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Handy Computer Security Tips From People Who Should Know – the NSA

Posted on: May 22nd, 2011 by under Apple, Computer Security, Microsoft, Operating Systems | No Comments

When it comes to our computer systems, it’s pretty safe to say that everyone recognizes the need to be security-conscious. But how many of us really know what to do beyond setting passwords?

If you work in information security, you don’t need our help. For the rest of you, where do you begin? The task can seem daunting to the average user.

Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to help you, even too many, probably. So where do you start?

Well, how about from the people responsible for securing the nation’s information – the National Security Agency (NSA).

From the NSA Mission Statement:

The Information Assurance mission confronts the formidable challenge of preventing foreign adversaries from gaining access to sensitive or classified national security information. The Signals Intelligence mission collects, processes, and disseminates intelligence information from foreign signals for intelligence and counterintelligence purposes and to support military operations. This Agency also enables Network Warfare operations to defeat terrorists and their organizations at home and abroad, consistent with U.S. laws and the protection of privacy and civil liberties.

Surprisingly enough, this agency that lives and breathes secrecy, publishes a wide range of security guides that are completely yours to use for free.

Whether you are an Apple, Windows or Linux user, there are two guides specifically for you at these links:

Operating Systems.

Best Practices for Securing a Home Network

For the main page where you can browse all of the guides (categories on the left), go to:

Security Configuration Guides

These guides are good starting points. Be proactive – don’t wait for something bad to happen.

 

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Creating Private Folders in Microsoft Windows XP

Posted on: December 5th, 2010 by under Company News, Microsoft, Operating Systems | No Comments

Creating private folders in Microsoft Windows XP is a simple, if somewhat limited process. Here is a quick how-to on how to accomplish this.

There are two possible scenarios.

1) You want to make some folders accessible only when you are logged on with your user account.

2) You want to make some folders inaccessible to anyone without a password, including administrator.

Scenario 1:
•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS. For information about converting your drive to NTFS, check here.

Scenario 2:

My Private Folder is a free Microsoft utility that can be used to password protect one folder per user (profile) applying encryption without resorting to full fledged EFS Windows Encrypting File System.

My Private Folder can be downloaded here, and the install is straightforward. The utility places a shortcut to the password protected folder in C:\Documents and Settings\ on your desktop.

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Top Ten Microsoft Windows 7 Features – Free Video Tutorial

Posted on: October 11th, 2010 by under Operating Systems | No Comments

Here is a short, but informative video highlighting some of the new features you’ll find in Microsoft Windows 7:

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Must-Use Utility: Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Posted on: April 15th, 2010 by under Operating Systems | No Comments

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

I like Windows 7 and it’s safe to use.  There, I said it. Coming from someone who has refused to sell or use a PC with Windows Vista, this is nothing to sneeze at.

If you’re buying a new Windows PC, by all means, get it with Windows 7. If you have a Vista PC, run, don’t walk to your computer dealer and order up a Windows 7 Upgrade.

If you’re running Windows XP, it’s a tougher call. There is no direct upgrade from XP to Windows 7 and 7 has some hardware requirements that older XP PCs probably won’t meet. If your PC is 2 years old or less, Windows 7 should run, but some hardware upgrades, like adding more memory, might be helpful.

Regardless of your computer, if you want to consider an upgrade to Windows 7, there is one thing you must do first: Run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. This is a simple and free download from Microsoft that will check your computer and tell you if it is capable of running Windows 7.

Click here to download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

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Dreadfully Slow Windows Startup?

Posted on: April 4th, 2010 by under Microsoft, Operating Systems, Troubleshooting | No Comments

Do you turn your Windows computer on and then go look for something else to do? Is the hourglass your constant companion at startup?

Well, there is a quick and easy thing you can do which will instantly shorten your computer start-up time. Meet your new best friend, the Windows MSCONFIG utility.

Using this tool, you can speed up the startup time of almost any Microsoft Windows PC. As programs get installed in Windows, many of them have utilities that are set to start up every time Windows starts.

While some of these programs can be useful, there is no reason they have to be set to automatically start up and be continually running.

It’s easy to disable some of these optional programs, like Windows messenger, Yahoo messenger, Adobe Reader, QuickTime, GoogleUpdater, printer utilities and many others.

To use this utility, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

For Windows 7 or Vista, Click the Start button and type msconfig in the search box and then press Enter. If you have Windows XP, you’ll need to click the start button and then “run” before typing in msconfig.

(You can find step-by-step instructions for whatever Windows operating system you have, HERE.)

A small System Configuration Utility dialog box will appear. Select the “Startup” tab and uncheck the applications that you want to disable from windows startup. Here an example of what the screen will look like.

msconfig

A note about making changes. Be sure you don’t uncheck anything that pertains to your antivirus program. Expand the command column to see what vendor has installed each program. If you see McAfee, Symantec, Norton, Webroot, Trend Micro, AVG or other antivirus vendors mentioned, leave those alone.

After making your changes, click on the Apply button to implement the changes then click on OK button to end the configuration process.

You will need to restart your computer for the changes to go into effect. Assuming you had quite a few programs to disable, your computer should now start up much quicker!

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