Windows XP: the lockup

Windows XP has millions of feature but the main problem is that people don’t even know this. When I stated using Windows XP, at that time I too didn’t knew much about the feature which it provided but once, while just chatting to my EX-Computer Teacher I came to know that he owned a whole BOOK about Windows XP, a shock to me that why would an Operating system have a whole book of its own?

 

 People who use Windows XP on there system mostly do not care much about it and the one who care, do not sometime have a idea of the right path to begin with, so I thought to write down my own newbie guide on :

                                                                    WINDOWS XP: THE LOCKUP

Whaz Running: With Windows XP it’s very easy to track down each and every program running on your system. To start with:

 

1)      Always keep an eye on the system tray of your Task Bar.

2)      Move your Cursor over any of these programs and you should get Pop-up giving details about that program. Right click on the icon to get the menu and terminate if the program is not required.

3)      If you find a gap between any two programs then open the Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) and look at both Application and Processes tab for any suspicious program running and if found, terminate it.

4)      You might even sometimes find a few File sharing programs running automatically. Terminate them if not required.

 

The Termination: It’s a good habit to regularly keep an eye on the ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAM option provided in the Control Panel.

 Have a look at all the programs installed with all their details such as file size, Usage information, installed location etc. and if any suspicious program is found, uninstall it.

REMEMBER: Try to get as much information about the program you are about to uninstall so as to avoid any kind of misunderstanding.

 

The Users: All the accounts on your XP machine should have a good and strong password. By good and strong password I mean:

a)      Alphanumeric

b)      Atleast 6 characters long.

c)      Contain both upper and lower case letters.

 

The Firewall: A good firewall is really important. I would suggest you to use Armor2net firewall as it’s really good. But what if you can’t buy yourself a good firewall software or you don’t want to use a third party firewall, then you can easily configure the default firewall provided by Windows XP. To configure:

1)      Click on START menu and open control panel and then open Internet and Network connection. Right Click on the Internet adapter and select properties from the drop down menu.

2)      Click on the Advance tab to find an option “Internet connection firewall”. Check this box if it’s unchecked. This enables Firewall on that adapter.

3)      For more Advance setting, click the Settings button placed right at the bottom to open another dialog box. The services tab there allows you to select which service to allow through the firewall. Configure as per you requirement.

4)      The Security Logging tab allows a lot of logging options. Select “Log Dropped packets” or “Log successful connection” or both to enable logging. By logging the packet you can find information about packet type, date of sending and receiving and most important, the IP address of sender and receiver.

5)      The ICMP tab blocks the ICMP (the protocol which handles PING) message by default. It can be sometimes used by hackers to gather information about your system and hence I recommend you to keep them unchecked.

 

 

 STAY AWAKE: Most of the people think that installing the latest security software or software package will do their work for the rest of their life but that’s completely wrong. It is really very important to have an Updated security bundle or atleast updated antivirus software. Its is also very important to download and install the Windows Update as they help to patch the bugs and hole in the operating system.

To configure update:

 

1)      Right click the My Computer icon and select Properties from the drop down menu.

2)      Click on the “Automatic Update” tab

3)      Check the “Keep my computer up to date…”

 

All the other Microsoft software installed (such as MS office bundle) do not update themselves on their own and hence to will have to manually turn on the updates or download the updates from the Microsoft website.

 

REMEMBER: Never follow update download received via E-mail or PM.

 

Recommended setting to avoid malicious codes:

a)      Automatically scan E-mails if you are using Outlook etc.

b)      Scan your computer once a week.

c)      Automatically scan Downloads.

d)      Automatically update the virus definition.

e)      Do not click on any link send via e-mail rather manually type the address.

f)       Disable JavaScript for checking e-mails as JavaScript in e-mails might be dangerous.

g)      Try to download all you mail and check them offline.

 

 

The Browser: The browsers which are available these days are really very good but I would still recommend you to take a security test at:

 http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/

 
Conclusion: The above mentioned stuffs will help you to either avoid or completely stop the attack of virus etc and will make your Windows XP secure.