Most Common IT Question I Get Asked

   This is one of the most common computer security questions I get from business owners, employees and average end users. " How can I help prevent my computer from getting infected? ".  Most people want to know how to do proper computer maintenance, They just don't know how, or have the time. In this post I will try and show you a few system tools anyone can use to help prevent their system from becoming infected with malware.

Advice:   Keep it up to date.
Warnings:  There have been times in the past when people have resisted doing security patches because they introduced errors into their systems that prevented them from being able to do their work. I can not guarantee this will not happen to you, But it is much much less common than it used to be. Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe, and the open source community have become much more responsible in the way they patch OS's and applications. In the past few years it is much less common for a security update to take down someones workstation or server. I have run into in special situations. We once patched a pharmacy's Java version and it broke some of their Point of sale software. But I do not blame Oracle or Java for this, I place the blame entirely on the application vendor for this software. So if you are running a small company and are planning to implement these changes ALWAYS call your software vendors support line and tell them you are planning to update your OS and security related Applications before you actually make it happen. Prior to calling them have a list of the current Application versions you are running and the versions you plan to update to. They will happy to answer your questions, because they would much rather prevent your systems from going down ahead of time, than have to hustle to get things back up after they break.
Detailed Advice:   What should I keep up to date?

• The Operating System Itself.
• Your Web Browsers 
• All Browser Plugins
• Your Antivirus
• Your Knowledge of Existing Threats

The Operating System Itself:   Whether this is a server, workstation, mobile phone, or tablet this applies to you. On servers and workstations you need to keep up with the service packs, security updates, and root certificate updates. On phones and tablets you need to update the firmware.
How to do this:   On windows servers and workstations this is as simple as going to check for microsoft updates. I would recommend always doing all the security updates. I would recommend always doing root certificate updates. Service packs I would wait a month or two after their initial release and then do them. As I stated before check with your major software vendors before doing major updates company wide. When in doubt update one workstation and check in the the user daily to see if they have any issues. Certain update packages do not always run smoothly. The one that seems to cause the greatest number of issues in production environments are database server updates. MSSql service packs will rarely work on production servers. In fact the issues involved with doing them are so complex and numerous that it would take a couple posts to address them all.

Your Web Browsers:  Browser updates in windows are important for security. That being said they can break web applications. Always test them on a low priority system before doing them company wide. Home users can usually do them without worrying.
How to do this:   For Internet Explorer you can get these updates through MS updates. For Chrome you will want to go to "About google chrome" in the menu the options menu. For Firefox you can go to http://getfirefox.com or click on "help" and then "about firefox" in the options menu. On a Mac go to the Apple icon in the upper left of the screen and click "software updates". The firefox and chrome instructions should be the same on macs. On phones and tablets you will want to go to the market or App store and click on updates or "My apps" and updates.

All Browser Plugins:    So the most important plugins to check are Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, and Oracle Java. There are free tools you can use to check if you are up to date.  One is the website https://browsercheck.qualys.com/ . It will check all your installed plugins for every browser you have installed.  I fully trust this website and it is very easy to use. Chrome will auto update the Adobe Flash for you. Firefox users can also check https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ to check the plugin versions they have installed. Once we know what needs to be updated we just need to figure out how to do it.
How to do this:   For Java the easiest way is to go to http://java.com/en/ and click on "free java download".
The hard part about java updates on windows is you need to also remove all the old version of java first. Even if you update your java, if you have an old version installed you are still asking for trouble. So what you need to do is go under "Control Panel" and then either "add remove programs" or " programs and features" and uninstall every version of java you see there. Then go the the Java.com site and install the latest one. I have seen systems with 10 old versions installed before.  For Adobe Flash the easiest way is to go to Adobe.com. Then click on downloads and then click on "Get Adobe Flash Player" on the right side.  Flash player will replace older versions so no need to uninstall them. For windows users you will need to do this once in IE and once in Firefox. For Adobe Reader the best way to update is to go to Adobe.com click on downloads and then on the "Download Adobe Reader" box on the right side. I always opt out of the "free" toolbars and other goodies they offer me. Adobe Reader will also overwrite the old version with the new one. Macs do the java update as part of the software update for the OS. Flash and Adobe reader can be obtained in identical ways on a mac. If you want to always use the latest version of Flash try using google's chrome browser, as it updates itself.

Your Antivirus:   This one is not cut and dry. It varies on your AV protection vendor. The typical format most vendors follow is for the updates to be done automatically.
How to  do this:    It is still necessary once a month to check on things by opening up the AV program and checking the status of your subscription and the date of the definitions. These are usually on the status page of most AV's. If you find you have a product that has 2011 for instance in its title but you are in 2012, even if you have the latest definitions you may not be as protected as you could be. For windows users I always recommend "Security Essentials" http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials. It is free software, Its effective, Its easy to use and it has a good track record. Make sure you never have two AV products installed at once.  It will kill your system performance and offer no real benefit.  As for which AV is the most effective, there is no easy answer. One place to check is http://www.av-comparatives.org/ . They are sort of the Consumer Reports of AV's.  Mac users should choose as AV as well these days. The apple app store has some listed  but there are other alternatives. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/software/utilities#m.productKind=security  .
You can always call an apple store for a recommendation from them.

Your Knowledge of Existing Threats:   Education is the answer here. Ask questions to IT professionals. Trust me they would much rather give you some free advice than spend hours cleaning out an infected computer. Read trusted news sources. One site I check regularly is http://secunia.com/community/advisories/ . Other Places to check out include http://www.securelist.com/en/statistics#/en/map/oas/month  , and http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/.  A simple user education campaign can save a large corporation a large sum of money every year. There are even companies that offer online video seminars to show new employees.

There are companies that can help you do this. I myself offer free security consultations to local companies in San Antonio. I have helped Banks, Pharmacies, Doctors and Clinics meet Federal security guidelines.  There is also software available that can search all the computers in our office for insecure software and update it. As well as company wide AV reporting that gives your security team a report every morning of who has come in contact with infections. Please contact me at Tech.callforhelp(at)gmail.com with any questions you have. The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.


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Awesome site for free software

Great place to get all the software you need when you reinstall a pc or to get updated versions of software you already have.

tech(dot)callforhelp@computeryfix.com

in reference to: FileHippo.com - Download Free Software (view on Google Sidewiki)

Dust removal for Desktop PC's

You would be very surprised how much dust can build up inside a pc's case. Dust is every where in our homes and work places. Sometimes it can begin to effect the lifespan of the pc. There are at least three reasons why dust is not good for your pc. The first is it makes it harder for your pc to dissipate heat. The second is it can lead to an increase in static electricity.  The third is that it can cause optical drives to fail.

Modern pc's need to breath. They can produce quite a bit of heat and this needs to be dissipated into the environment in order to prevent them from getting too warm and failing. There are a couple of ways dust can cause overheating. Pc's dissipate heat by moving air over heat sinks with fans. There are other methods of cooling but this is the industry standard. Dust can cause a break down in this process in a couple of ways. One is when it builds up on the heat sinks and prevents air from moving effectively. The other way is by building up on fan blades until the bearings on the fans begin to fail and it stops working all together. If either of these conditions occur the Pc will do its best to keep working but the heat will cause stress on the individual components.

Capacitors can swell up even burst under such stress. Capacitors are the things that look like little cylinders sticking up from the different parts of the motherboard and power supply. A single bulging capacitor can ruin the reliability of an entire pc in some cases. The ones that tend to fail most often are the ones near the CPU, in the power supply or on or near graphics cards. The thing all these places have in common is they tend to be places heat will build up if air is not moving though the case properly. Any capacitors that have domed tops or cracks and ooze on the tops have failed. Typically if this happens on your motherboard you will want to replace the entire computer system. Power supplies can typically be replaced fairly easily although some like the ones in Sony Desktops and some Dell pcs have special connections and dimensions that can make this much more difficult or expensive. Never open up a power supply to clean it or check it. That is the one part of a computer that can contain some dangerous forms of electricity.

Fans fail just because the dust throws of the balance of the blades and the extra weight makes the bearings fail and eventually this extra friction makes the fan stop working completely. Fans can be replaced often although the ones on graphics cards and chip-sets can sometimes be specialized and not easy to locate the correct size replacement for. CPU fans are fairly easy to replace and commonly available. The only issue is sometimes the plastics on older pcs can become very brittle once it has been heated beyond a certain point and removal of the old parts needs to be done very carefully to preserve some of the fan mounts. Once a chip has been heated beyond its tolerances it can fail or become permanently unreliable. So making sure the fans on your pc are working well is important.

Lastly we come to optical drives. These fail simply because dust ends up getting drawn into them and builds up on the lens. Once this has happened they need to be replaced. The dust can sometimes be removed with caned air but the drives rarely ever regain their full function and reliability. If you look at the front of your pc check around the eject button for the the optical drive. If you see dust build up there then the dust has already reached a level where it could become a problem. Fortunately almost everything that can be done with an optical drive can now be done with flash drives which seem to be more reliable in many respects.

Static electricity is specifically most damaging to pc memory. The newer types of ram DDR2 and DDR3 are much more sensitive to static than the older obsolete DDR and SDRAM from the past. They have much higher failure rates because of this too. Dust can create static electricity simply by moving large numbers of small particles past any raised surface. This is something to consider during cleaning as well.

Factors that make dust more damaging are large numbers of pets, cigarette smoke, metal based dusts from sanding and medical dust from dentist offices. Some of these require you to wear a mask and gloves to clean safely. I would always recommend people with allergies find someone else to clean their pc. Pc's should always be cleaned outside in a dry well light place. The best thing to use to clean most pcs is canned air. The most cost effective way to purchase it is often from places like Costco or Sams club. The prices for canned air vary from a few dollars for a large can to twenty dollars for a tiny can. I would recommend going with the less expensive air. Air compressors can also be used as a compressed air source as long as you make sure there is no machine oil in the air they put out.

You want to remove as much of the external case as you can from the pc when cleaning it . Most of the plastic and metal parts are removable from the case. You need to be very careful with older plastic cases as the plastic gets more brittle with age. You will want to check every nook an cranny on the case for dust and blow it out. Sometimes if there is a lot of dust and you have a newer optical drive it may be best to remove the drive and clean the pc and then reinstall the drive after the cleaning. You may also want to take out any ram from the motherboard and store it in a static safe container.

Its not uncommon after a heavy cleaning for a component to fail, this is caused by static build up on the part during cleaning. This is unavoidable once the pc has gotten past a certain level of dust build up. This may be something you want factor into this type of repair. If the pc is very old sometimes purchasing a new pc and migrating the data is easier and safer than cleaning the old pc.

Its also a good idea to wipe out the pc cabinet of any loose dust and dusting off your monitor can help it stay cool and last longer as well.  People ask me often, if there is a way to avoid problems with dust and its not something that can really be avoided as much as dealt with on a regular interval. Every 6 months for a normal environment is about the right interval of time to check for dust build up inside the case. If you smoke, have pets, or work in a medical/industrial setting then you will want to half the time interval for each of these factors.

Search Amazon.com for computers
Search Amazon.com for dustoff compressed gas
Search Amazon.com for case fans

Easy Desktop Spring Cleaning.

Skill Level (1-10) : 2
Required Tools: Ccleaner from Piriform

WARNING: If you typically don't remember your passwords for websites this application may NOT work well for you. It will remove the cookies most websites use to store your password information. So make sure you have remembered or noted any website passwords you use frequently. 

Download Ccleaner and install it. I provided the link above that is free from any toolbar installs. All the default options in the installer should work fine for most users. Once installed run the application from the desktop icon it creates. It should look like a red C. The following pictures show the options that I recommend for most users. Clicking on the pictures will get you a full sized image.

Picture of tab 1

Picture of tab 2

After choosing these options choose "Analyze" then look over the files it wants to remove and then "Run Cleaner".  You maybe surprised by the amount of junk files your browsers may collect. I would recommend running this at least once a month, A lot spyware and other malware can hide in your Internet cache and temporary folders.

Well good luck and happy browsing.