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How to set up your PC

So you are thinking about purchasing a new PC or laptop.

Decision #1:  Operating System - don't buy Vista!

I cannot stress how much easier your life will be with Windows XP.  If you must buy Vista then go for Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, not Vista Basic.  Apple Mac's and Linux are also viable alternatives, but are not mainstream.  Linux is still for computer geeks.  Windows 7 is coming, but my recommendation to stay with Windows XP will apply for all of 2009.

If you buy a PC it will probably come with the hard disk partitioned as a single large C: drive.  I like to have the hard disk partitioned into several smaller partitions, the reasons for which will become clear below.  If you are setting the PC up yourself I recommend you partition the hard disk into at least two or three smaller partitions.  It can be partitioned later without losing data - please refer to multi-boot section for details.  These are the basic steps when configuring a new PC - if you buy one with the operating system pre-installed you will start at step 4.

  1. Partition your hard disk to separate Operating System files from data. The configuration I typically use has three basic partitions:
    • C: drive, Operating system, typically 30 GB.  By separating the operating system from the data the backups are easier, and if you have to wipe the operating system and reinstall you can normally do so without affecting data on D: drive.
    • D: drive, Data.  Allocate whatever is left from the size of the hard disk after the 50 - 60 GB for C: and E:.
    • E: drive, Operating system images, typically 20 - 30 GB.  Refer to the section on Backups to understand what this is for.
  2. Install the operating system
  3. Load the drivers for video, RAID, audio, network card, modem, etc.
  4. Install and configure the software firewall
  5. Connect to Microsoft and perform Windows udpates for the operating system (assuming your operating system is Windows!)
  6. Load up anti-virus software.  Do a full scan after installation.
  7. Install anti-spyware software (you may have installed an internet protection suite, in which case firewall, anti-virus and spyware are all installed at once).  Do a full system sweep after installation.

You will now be in a position where it is safe to connect the PC to the internet, install your applications such as Microsoft Office, set up your web browser and email accounts, etc.  The diagram below shows a typical PC installation when you connect to the internet via an ADSL router or cable modem, which also functions as a WiFi access point for your home.

PC protection setup

I will now go through each of these components in more detail.  It is important that each of these items are set up properly.  If you follow all these guidelines you should be pretty well set up (but I can't guarantee that you won't ever be affected by Spyware or Viruses).

Decision #2:  Real-time protection, or manual scanning?

You have many software package choices in each case, and you often have a choice of selecting software which protects you in real-time (intercepts virus or spyware as it is downloaded to your PC), or operates by scanning the computer later.  Real-time protection is obviously better, but you will need to pay annual subscription costs for the software.  There are several good packages that are free to home users, but require you to manually scan the files of your PC at regular intervals in order to detect and remove viruses and spyware.  If you only connect to the internet occasionally or your PC does not contain important data then scanning with the free software may be acceptable.  In my case, I have real-time protection on the main PC I use which is attached to the internet by a cable modem all the time.  Other PCs in the house which rarely access the internet I use the free software options.  The choice is up to you.

1. ISP Spam Filter

Most ISP's should now provide some level of spam filtering.  Somewhere between 70% - 90% of all emails sent over the web is spam.  The protection should be there automatically as part of your monthly ISP subscription.  If your ISP doesn't provide it install something like Mailwasher on your PC which will work in conjunction with your email client to prevent spam from being downloaded from your ISP to your machine.

2. ASDL router or Cable Modem

If you are still using a dial-up modem then this section will not apply.  These modems/routers usually include a hardware firewall and is your first line of defence.  The basic firewalls just do packet filtering, typically the following ports are open (refer to advanced settings in your router):

Port Protocol Comments
7 ping (Useful)
20,21 ftp Close these if you do not intend to do file transfer by ftp.
23 Telnet Close this unless you are going to telnet out to another computer (most people don't do this, I never have)
25 smtp (This is for email)
53 DNS (Required)
80, 443 http, https (Required for browser to acces the internet)
110 pop3 (This is for email)
220 imap (This is for email)

There are 65,536 ports, and the basic strategy is to keep as many closed as possible.  You may have to open other ports specifically for gaming or file sharing software such as bittorrent.  If you use a VPN connection you may need to open L2TP (1701) and PPTP (1723).  The more ports that are closed the better.  This means that data transferred in/out of your PC is most likely to be through the web browser (port 80) or email.  You can still get viruses and malware through these ports, but you have already greatly reduced your risk (ie from 65,536 ports open if you weren't using a hardware packet filtering firewall).

3. Wireless Access Point

If you are using this feature of your modem/router, use WAP encryption.  This means that you'll need to enter the encryption key (eg a 10 digit number) when you first connect your WiFi latptop to the network.  It is also a good idea not to broadcast your SSID.  So when you connect your laptop to the network for the first time, you'll manually enter the SSID and WAP key, and it will be remembered from that point forward.  But it will be very hard for someone with another laptop in range to guess both your SSID and WAP key in order to attach to your network.

4. Software Firewall

The software firewall is essential, and if you are connecting to the internet via dial-up modem (and thus don't have a hardware router between your PC and the internet), it is vital.  The Windows Firewall is not good enough - disable it and install another.  Set up a trusted zone for other PCs and printers on your network.  This is important.  It means that you will be able to share data easily between computers on your home network, but all computers will be protected from the internet.  If you don't do this, there will be a temptation to disable your firewall when you are having difficulty sharing files between computers, and when you turn the firewall off you are at risk.   Good free choices for software firewall are:

5. Anti-virus Software

There are many packages available, but I have found that some of the well-known brands such as Norton and McAfee are resource hungry and slow down your PC (Norton 2009 promises to be less resource hungry, but I haven't tried it yet).  I used TrendMicro PC-cillin for a while, but it annoyed me and slowly become more bloated.  I was unable to get Panda or Kaspersky (which have good virus detection ratings) to install properly on my machine.  The recommendations below are in two categories - the free software which requires scanning to find and remove viruses (which can be started manually, or you can schedule them to run daily or weekly), or the subscription software which offers real-time protection.

Anti-Virus Software
Real-time protection Free software (no real-time protection)
Eset NOD32

AVG
Avast

If you are downloading the free software, make sure you make the correct selection on the vendor website.  You can, of course, download the free software and later upgrade to the Pro versions offering real-time protection (and paying the annual subscription charges for updates).  Once installed you will need to keep the anti-virus databases up-to-date.  I use the default settings which is for the software to automatically check for updates and install them automatically.  It is important to keep the anti-virus definitions up-to-date as the viruses you are most likely to catch will be the most recent ones that have just started to circulate.

6. Anti-spyware Software

You can purchase an internet protection suite that includes firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware products.  However, I prefer to keep the three separate so you can pick and choose the best in each category.  The choice is yours.  My recommendations below are my favourites.  Once again, it is possible to upgrade the free software (which requires regular manual scans) to the Pro versions which provide real-time protection.  If you choose the free software, then I recommend installing both Adaware and Spybot and doing manual scans with each as they each find and remove different spyware.

Anti-Spyware Software
Real-time protection Free software (no real-time protection)
Webroot Spysweeper

Adaware
Spybot

Almost every time I do a manual scan with Adaware or Spybot it detect and reports tracking cookies.  These are generally non-critical warnings, and is normal so don't be alarmed.

7. Operating System

If you are using Windows you will need to regularly connect to Microsoft update services to obtain security patches.  You will need to use Internet Explorer to do so (ie not Firefox or other web browser).  You need to be aware that sometimes install updates can cause new problems.  I therefore recommend you only download and install Critical Security patches.  Some of the Office service packs and updates can be very large, and can introduce new problems to your PC.  The primary purpose of obtaining updates is to patch any security holes in the Windows operating system - and there will always be some to download.

8. Web Browser

Don't use Internet Explorer, use Firefox instead.  If you so use IE you should be on IE 7 (not IE 6), and make sure you do regular Microsoft security patch updates.  Google Chrome is emerging and may be another viable browser choice.  Using IE incurs a higher risk of a website being able to execute a malicious script that infects your PC with spyware.

Modern browsers now have popup stoppers built in - otherwise install the Google toolbar and enable the popup stopper facility.  With Firefox there are several standard addins that most people use, including Adblock and Noscript.  Use the Firefox Tools - Addons menu to find, download and install the addons.

9. Email Client

Don't use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, use Thunderbird or a web-based email service such as gmail (avoid hotmail).  Always be careful when opening email attachments.  It is usually safe with Thunderbird to open an email, but be careful if you receive an attachment to the email.  If unsure the safest way is to save the attachment to a temporary folder on your hard disk and then scan the file with your anti-virus or anti-spyware software.

10.  Other Applications

There are a number of standard applications that you will probably wish to install on your PC:

If you want to download movies and MP3s from the internet, I recommend using a Bittorrent client such as uTorrent.  Bittorrent is safer than many other methods - ie you are less likely to have your PC attacked or compromised.  Most other applications will not be internet dependent, but I do recommend turning off the features that automatically check for internet updates and download and install them. 

© In the Light, 18 March, 2011 , Disclaimer, Son of Suckerfish drop-downs from HTML dog