samba - Dec 2002 - Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 12: Safety For Children On The Web & Virus Protection

SAFETY FOR CHILDREN ON THE WEB
Compliments of www.milfordpc.com, PC and Network services with over 10 years of
Technical Experience

"Cyberprowlers" know that children today are computer savvy, and know
that they generally are very trusting of people. They use this knowledge to
befriend them, and can be dangerous if they learn information about who the
child is, where s/he lives, or tries to arrange a meeting. If you have children,
check some of the sites listed below.

General Guidelines
* Teach your children about safety online; children should never give out
personal information such as full name, address, birth date, phone number, where
they go to school or other identifying information
* Monitor your childrens' online activity; know what they do online. Let
children know you are not being nosy; that you are only trying to protect them
* Don't place a computer that is attached to the Internet in a child's
bedroom; keep wired computers in a main area in the house where online problems
can be easily detected
* Research children-friendly aides such as monitors (which can tell you where
your child has visited), filters (which prevent your child from visiting sites
based on various criteria), Internet service providers (ISPs) with
child-friendly access, and suggesting children use child-friendly search engines
such as www.yahooligans.com.




Quick Tips

What you should do if you are infected by a computer bug
Turn off all active shares (file sharing)that you are running on your computer
so that your computer is not accessible on the department network. Do not send
any emails prior to resolving this issue.


Identify the virus - most computer viruses can be identified by simply running a
virus detection program like McAfee VirusScan. Download a copy from OIT's
website now if you do not have one. (note: the download link will only work if
you are on campus).


Find a solution - please take a moment and visit
http://vil.nai.com/vil/default.asp. McAfee puts up a exhuastive list of computer
viruses and directions to eradicating them. Please note that though most
solutions don't require you to use McAfee's VirusScan product, we
recommend that you uninstall any other virus detection program and install
McAfee's.
Contact us immediately if you are unable to perform these tasks. Make sure you
power down (shut-off) your PC and unplug the network cable from the computer
and/or the wall jack.



What you can do to keep your computer safe
Like any rational system the prevention of a problem is much desirable to
finding it's solution. We have provided the following checklist that our
clients may use as a guideline to protect themselves from various computer
attacks.



[ ] Turn off File Sharing if you do not need it.
By default file sharing is turn on automatically when you install Microsoft
Windows NT/2000/XP. Most people do not need to share files but they may need to
access them from other people. Turning file sharing off will not hamper your
ability to access other computers on the network and collect data.
[ ] Do not share the root of your main drives.
The C: drive is usually the main drive in windows machines because this is where
the system files are stored. Sharing the whole drive is not recommended as it
makes it easier for these files to be corrupted or possibly deleted remotely. We
advice that you create a folder in this drive and share only that folder on the
network. Once again root shares are default in Windows NT/2000 for logical
reasons that do not apply to most users.
[ ] Password protect your shared folders (when possible).
[ ] Make sure you have a virus detection program.
You can download McAfee VirusScan from OIT (highly recommended)
[ ] Firewall anyone?
For extra security you could purchase or download firewall software. A firewall
closes all the entry points to your computer and don't restrict access. In
its simple form it will make your computer invisible to the network and
internet. The side effect is that you will not be able to access your computer
remotely in most cases. A good freeware firewall program is Sygate Personal
Firewall. Download this from TUCOWS.com.

Compliments of www.milfordpc.com, PC and Network services with over 10 years of
Technical Experience