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Think Security First! Security Awareness for Small Business, Home Office and Home computing |
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Think Security First! is designed to provide basic information relative to a safe computing environment. |
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The following "Links & Tips" reflect the experience of the Think Security First! (TSF!) staff and thus are not unbiased. These links in no way result in remuneration to Think Security First! or any of its staff.
Anti-Virus Software Vendors -There are many anti-virus products. This list presents those that the staff at Think Security First! consider worthy of your consideration. Of the remainder, some are intentionally omitted and the others we are not familiar enough with to place on the list.
Should you wish another opinion we recommend that you consult the evaluations contained at www.pcmag.com and www.pcworld.com. While, in our opinion, these evauations are too driven by advertisers, we are unaware of any evaluations that are better.
avast! Anti-Virus - http://www.avast.com/
The professional staff at Think Security First! use the avast! Pro Edition on their work computers and use avast! Home on the personal computers in their homes.
AVG (Grisoft) Anti-Virus - http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1
Kapersky Anti-Virus - http://www.kaspersky.com/
McAfee Anti-Virus - http://www.mcafee.com/us/
Symantec (Norton) Anti-Virus - http://www.symantec.com/index.htm
Trend-Micro Anti-Virus - http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/home.htm
ZoneAlarm Anti-Virus - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
Zone Labs, creator of the ZoneAlarm firewall is a product used and favored by the professional staff at Think Security First!. We do bundle other ZoneAlarm products with our firewall but prefer to keep our anti-virus software separate. If you like to have a one product solution we believe that the appropriate ZoneAlarm bundle could be right for you.
Anti-Spyware Software Vendors - The anti-spyware market is relatively new and is still immature. The staff at Think Security First! has limited experience in this arena and thus those identified are limited. Of the remainder, some are intentionally omitted and the others we are not familiar enough with to place on the list.
Lavasoft (Ad-Aware) Anti-Spyware - http://www.lavasoft.com/
Webroot (Spysweeper) Anti-Spyware - http://www.webroot.com/
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
Zone Labs, creator of the ZoneAlarm firewall is a product used and favored by the professional staff at Think Security First!. We do use the bundle of the ZoneAlarm Firewall and Anti-Spyware titled "ZoneAlarm Pro". It is often said that you need to run more than one Anti-Spyware product to catch them all. Prior to the ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware this was our experience. Since acquiring ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware and evaluated through extensive testing we no longer find the need to run another anti-spyware product.
Anti-Spam Products -The staff at Think Security First! has very limited experience with anti-spam products. Most internet service providers (ISP) provide anti-spam tools as a part of their service which should meet the needs of the typical Internet user. Our staff has eMail accounts beyond our ISP and, as well, we do not use the common eMail clients (Outlook Express, Outlook, etc.). As a result our experience in this arena is not appropriate for most. Should you be curious you can view our preference at our commercial web site.
Anti-Phising Products -The anti-phising market is extremely immature. At this time we are not willing to recommend any product in this category. They are at best helpers and may create a false sense of security. Your best phising defense is your own wariness. Links in eMail should NEVER be clicked on. Rather, copy and paste or type the address yourself. Be wary.
Norton (Symantec) Removal Challenges - Numerous complaints seem to be lodged constantly by individuals trying to remove Norton products by Symantec. Try as they may, the usual uninstall processes do not work. Those of us at TSF! have encountered the problem as well and have succeeded through the brute force approach. This is not a recommended technique nor will be offer any such guidance. Rather, Symantec has created a tool called SYMClean and provides generous documentation on how to go about removing the Norton family of products. We recommend that you go to www.symantec.com and enter "symclean", with or without quotes. This will bring you to a page that provides all of the most current information regarding using the Norton
SystemWorks™ cleanup utility (SYMClean). Be sure to read all of the advice, perhaps printing each and following their instructions carefully. Good luck.
Online Backup - Backups, by their very nature, prove to be a bit of a pain and are often ignored. What if you had access to a service that automatically backs up the data you choose, when you tell it to, encrypts it by a key of your choosing, all for free? Such a service is available providing your total data backup does not exceed 2GB. For many that is more than enough for their data of importance. Many should be able to backup all of "My Documents" within 2GB. There are numerous online backup services but none that we know of that provide a basic free service. Try Mozy...it might fill your needs. More space is available for a fee.
Mozy Online Storage - http://mozy.com/
Password Management - Password management is a challenge for all of us. If your needs are limited (10 passwords or less), this one is free without time limitation. Roboform is a great product with many other features and extremely secure. Visit their web site and learn much more. There are other password managment products with various degrees of functionality.
Roboform Password Manager - http://www.roboform.com/
VOIP (Voice Over IP) Products - VOIP, think of using your telephone without a bill from the telephone company, is growing rapidly in the home/small business market. It is likely that your cable company offers it and there are other independents. As a result our experience in this arena is not appropriate for most. Should you be curious you can view our preference at our commercial web site.
Firewall Software -The desktop firewall software market has improved significantly. Now that the likes of Symantec and McAfee have developed somewhat credible products, there are far too many to evaluate on your own unless that is all that you are doing. While we remain advocates of the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall, it is time to recognize that there are better free products than the free firewall from ZoneAlarm. Thus, we recommend that if you wish to obtain a quality free desktop firewall that you take a close look at the following evaluation: http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/results.php.
What you will discover is that some of the free firewalls meet head-on with the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall. While we still favor ZoneAlarm Pro, we must admit that the Comodo Firewall Pro, which is free, is a worthy competitor. Check-out the following link to learn more about it and other firewalls evaluated: http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/results.php
We are now in the process of conducting our own evaluation of Comodo Firewall Pro and expect that it will be our firewall of choice for the home environment when a low cost product is preferred. We still feel confident that there is only one product that has withstood the test of time and is the one that has introduced every new feature well in advance of its newcomer competition. When we acquired new PCs, we evaluated the firewall delivered and quickly found it inadequate and, that does include the Microsoft firewall. We regret that we are unwilling to discuss other firewalls at this time, but the following firewall has been used by our staff for more than 6-years:
ZoneAlarm Firewall - http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/catalog_main.jsp. The ZoneAlarm Pro firewall is a reliable product. We believe that you should not buy the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite. The one product you need in addition to the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall is a quality antivirus tool. In the beginning ZoneAlarm Pro may test your patience but in the end it will have been worth the effort.
Firewall Hardware -There are numerous types of firewall hardware available for the home/home office/small business. Essentially, any location using less than a dozen networked devices will be served well by any of the NAT (network address translation) products most commonly offered as a byproduct of "routers" whether wired or wireless. In our experience wireless routers tend to be less than completely stable and thus prefer that a wired router be used if any devices on the network are wired. Your wireless router can be connected to the wired router.
The constant advances in wireless routers is such that we are unwilling to make any recommendations. We have tried many different brands and every one has its shortcomings. Thus, we recommend the SMC line of wired routers and the following one in particular:
SMC7004VBR Barricade™ 4-Port 10/100Mbps Broadband Router - The SMC7004VBR broadband router provides home and small business users with an ideal networking solution offering the ultimate in mobility and flexibility. Compatible with PC, Macintosh, and Linux, this multifunctional router combines a 4-port 10/100 Mbps dual-speed switch, full-featured Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, and Web-based management into one convenient device. The SMC7004VBR also supports Network Address Translation (NAT).
Current Information - While there are many sites that provide information regarding various security issues including those that relate to spam, phishing and malware, the information provided by Microsoft is consistently the most end user friendly.
Microsoft Security Alerts - http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/default.mspx
Microsoft Security Alerts - http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/default.mspx
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Microsoft: Fighting unwanted e-mail (spam)
Microsoft: Fighting unwanted e-mail (spam)
•Microsoft: Block Pop-up Windows with Internet Explorer
•http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/web/sp2_popupblocker.mspx
Would you like to know when meaningful updates including new links are added to our site? If so, please switch to our home page and sign up for the newsletter.
Would you like to know when meaningful updates including new links are added to our site? If so, please switch to our home page and sign up for the newsletter.
Anti-Virus Software Vendors -There are many anti-virus products. This list presents those that the staff at Think Security First! consider worthy of your consideration. Of the remainder, some are intentionally omitted and the others we are not familiar enough with to place on the list.
Should you wish another opinion we recommend that you consult the evaluations contained at www.pcmag.com and www.pcworld.com. While, in our opinion, these evauations are too driven by advertisers, we are unaware of any evaluations that are better.
avast! Anti-Virus - http://www.avast.com/
The professional staff at Think Security First! use the avast! Pro Edition on their work computers and use avast! Home on the personal computers in their homes.
AVG (Grisoft) Anti-Virus - http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1
Kapersky Anti-Virus - http://www.kaspersky.com/
McAfee Anti-Virus - http://www.mcafee.com/us/
Symantec (Norton) Anti-Virus - http://www.symantec.com/index.htm
Trend-Micro Anti-Virus - http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/home.htm
ZoneAlarm Anti-Virus - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
Zone Labs, creator of the ZoneAlarm firewall is a product used and favored by the professional staff at Think Security First!. We do bundle other ZoneAlarm products with our firewall but prefer to keep our anti-virus software separate. If you like to have a one product solution we believe that the appropriate ZoneAlarm bundle could be right for you.
Anti-Spyware Software Vendors - The anti-spyware market is relatively new and is still immature. The staff at Think Security First! has limited experience in this arena and thus those identified are limited. Of the remainder, some are intentionally omitted and the others we are not familiar enough with to place on the list.
Lavasoft (Ad-Aware) Anti-Spyware - http://www.lavasoft.com/
Webroot (Spysweeper) Anti-Spyware - http://www.webroot.com/
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
Zone Labs, creator of the ZoneAlarm firewall is a product used and favored by the professional staff at Think Security First!. We do use the bundle of the ZoneAlarm Firewall and Anti-Spyware titled "ZoneAlarm Pro". It is often said that you need to run more than one Anti-Spyware product to catch them all. Prior to the ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware this was our experience. Since acquiring ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware and evaluated through extensive testing we no longer find the need to run another anti-spyware product.
Anti-Spam Products -The staff at Think Security First! has very limited experience with anti-spam products. Most internet service providers (ISP) provide anti-spam tools as a part of their service which should meet the needs of the typical Internet user. Our staff has eMail accounts beyond our ISP and, as well, we do not use the common eMail clients (Outlook Express, Outlook, etc.). As a result our experience in this arena is not appropriate for most. Should you be curious you can view our preference at our commercial web site.
Anti-Phising Products -The anti-phising market is extremely immature. At this time we are not willing to recommend any product in this category. They are at best helpers and may create a false sense of security. Your best phising defense is your own wariness. Links in eMail should NEVER be clicked on. Rather, copy and paste or type the address yourself. Be wary.
Norton (Symantec) Removal Challenges - Numerous complaints seem to be lodged constantly by individuals trying to remove Norton products by Symantec. Try as they may, the usual uninstall processes do not work. Those of us at TSF! have encountered the problem as well and have succeeded through the brute force approach. This is not a recommended technique nor will be offer any such guidance. Rather, Symantec has created a tool called SYMClean and provides generous documentation on how to go about removing the Norton family of products. We recommend that you go to www.symantec.com and enter "symclean", with or without quotes. This will bring you to a page that provides all of the most current information regarding using the Norton
SystemWorks™ cleanup utility (SYMClean). Be sure to read all of the advice, perhaps printing each and following their instructions carefully. Good luck.
Online Backup - Backups, by their very nature, prove to be a bit of a pain and are often ignored. What if you had access to a service that automatically backs up the data you choose, when you tell it to, encrypts it by a key of your choosing, all for free? Such a service is available providing your total data backup does not exceed 2GB. For many that is more than enough for their data of importance. Many should be able to backup all of "My Documents" within 2GB. There are numerous online backup services but none that we know of that provide a basic free service. Try Mozy...it might fill your needs. More space is available for a fee.
Mozy Online Storage - http://mozy.com/
Password Management - Password management is a challenge for all of us. If your needs are limited (10 passwords or less), this one is free without time limitation. Roboform is a great product with many other features and extremely secure. Visit their web site and learn much more. There are other password managment products with various degrees of functionality.
Roboform Password Manager - http://www.roboform.com/
VOIP (Voice Over IP) Products - VOIP, think of using your telephone without a bill from the telephone company, is growing rapidly in the home/small business market. It is likely that your cable company offers it and there are other independents. As a result our experience in this arena is not appropriate for most. Should you be curious you can view our preference at our commercial web site.
Firewall Software -The desktop firewall software market has improved significantly. Now that the likes of Symantec and McAfee have developed somewhat credible products, there are far too many to evaluate on your own unless that is all that you are doing. While we remain advocates of the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall, it is time to recognize that there are better free products than the free firewall from ZoneAlarm. Thus, we recommend that if you wish to obtain a quality free desktop firewall that you take a close look at the following evaluation: http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/results.php.
What you will discover is that some of the free firewalls meet head-on with the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall. While we still favor ZoneAlarm Pro, we must admit that the Comodo Firewall Pro, which is free, is a worthy competitor. Check-out the following link to learn more about it and other firewalls evaluated: http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/results.php
We are now in the process of conducting our own evaluation of Comodo Firewall Pro and expect that it will be our firewall of choice for the home environment when a low cost product is preferred. We still feel confident that there is only one product that has withstood the test of time and is the one that has introduced every new feature well in advance of its newcomer competition. When we acquired new PCs, we evaluated the firewall delivered and quickly found it inadequate and, that does include the Microsoft firewall. We regret that we are unwilling to discuss other firewalls at this time, but the following firewall has been used by our staff for more than 6-years:
ZoneAlarm Firewall - http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/catalog_main.jsp. The ZoneAlarm Pro firewall is a reliable product. We believe that you should not buy the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite. The one product you need in addition to the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall is a quality antivirus tool. In the beginning ZoneAlarm Pro may test your patience but in the end it will have been worth the effort.
Firewall Hardware -There are numerous types of firewall hardware available for the home/home office/small business. Essentially, any location using less than a dozen networked devices will be served well by any of the NAT (network address translation) products most commonly offered as a byproduct of "routers" whether wired or wireless. In our experience wireless routers tend to be less than completely stable and thus prefer that a wired router be used if any devices on the network are wired. Your wireless router can be connected to the wired router.
The constant advances in wireless routers is such that we are unwilling to make any recommendations. We have tried many different brands and every one has its shortcomings. Thus, we recommend the SMC line of wired routers and the following one in particular:
SMC7004VBR Barricade™ 4-Port 10/100Mbps Broadband Router - The SMC7004VBR broadband router provides home and small business users with an ideal networking solution offering the ultimate in mobility and flexibility. Compatible with PC, Macintosh, and Linux, this multifunctional router combines a 4-port 10/100 Mbps dual-speed switch, full-featured Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, and Web-based management into one convenient device. The SMC7004VBR also supports Network Address Translation (NAT).
Copyright . Robert E. Johnston, CISSP. All rights reserved.
