Do you need a firewall?

Yes!!!

Think of your computer as a building and the doors are all the different ways to the Internet. The computer calls these doors "ports". Your computer has thousands of these doors, and a firewall will keep them locked.

The bad guys have programs that will go out on the Internet, find your computer, and start knocking on all your doors. Without a firewall, your computer will say, "Hey, welcome! C'mon in." The bad guy can now control your computer without you knowing it. They can search your computer for files that contain personal information.

Modern firewalls not only lock your doors, but will not even respond to the initial knock at the door. This is good because without an answer, the bad guy program assumes that it has reached a bad IP address and moves on to find another victim. 

Some doors have to be open. Want to surf the Internet? You have to have port 80 open. Want to send and receive email? Then you have to have ports 110 and 25 open. That's okay. Some doors are fine to leave open, but you don't want a whole bunch of doors open if they don't need to be.

A good firewall program will detect when someone or something is trying to open a door and it will stop and ask you if it's okay. You should have the option of denying the connection just this once, denying it permanently, granting the connection just this once or granting it permanently. Here is a general rule of thumb: 

• If you open a program that you will be using on a daily basis, and it asks you to grant or deny the connection, go ahead and grant it permanently. 
• If you just installed a program and it needs to go on the Internet for registration purposes, then grant it just this once.
  
• If the program needs to go to the Internet for updates, this is up to you. How often will you use the program? How often do updates come out for this program? If the program is updated monthly or longer, I'd grant it just once each time.
• If the firewall asks you to grant a connection and you did not just install a program, or try to access a web page that wants to install an ActiveX control or something similar, then definitely deny the connection. If you're unsure, deny it just this once. Investigate the issue so you can make a better decision next time. 
• If the firewall wants approval to grant access to something you were not involved with at all, deny it permanently.

There are many firewalls on the market to choose from. They all do the same thing just with a different look and ease of use. Some firewalls are "hardware" which means that it is an actual box that you connect directly to your ISPs modem. Then your computer or your network is plugged in to this unit. This is the best form of firewall but is not as user friendly as a "software" firewall which is installed on each computer. For the best protection, use both a "hardware" firewall and a "software" firewall from different manufactures. This is called multi-layer protection. It will be a lot harder and almost impossible for the bad guy to get through to your system. 

Protecting your data should be your number one concern. Even if you think to yourself that you don't have anything on your system that anyone would want, think about everything you have ever typed on your keyboard. If the bad guy has access to your system, chances are he's got more than you know.

That might be a good topic for another blog... 

If you need help with firewall advice or you are having trouble with your network, then you really need to talk to a professional. You should call Networthy Systems. If we can't help you, we'll point you in the right direction.

Thanks for reading.

Thomas Johnsen - CCNA, MCSE+Security, MCDST, A+, Net+, Security+

Lead Engineer

Networthy Systems

6950 College Street Ste. G

Beaumont, Texas 77707

(409) 861-4450

http://www.networthysystems.com

Why didn’t my antivirus program catch that virus?

Let me start by saying that nothing is 100% secure. You can have the best of the best and keep it up to date on a strict schedule, and it’s still not going to be perfect. But, you can follow some simple guidelines to help keep the “black hats” from getting to your system.

I had a person tell me that they had an antivirus program installed but the computer got infected anyway. After looking at the system, the program hasn’t been updated in over two years. Antivirus programs will only protect you from viruses it knows about. If it doesn’t know what to look for, it can’t stop it.

Here’s how it works:

There are very few bad guys that write their own viruses. The rest of them make copies of the original, change it to give it their own “personal touch” then send it out across the internet. The antivirus software companies need to get a copy of the virus, see what makes it tick, then create an update to protect their customers. Most antivirus companies are very good at posting updates several times a day.

Tips to make your antivirus software better:

• Open your antivirus program and find the section where you can edit its settings
• Make it check for updates every hour. I’ve seen some programs default to once a week.
• Look for a section that deals with the virus. Sometimes, you’ll have options of what to do with the virus after it detects one. Make sure that it is set to quarantine the virus. You can set it to delete the virus, but every once in a while, it may mistake a program or document that you need as a virus and delete it. I’ve seen programs that tell you it found a virus, but doesn’t take any action because it was set for “report only”.
• If your virus scanner is active (constantly scans your system), that’s great, but everyone should still schedule a complete system scan every day.
• If your program will send an email to you when it detects a virus, do so. You should always double check that the virus has been taken care of as soon as possible.
• Your program should tell you where on your system it found the virus and the name associated with it.

1. Go to that folder and check to make sure your program removed the virus.
2. Check the quarantine folder to make sure it’s there.

• Investigate your virus. Check with the website of your antivirus program’s manufacturer. You should be able to look up the name of the virus and see what kind of damage it causes. You may have to do a little extra work to completely remove all traces of the virus.

With an average of 4 new viruses infecting the internet every hour, it’s imperative that you protect yourself before the bad guys get to you.

If your company has multiple computers and you can’t find the time to maintain your computers as you should, then you need to hire someone to do it for you. Call Networthy Systems. We will proactively take care of your network with our “Hassle Free Platinum Plan”. Call for more details.

Thanks for reading.

Thomas Johnsen - CCNA, MCSE+Security, MCDST, A+, Net+, Security+
Lead Engineer
Networthy Systems
6950 College Street Ste. G
Beaumont, Texas 77707
(409) 861-4450
http://www.networthysystems.com

Should I just turn the computer off?

I hear this question quite often. The answer is NO.

The number one step to solving Windows desktop problems is to reboot the system. Sometimes you will have an application lock up or suddenly you can't get on the Internet. Rebooting your system resets all the services and processes that run in the background and gives your computer a fresh start.

There is a right way, and a wrong way to rebooting your system. The worst thing you can do is to kill the power to your system either by holding in the power button, pulling the power cable, flipping the master power switch or turning off your power strip. Every time your system loses power without going through the proper shutdown procedure, it causes slight damage to the hard drive. Do this frequently, and the slight damage becomes a big problem and can even cause your hard drive to stop working.

If something is not quite working right, and you feel that you need to reboot your computer, try this first:

1. Click Start - Shutdown - Restart. This is the best way to reboot any Windows system. If you just want to turn the computer off, then click Start - Shutdown - Shutdown and the system should turn itself off.


2. Let's say your mouse stops working, you can still use your keyboard to initiate the reboot process. Press the Windows key on your keyboard (it looks like the Windows flag). Then you can use your arrow keys to navigate through the menus. Highlight Shutdown and press the Enter key. Use your arrows to highlight/select your shutdown or reboot option and press your Enter key. If you have a keyboard that doesn't have the Windows key, you can press the CTRL key and the ESC key at the same time to bring up the Start Menu. Another way to reboot using the keyboard is to press the CTRL, ALT and Delete keys at the same time. Use your arrow keys to highlight the Shutdown button and press Enter. Use your arrow keys again to choose Shutdown or Restart and press Enter.


3. If you mouse isn't working AND your keyboard is not responding, then we can try the power button. On some computers, depressing the power button will initiate the shutdown sequence in Windows. Give it a minute, though. Sometimes it will start the process but you will not notice anything. A good indicator that something is happening is the HDD light on the front of the computer will start blinking.


4. If steps 1, 2 and 3 are not working, then we will have to resort to turning off the system. The easiest and best way is to press and hold the power button in for about 5 seconds. You will hear the computer click as the power turns off and the monitor will go black. Wait ten to fifteen seconds before turning the computer back on. Turning your system on too soon can cause just as much, if not more, damage to your hard drive.

Windows does have to be restarted from time to time. Some more than others depending on the applications installed on the system. I'd say once a week should be normal. If you are having to reboot more often, then there could be something wrong with your system and it should be checked out by a qualified professional.

If you are looking for a place to start, give us a call at Networthy Systems. We'll be more than happy to help you out.

Thanks for reading.

Thomas Johnsen - CCNA, MCSE+Security, MCDST, A+, Net+, Security+

Lead Engineer - Networthy Systems - 6950 College Street Ste. G - Beaumont, Texas 77707 - (409) 861-4450 - http://www.networthysystems.com/

How smart is your IT guy?

When the IT guys get together, we like to discuss the silly things that end users do, like thinking that the mouse is some kind of foot pedal. Sometimes, the tech is just as bad. I once watched a tech troubleshoot a video problem for 30 minutes when all he had to do was turn the monitor on. No matter how good the tech is, he/she should start with the basics. It's easy for us to forget, because we've been through many different scenarios, we assume we can jump straight to the solution because we had a similar issue last month.

If you want to test your IT guy, try this...

• Unplug your network cable.
  
• Call your IT guy and tell him that your computer can't get on the internet.
• He may ask you to check a couple things first, like going to a couple different websites or checking your IE settings.
• If he takes too long to get around to asking you to check your network cable, you might want to find a new IT guy.

Thanks for reading.

Thomas Johnsen - CCNA, MCSE+Security, MCDST, A+, Net+, Security+
Lead Engineer
Networthy Systems
6950 College Street Ste. G
Beaumont, Texas 77707
(409) 861-4450
http://www.networthysystems.com