Cleaning Your Windows

Continued from page 1

By Simson Garfinkel

January 28, 2004

Updates, Updates, Updates

The first thing to do when you get a new computer-especially if that computer is running a Microsoft operating system-is to connect it to the Internet and download all the product updates you possibly can. Updates fix bugs and security problems that the vendor discovered after the computer was shipped to you: a few years ago Microsoft made this process particular easy with its "Windows Update" service.

Unfortunately, Windows Update is problematic. Its most important flaw is that it does not run automatically. Ideally, the first time you connect to the Internet, XP would download any updates that it needs. In practice, though, you need to do this manually-and frequently, you need to run it several times, rebooting your computer after each major update is installed.

(It turns out that you can program Windows Update to automatically check for updates at a scheduled time, download them automatically, and even install them. To do this, you need to right-click on the Window's Update Notification window. It's likely that such automatic downloading and installation of updates will be the default on a future version of Windows.)

From a security point of view, the biggest problem with Windows Update is that your computer can be attacked while you are downloading the updates necessary to make your computer secure. This irony isn't theoretical: according to the latest data from the Honeynet Project, a group of computer buffs who set up computers for the purpose of having them broken into, a new machine will typically be scanned for a vulnerability within an hour of being placed on the Internet. If your system is vulnerable, it will be compromised.

The solution here is to put your computer on the Internet behind one of those home router/firewalls-the kind of boxes that let you share a single Internet connection among multiple computers. These routers also prevent random computers on the Internet from reaching into your home network and mucking with your machines. (If you don't have one of these home routers, you should get one-even if you only have a single computer.)

Once you're done with Windows Update, you should now check to see if there are updates available for any of your other pre-installed applications. On Michelle's Dell, for instance, I noticed a little warning saying "Devices or applications disabled" every time I rebooted the computer:

It turns out that the copy of Roxio DirectCD that Dell pre-installed on the computer wasn't compatible with Windows XP.  Clicking on the warning took me to a window that had a link on it that in turn, took me to the Roxio Web site. Unfortunately, instead of letting me just download the patch, Roxio tried to sell me a $59.95 upgrade for Easy CD & DVD Creator. No thanks-I just wanted the update. (In fact, there was no update to download; Microsoft had misinformed me.)

While you're thinking about security, you should probably spend the extra money and upgrade your antivirus system. Most computers these days come with a "trial version" of McAfee or Norton Anti-Virus that promises free updates for three months or so. Unfortunately, many people just use the free protection and never upgrade, leaving their systems vulnerable. While there are several free antivirus systems out there, my experience with the free ones has been uniformly bad. As with Windows Update, you should be sure that your computer is set to automatically download and install updates without user intervention.