Of Pens and Swords

In security news, a threat that has been out there for a week or so is a Worm known at the CME 24. It goes by a few other designations like blackmal and Tearec.A, depending on your anti-virus vendor, so forth. This one has my agency a little worried however, since they sent out an email about it. So, I’ll do what I can to mitigate this problem by putting in the link to how to fix this.
There is a removal tool that you can download if you feel that you have been infected, or want to protect yourself against possible infection. It’s a free tool, so you don’t have to subscribe to Symantec to download and run it.

On this note, it worries me about how many home users don’t see the need to protect their computer, or aren’t willing to spend the $45 a year to protect their computers. Nowadays people will use their computer for everything, and it’s become an important appliance in their homes. People will spend the extra $2 bucks to get the next octane gasoline, take the car into the shop every 3 months/3k miles to change the oil and rotate the tires; spend $30 a pop on having someone mow their lawns; They’ll spend money on every facet of their lives to make it work correctly and make them happy, but they see that a computer as a self-sustaining entity that needs no maintenance nor attention…it’s there to perform on call with no supervision. You won’t expect this out of any other piece of equipment that you own, and don’t expect it out of another single human, but you do of your computer. It’s interesting, and foolish.

Everytime you hear about a new worm that gets spread, a trojan taking over thousands of computers and turning them into zombie bots, and virus’s that destroy data on pc’s and networks, people complain about the dasterdly bastard that could and does write the code that starts the epidemic. Silly users, if everyone had an anti-virus, these problems would be significantly lower. If the users that have anti-virus software would manage it (a whole 10 minutes of week that can be done concurrently to your porn surfing or ebay shopping) and make sure their systems are updated and scanned, these problems wouldn’t exist in the ways they do now. So next time you feel a bitch coming on about the script kiddie that writes a code to make your computer die, blame yourself for not doing your part to stop it.

Then you hear “How am I supposed to afford $45 whole dollars a year?!” simple, stop smoking for a week, don’t eat out for two whole days, whatever. Or, even better, look for alternatives. One such is a free anti-virus from AVG. It’s not as customizable as some clients, but hey, it’s a level of protection. It’s also more inexpensive if you want to pay for it and get automatic updates instead of having to manage it manually (which we all know what that means)

Firewalls…for people who are online, and especially those of you on broadband (DSL, Cable, ISDN, et cetera) and your systems are online all the time, a firewall is a big part of the protection layering that you need. If you have a router to connect multiple computers in your house, most of these nowadays will work also as a firewall, if it’s configured correctly.
You ask, What the hell is a firewall? Well, it’s a device, be it hardware (like a router) or software that is meant to block certain types of traffic from coming into your computer. It can also block a type of testing called a Ping, or ICMP traffic, from reporting that your system even exists on the World Wide Web. There are plenty of firewalls that are free to download and use, like Kerio, ZoneAlarm, and SoftPerfect. Find them HERE. If you’re a Window’s XP user, a firewall is built in and bound to your ethernet port by default. If you have a licensed version and not the ‘evaluation edition’, you can download Service Pack 2 using your Windows Update, and built in is a Security Console Manager.

Spyware. Everyone loves Spyware. Adware, Malware…getting the 100 pop-up ads every minute keep you company on lonely nights. There are free spyware scanners and removers out there. Two I recommend are Spybot Search and destroy, and Lavasofts AdAware. Here’s a site to download these. There are more out there, but I haven’t the inclination to try them all out…Again, if you’re an XP user, they now offer a free spyware scanning service that you can download. It’s rumored that this might become a pay service sometime in the future however, so base your choice on your preference.

Popups…if you have popups like mad, it’s probably because you have some sort of spyware. Now, some sites automatically have a popup or two, and some of these will install a cookie or something into your system to help target your machine for more. Get a popup blocker. Internet Explorer 6 has one built in, just download it. My personal favorite, however, if the FireFox browser. They’re built in tools to mitigate popup problems.

Of all the afore mentioned ways of protecting yourself, they’re still tools that need to be managed. Like anything else on a computer, they’ll only do what you tell them to do. So protect yourself, and take the time to maintain an asset that you’ve seen fit to buy and help manage your life.

Two notes on all this. For one, I’m not sponsering any of the above products, these are just what I prefer and have used for a long time. The only two virus’s that I’ve ever gotten in the past 5 years, I introduced myself on purpose to see their effects. Two, don’t go overboard on trying to protect yourself. Getting two firewalls may block your computer completely, getting two anti-virus agents may be more harm than good, so forth. Pick one that you feel comfortable with and use it. There are a lot of choices out there.

Lastly, you could use Linux instead of Windows, or even a Mac. Though these aren’t 100% guarentee’d to not be infected, it’s about a 98.5% chance that any given virus just isn’t compatible with the system.

I emplore you, dear reader, to bring up Google, and do your own research. I’ve provided you with enough information here to protect yourself.

Being on the road so much, I’ve noticed a few serious inconsitencies in the way people drive around here. People obey the speed limit here with a fervor, seemingly have absolutely no issue about driving ten to fifteen miles below the limit:, they damn near come to a stop to turn a corner, slow down through green lights anticipating that the light may turn yellow….but then they’ll have absolutely no qualms about crossing 3 lanes to make an exit that they for some reason forgot, going 15 miles/hr below the speed limit…they haul ass across parking lot and don’t seem to mind people walking right in front of them, and will rush to cut you off to get a spot in the parking lot, to fuckin’ pull out of it and drive around the parking lot again after you pass…dipshits….

Ahh, lets go over a few things that have been driving me nuts for a while. One, the new AOL commercials. Lets see, make every computer user think that they don’t have to do anything to maintain their own equipment…Yep, That’s right Joe User, you really don’t need to know a thing about your equipment, just trust a company who has proven that you’ll get more spam minutes after opening an account than any other company will promise.

Ahh, this has been sitting in draft form for a week, so I’d better send it off.

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