malfunction due to conflicts.

 Here are some guidelines for you:

• Do not put more than one anti-virus on your computer.

• You can have more than one anti-spyware as long as you only have active protection enabled on one of them. Be aware, though, that the more stuff you have running on your computer, the slower it’s going to be.

• Instead of running an anti-virus and an anti-spyware, run one program that does both. Vipre and AVG are good examples of these.

• Watch out for security suites. They often go too far. They not only slow down your computer, but they impose too many restrictions and inundate you with pop-up messages.

• Most people don’t need a software firewall. We covered firewalls a couple of newsletters ago, but to reiterate, most people do not need a software firewall. If you are behind a router, you don’t need one. And Windows has a built-in firewall anyway.

• Anti-spam software like spambully (www.spambully.com) is a good idea. You only need one. It only works with e-mail programs like Outlook, Outlook Express, etc. If you read your email on a web page, then use the spam protection that is built-in to that.

In summary, every computer should have an up to date, non-expired anti-virus and anti-spyware package, preferably one that does both. You should have the Windows firewall turned on and you don’t need a software firewall. If you get very much spam, get an anti-spam.

The best form of security is an informed user who is careful about where they go and what they click on.

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Have you heard the term Phish? Phishing is when criminals try to trick you into giving them sensitive information (user names, passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity. 

Here’s an example. Let’s say you get an e-mail from Fred’s Bank. The email says that there has been a large transaction on your account and they want to verify with you that the transaction is valid and not fraud. Let’s also say that you happen to have an account at Fred’s Bank. The e-mail gives you a link to click on to resolve the situation. The link says www.fredsbank.com/fraudprevention, so it looks real. When you click on the link, a website comes up that looks like Fred’s Bank website. It shows a transaction, gives you the opportunity to specify if it’s valid or invalid and asks you for your account number and password. You select that the transaction is not valid, enter your account number and password and click the button to submit. The website says that the transaction will be removed.

What really just happened?

You received a Phish e-mail from someone posing as Fred’s Bank. The email looked official, but wasn’t. The link said www.fredsbank.com/fraudprevention when you clicked on it, that’s not where it went. The website it went to was a fake website designed to look just like the Fred’s Bank website. The transaction listed was bogus. The only thing that was real was the account number and password you gave them. The elaborate hoax was all to get your account number and password. Next thing you know, your account has been emptied.

In the above situation, how could you have detected this was a Phish attempt?

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself.

• If you get an e-mail from an institution you do business with, don’t click on any links in the e-mail.

• Most e-mail programs will allow you to hold the mouse pointer over the link and it will show you where the link really goes. If that doesn’t match what the link says in the e-mail, it’s probably a phish attempt.

• Instead of clicking on a link in an e-mail, pull up your web browser and go to the website for the institution in question and check your account, or call them and ask them about it.

• If you do click on a link in an e-mail, look up in the address bar of your web browser and look to see if you are really on the institutions website. Look carefully, they often use addresses very similar to the real ones.

• If the e-mail directs you to call a 1-800 number, don’t call that number. The person on the other end could be the criminal who will ask for your account number and password. This goes for any phone number you are given in a voice mail as well.

• Also look at the web address and see if it starts with http or https. Any legitimate website that asks you for sensitive information should start with https.

• Many security programs and many web browsers provide protection against phishing. It’s a good idea to use these, but don’t totally rely on them. Use the tips above.

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No matter how clean you keep your house or business, there will be hair and dust. Computers are like hair and dust magnets too. Dust and hair are dangerous to a computer because they build up and cause your computer to heat up on the inside. They cause overheating in two ways. First, they block vents and heatsyncs and prevent air from flowing through the computer. Second, they act like a blanket as they build up on internal compents and trap heat inside.

The warmer the components of your PC are, the shorter their life will be. And, some components will simply die if they get too hot. So it’s important to make sure hair and dust don’t build up too much in your computer. Make sure you have your computer cleaned periodically. How often depends on a lot of factors.

Here are some tips on how to slow down the dust and hair collection in your computer.

• Don’t have your computer sitting on the floor. Have your computer on a table or desk

• Make sure the room is well ventilated.

• Avoid opening the window.

• Don’t let pets in the room where the computer is.

• Put an air purifier in the room.

• Don’t smoke around computers. Smoke makes the hair and dust stick to vents and components making the hair and dust build up quicker and harder to clean.

Even if you do all of these things, dust and hair will still build up over time. So it’s important to have your computer cleaned once a year. We recommend letting us clean the inside of your computer because simply by touching the wrong thing, or using the wrong tool, you can fry your computer. You can, however, do a lite cleaning on your computer by following these steps.

1.     Get a can of air.

2.     You may want to disconnect the computer and take it outside for this.

3.     Look at the outside of the computer for any vent holes or cloth and blow air on to them to clean the dust and hair out.

4.     Open the computer up.

5.     Do not touch anything inside the computer or allow any tool to touch anything inside the computer.

6.     Use the can of air and blow out as much dust as you can.

7.     Don’t use any other tool but a can of air. Never use a brush or vacuum cleaner on a computer.

8.     Then put the cover back on.

A lite cleaning like this won’t get all of the dust and hair, but it will make a huge difference.

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When you hear the term firewall, you might think of an actual wall that provides a barrier between two areas and prevents fire from spreading from one area to another of the building. In the world of computers, a firewall is also a barrier. It is a barrier between a computer and the internet.

A firewall can protect a computer in two ways. It can protect a computer from certain kinds of inbound attacks, and it can also prevent malicious software from accessing the internet in the event that your computer becomes infected.

Every internet connected computer should have a firewall that protects it from inbound attacks. If your computer is connected to a router (either wired or wirelessly), the router acts as a firewall and protects you from inbound attacks. In addition, Windows has a built-in firewall that protects your computer from inbound attacks as well.

So if you have a router or you have the windows built-in firewall turned on (It’s on by default), then you’re set.

The other side of firewall protection is that it can prevent malicious software from communicating over your internet if your computer does happen to become infected. The firewall provided by your router does not provide this type of protection. The firewall in  Windows XP doesn’t either. The firewall in Vista has this feature, but it is turned off by default. You can also install a software firewall. A software firewall is a piece of security software that provides firewall protection on your computer. Most security suites include a software firewall. There are a few free software firewalls like ZoneAlarm and Comodo. But our favorite software firewall is Sunbelt Personal Firewall. It’s only $20. $10 if you purchase it with Vipre (Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware).

The problem with software firewalls is that they tend to pop-up a lot of questions asking the user to allow or deny things. Most people either don’t bother to read it or don’t understand what it’s asking so they just click allow every time. When people click allow every time, the this type of firewall protection becomes useless. 

If you want the extra protection of a software firewall, you should resolve to read pop-up messages from your firewall very carefully. Your default should be to deny if  you don’t know or are not sure. Only allow if you are sure. If you aren’t sure, fire up your web browser and google it. If you deny something and later realize you want to allow, you can open the firewall, to to the Applications or Programs area, find that program, and allow it to access the internet.

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When you login to your computer, you get a screen with a bunch of icons on it. This is called the Windows Desktop. The desktop background can be easily changed to most any picture, pattern, or color. This used to be called wallpaper back in the early days of Windows, but the term desktop background has replaced that term.

If you have a photo you really like, you can generally use that for your desktop background. The easiest way to do this is to go and find the picture. Click on Start and then click on My Pictures if you have XP. For Vista, click on Start and then click on Pictures. When you find the picture, right-click on it and choose “Set as Desktop Background” from the pop-up menu. When you do this, the picture will be shown on the screen. Any icons on the screen will be on top of the photo. Be aware that some desktop backgrounds make it difficult to see your icons.

Once you get the photo set as your desktop background, you may find you need to tweak it a bit. Perhaps the photo isn’t taking up the whole screen. Or maybe you are only seeing a small portion of the photo as if the photo is too big for the screen. This is easy to fix. Right-click on a blank area of the desktop. If you have XP choose “Properties” from the pop-up menu. If you have Vista, choose “Personalize”. For XP, click on the desktop tab. In Vista, click on “Desktop Background”

Now you can tell Windows how to position the picture. In XP, change the position to “Stretch”. In Vista, look at the bottom of the window where it says “How should the picture or video be positioned?” Hold the mouse pointer over each one and it will tell you what it is. Some of the options are fit to screen, crop, maintain aspect ratio, and more. Play with them to get it the way  you want it.

What this option does is tell Windows to make the photo take up the whole screen. That means if the picture is too big, it will shrink it down to fit. If the picture is too small, it will blow it up to fit. There are some drawbacks to this. If you use a really small picture, when windows blows it up, the picture is going to look really grainy and bad. And if you have a widescreen monitor, the picture will be distorted to make it fit.

In this same screen, you can choose one of the desktop backgrounds that comes with windows. You can also choose to just display a color instead of a picture.

By the way, in some versions of Vista, you can choose a video to be the desktop background. This sounds cool at first, but there are two major drawbacks. The first drawback is that using a video for your desktop background takes a lot of system resources and will slow your computer down if you don’t have a powerful computer. The second drawback is that it’s just plain distracting.

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