Protecting your computer on a public network

Do you own a laptop? Have you ever used your laptop at a public wi-fi (wireless internet) location to use the free (or paid) wireless internet services? Often, places like Libraries (or at least some libraries here in Toronto), Starbucks, Coffee Shops and even some restaurants offer a wireless internet service which anyone can use if they bring along their laptop or mobile computing devices.

Why should you care about protecting your computer while using pubilc wi-fi netoworks?

Although this is pretty cool, one thing that you must be aware of is that using these networks might not always be the most secure thing to do. Using public internet might mean that you are opening up your computer for lots of snoopers and malignant people to take advantage of your computer. In fact, after a recent visit to the library I noticed that many people (unknowingly I presume) were actually sharing the files on their computer with everybody else in the network. As a result, anyone else on the network was also able to freely access these shared files and folders. What’s more? Some people even stored files (fortunately, being the good citizen that I am, I did not open these files or do anything malicious with them!) in these folders!

What does all this mean?

It means that if you use your computer on a public network, you have to be extra secure.Theoretically, someone could delete files, edit files and even transfer malicious files to the computer to execute code (plus, if you never visited any website or downloaded anything… and you get a Windows UAC prompt, you’re likely to just click Confirm and allow the malicious application that some transferred to your computer to happily go on performing its evil tasks!)! If this doesn’t sound more scary than Conficker, I don’t know what will.

How can you protect yourself?

Protecting your computer while using public networks should be the first thing you do, even before you start using the network. In this post, I’m going to assume that most of you will be using Windows Vista. The settings for Windows XP (you might want to make a google search if you are unsure… most things that I mention here for Vista also apply for XP, but configuring them for XP might be a little different) are similar, but since most laptops now come with Vista, I’ll only cover the Windows Vista and Mac OS X in this article.

The first thing that you should do is turn off all File Sharing.

To do so on Windows Vista:

1. Double click on the “Internet Icon” in the system tray in your taskbar. In the picture below, it’s the icon between the “Battery Icon” and the “Volume Adjustment/Speaker Icon”. Doing so should take you to the “Network and Sharing Center”. If there’s no “Internet Icon” then, you’ll have to open your start menu (or click on the “Windows Orb” and type in “Network and Sharing Center”.
2. In the '”Network and Sharing Center”, under Sharing and Discovery click on arrow beside any topic that has a “Green” light (meaning that the sharing for that area is turned on.. and anybody on the network will be able to see whatever you are sharing). Then, simply select ‘Turn Off’ and click ‘Apply’.
3. Then accept the Windows UAC prompt.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for any other feature for which file sharing might be turned on.

Doing so will make sure that no files/folders, be it the Public folder on your computer or any other folder, is shared on the network.

On a Mac, the process is similar. Click the Apple Button on top left hand corner, choose ‘System Preference’ and go to ‘Sharing’. There, uncheck all checkboxes to make sure that your computer isn’t sharing anything.

Step 2: Use a firewall to prevent any direct connections from other computers

Often, although you might disable any sharing of files, other computers might still be able to connect to your computer through any other ports (think of them like ‘doors’) that might be open. So naturally, the best and easiest way to protect yourself, although not the most ‘sure fire’ way, is to turn on a firewall that will try and block most of the attempts to access your computer. If you don’t yet have a firewall, you might want to consider getting a free firewall if your computer is not running too slow (although if it is running a bit on the slower side, you might want to check out this article to speed up your windows computer).

At the very least, turn on Windows Firewall, which will prevent incoming connections (or others) from accessing your computer.

Step 3: Use an anti-virus program and keep your computer updated

Well, there isn’t much you can do after you’ve secured all the entry ways into your computer, so the only other ways to make sure that nothing else malicious is already on your computer and there are no ‘security’ holes in your computer are to run Anti-Virus software and keep your computer updated.

As for the Virus software, you don’t always have to turn on heuristics for it to keep on searching your computer all the time and making it really slow. Like I mention in my article to make your computer a bit faster, just turn on it’s basic settings and let it perform a scan once in a while when you are not using your computer. However, if you do across a suspicious (and when I mean suspicious I mean really suspicious…. like a birthday greeting card from your friend) just manually scan it.

Also, don’t forget to let Windows install the Microsoft updates when it bugs you do.. you don’t always have to do it right when it starts bugging you to.. but it’s a good idea to do it when you have the time.

Best Free Downloadable Firewalls for Windows Computers

With the advent of the internet, it’s really easy for anyone to connect to the internet and access other computers (i.e. servers) across the globe. However, this also means that other computers across the globe can actually access YOUR computer in a similar fashion. By doing so these evil, evil men can actually take control of your computer, insert malicious files that will track your password/credit card number and/or use your computer to do something evil.

How do you protect yourself from other malicious programs or people from accessing your computer? With a Firewall of course! But like most things in the computer software world, Firewalls often come at a price. Although this price might be minimal (around $20 – 30 on average, some times you might have to renew it every year), considering the safety it provides, it might still be worth it to get a free firewall that will be able to do almost the same thing.

Here are a few things that you might want to try out. Keep in mind though that sometimes having a firewall might actually be more annoying, since it will often ask you whether or now you’d like to connect to a server or website. However, in the long run it might save you the trouble of reinstalling your computer or calling up your credit card company to report a fraud. Also, it might slow down the speed of your computer as it constantly monitors your incoming/outgoing connections from every application that connects to the Internet. But given the speed of average computers the speed should be “negligible” or at the most unnoticeable.

Additionally, you might at least want to turn on your Windows Firewall (although this will only prevent incoming connections and not prevent any outgoing connections) if you don’t plan to use a third-party firewall. If you do use a third party firewall, you should disable Windows Firewall.

Some free firewalls, in order of preference

Comodo Firewall – Comodo make a lot of great products that I like, and their firewall is one of them. For the most part it is unobtrusive, but does a good job of notifying you of any incoming/outgoing connections that it thinks are ‘suspicious’. Plus, it has an easy to use interface that doesn’t look like anything from “the Matrix”. If you’re looking for a simple free firewall that does it job quite well, Comodo should probably be your first or second choice. Also, do note that when you download the firewall, it actually might download their firewall AND their antivirus suite. So you you already have an antivirus suite, and you’re okay with it, you should only install their firewall.

Free Zone Alarm – The free version of the Zone Alarm Firewall is not as powerful (or so they say) as it’s paid big brother, but I still thing that it does a fairly ok job of making sure that no internet packet goes unnoticed. It also has a pretty simple interface to use, so if you aren’t an experienced Firewall user, you might prefer to have something like this.

Sunbelt Kerio Firewall  – If you’re using Windows XP (but it also works for Vista now apparently, although I haven’t tested it out) then this firewall is still one of the best ones out there. It does the job of every other firewall out there, and also provides some of its premium features (like ad-blocking) for a period of 30 days. If you don’t want to buy it (you probably don’t need to… unless you’d like to support their software), then after 30 days, it’ll just function in the normal firewall mode.

Tall Emu Firewall – Again, this is a fairly good free product, but doesn’t have all the pro features such as ‘Keylogger detection’ and so on. But obviously, you don’t need these features if you have a little common sense (i.e. if you are getting an incoming connection from some random computer on the internet, you probably shouldn’t allow it to access your system files).

Of course, there are several other Free Firewalls out there, but I’ve never used or heard of any other good ones. So, if you feel like you know about something else that might be worth while… do share!

Use a free online virus scanner that won’t slow you down

A while ago, I wrote in my ‘5 steps to make Windows faster’ article that it’s better to stay away from anti-virus programs that constantly scan your computer just because its going to slow you down. Instead I recommended that you turn off the ‘heuristics scanning’ and only scan the files you think are a virus, so that your memory and CPU cycles won’t be taken up by the anti-viruses’ processes. But just now, it struck me, why use a virus scanner at all if you PC is always connected to the internet. Why not just us a online virus scanner, and not have any protection (with the exception of some ‘inbuilt’ tools like Windows Defender) at all. Using an online scanner will ensure that the database against which your file is being checked, is always going to be up to date, and plus it won’t slow down your computer, or even cause it (or other applications on your computer) to crash.

Now, before you start saying how important anti-virus applications are to keep your computer safe… I must say here that anti-virus is absolutely necessary, only if you don’t know what you are doing. If you DO know the way malicious pieces of software work, you probably won’t need any protection at all. So pretty much, if you were to rely on only an online scanner, you shouldn’t be visiting any ‘malicious’ websites (see phishing filter and protecting yourself from malicious websites for free post if you don’t know how to stop yourself from visiting these websites…), you most likely shouldn’t be visiting any bit torrent or private downloading website, and you mustn't open any ‘suspicious’ attachments or e-mails. But if you only use webmail, most web mail providers scan the attachment for your anyway.

Therefore, if you don’t do any of the things above, then you most likely don't NEED an anti-virus program at all, although it might always be a good idea to have it incase someone else using the computer doesn’t fit in the criteria listed above.

In my case, I’m the only one using my computer, so I don’t really have to worry too much about not having an anti-virus on my system. Plus, if I do receive any suspicious attachments and so on, I can always use the online antivirus. Anyway, using or not using anti-virus is completely up to you, but incase you do decide to sacrifice a little bit of security for a lot of speed (and stability) here are some good online antivirus scanners that I find work well (although there is no way in the world to ‘completely’ protect yourself from any malicious program that might be created this instant):

The list of free and recommended Online Virus Scanners

Kaspersky Online Virus Scan – There is a limit of 1MB for files that can be checked, but nevertheless, its fast and efficient. All you need to do is upload your file on their site, and they’ll check it for you. No ActiveX controls needed. The great thing I like about this is that it’s super fast because it’ll only check the files you upload to it – Not your whole system like the scanners below do.

BitDefender Online Scan – Free online scan. ActiveX controls needed. May take a while.

Symantec’s Scanner – Yes, I know. It’s Symantec. But its not necessarily a bad thing when the only thing you have to do is download a little ActiveX control.

ESET’s online scanner – A fast online scanner that does only what it’s supposed to. Again, ActiveX controls are necessary fot it to do its job.

Jotti’s Malware Scan – This is a scanner that claims to check your file against the databases of many anti-virus manufactures and has a 100MB file limit that you can upload to its database so that it can check your file. I wouldn’t recommend using this service, unless it is absolutely necessary (and the file you are checking doesn’t contain any personal information) just because is not a well renowned name in the security business.

Of course, there are others out there too, but I’ve never tested them out, so fell free to try out other options too and post about them in the comments.

Top 10 ways to secure and improve your wireless network

A while ago I posted a couple of tips on how to speed up and improve your wireless network, and one of the tips in that was to secure your wireless network. Well the truth is, it's extremely easy to secure your wireless network, but most people do not secure their networks!

That's bad, very bad, because anyone who decides to 'tap' into your wireless network can easily steal your information (especially if you happen to do a lot of online shopping) and even steal your Internet (did I mention they can use your Internet connection to download songs illegally and get you into trouble?).

So follow this article and secure your wireless network! It is imperative for everyone who has their own wireless network in a home or small business setting to take the following steps to ensure the well being of the network.

1. Give your router an admin password - Learn how to change the admin password for your router by reading the manual or checking the manufacturer's support website.
2. Change your routers SSID - Your router's SSID is like its name. If you set this to default, your neighbour might be accidentally using your wireless connection or you might accidentally use your neighbour's connection (which is a crime). You want to be sure that you can distinctly identify your router and prevent others from accidentally connecting to it, which will make your Internet slower.
3. Use at least WPA2 Encryption - Not using encryption is like yelling your credit card number out loud. Anyone paying attention and snooping in on your wireless network can intercept all data that goes between the wireless router and the computer. Make sure you use at least WPA2 encryption. If your router doesn't have a WPA2 option then you might want to upgrade to a newer router or check for a firmware update.
4. Use a hard to break pre-shared key - Make sure it is 63 characters long and make up of random letters, number and characters. Since you don't have to remember anything (you only need to set this on your router and computer/console once) A great way to generate good passwords is to use the GRC Passwords Page. It generates a key for you automatically. I recommend you use WPA2 and use a 63 character random ASCII string. Remember, once you use the key on your router, you'll need it for your computer too, so making a text file of the key might be helpful.
5. Disable SSID Broadcast - Once your set up your router and initiate the wireless network, it is a good idea to turn off the SSID so people might not get tempted to try and use your network.
6. Enable MAC Address Filtering - MAC in this case means Media Access Control, not a Mac. It allows you to specify the machines (i.e. only your machine) that can connect to your network.
7. Try to broadcast only in Wireless G - If possible try and broadcast only on a 802.11 G band so that people with 802.11 B hardware will not be able to connect. If you have a laptop or device that needs 802.11 B, then obviously this isn't an option.
8. Make sure to turn off any extended range functionality if living in a small house. Extended range mode will only make your router send out more powerful signals and make your network susceptible to attacks.
9. Change Miscellaneous settings - Disable features such as gaming mode, and enable features such as discard PING from WAN side. This will prevent an attacker from compromising your network by repeatedly pinging your router to death.
10. Update Update Update - If you haven't ever updated your router's firmware, then it's high time you do so. Make sure you stay informed about the latest developments in the wireless world too.

Do the tips above make me sound like a security freak? I think not. Better safe then sorry, right? You be the judge.

Hack a Windows Password In Minutes

How to hack a Windows Password

How to hack a Windows password
I've written about securing windows passwords before, but here's a video for those who are yet unaware of how windows computers are often compromised due to lack of knowledge on the user's side. Although the video exaggerates the fact that the password can be found quickly, in reality it takes a bit more time, although ultimately the password will most likely be cracked.

The same thing can happen to your wireless network, which can compromise the security of every single computer on your network. An attacker can even steal all your private information (passwords to online banking accounts, internet chats.. you name it) if you use a computer that is not connected to the network through a cable. So take my word for it and protect your wireless network before attempting to increase the speed of your wireless network.