It's All Geek To Me - August 27th 2003

I don't know about you, but when people start talking to me about firewalls, virus protection and hackers, my eyes roll back in my head and everything goes blank. If this describes you, even a little, read on - ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.

As always, this newsletter is brought to you by KISS Computing, and focuses on giving you practical, interesting insights into how to successfully use technology as a tool to improve the way you do business.

If you have an idea for something you'd like to see here in the future just send me an e-mail at amy@kisscomputing.com.

Recently we’ve had some rather substantial email virus issues – for people with VASH in place it was an annoyance, for people without it the problems have been bigger.

To work or play well on the Internet you must, repeat must, have four things – VASH. This has been true for years and recent events have only underscored what users should have been doing all along.

This newsletter talks about how you can get everything you need to safely deal with the web for FREE – so there really is no excuse to not have these systems in place.

VASH stands for Virus, Address/Action, Spam, and Hackers.

Anti-virus software comes from a number of large commercial vendors – most people either run Norton or McAfee. The key to antivirus software is to update your definitions regularly – out of date software is of little use against new threats and there are about 20 new viruses that appear each day. At KISS Michael uses Avast, a free for the home user program that works very well – it hasn’t missed anything Norton has found.

Be sure you are running anti-virus software, be sure to update your definitions regularly, and plan to scan your system on a regular basis.

Address/Action tools – lots of names for this, from as simple as email address books to full blown CRM software. You have to have some way of tracking your customers and how you deal with them. Regularized communications need to be automated – it always fascinates me how many smart people work so hard with bad tools.

For an email client we like Eudora – free if you don’t mind the ads.

For a client database we use a custom web based solution (hardly a surprise) but OpenOffice.org Math is a solid solution.

Know that you must track your contacts somehow and the more automation you can put into your day to day communications the more time you can spend focused on your own business.

Spam solutions – spam filtering has been a hot topic lately as most major ISP’s begin to adopt their own proprietary solutions. Spam filtering can be done at a very basic level with email client filters (e.g. if subject is Viagra then trash it). You can read more about setting this type of email filtering in an old IAGTM tech tip.

More advanced are external spam programs - they use a system of tests to score each message and then decide what is or isn’t spam. My personal favorite is Saproxy, which uses spam assassin technology.

Again, this is free but you can make a donation if you’d like.

Make sure you are running some sort of anti-spam solution, the more email you get the more robust a solution you’ll need.

Hackers – everyone’s favorite. At some point in the future I’ll write an article on why I think hackers are good, but for today let’s focus on what you need to do – keep them out of your systems.

If your business is big enough to have an IT person you probably should have a hardware firewall between you and the Internet – we use a Netscreen at KISS; you may also consider a Cisco PIX, and Netgear has a nice lower end solution - $175 for an 8 port.

At a minimum you should run some sort of software based firewall – my personal favorite is Zone Alarm, again free for personal use.

People are out there scanning the entire Internet looking for vulnerable computers, you need something in place to protect yourself.

So that’s the checklist – life with VASH has always been much better than life without it. There will be new threats, changing conditions, different problems, but if you keep your VASH in line they’ll never cause too much trouble for you.

Do Your Part - - > This Week's Tech Tip
by Michael McGrath

I subscribe to ZDNet's TechUpdate daily e-newsletter, read it faithfully,and find it a great source of helpful information. In his August 21 column, David Berlind takes Microsoft to task, or more specifically, takes Windows Update to task, for its user unfriendliness. He makes some very good points, and I'll let you read them yourself if you're interested. The subject of this Tech Tip is not so much the user unfriendliness of Windows Update, but rather, now, its unavailability.

Go ahead, check it out: go to http://windowsupdate.com and see what happens. You'll get that message that says “Action Canceled” and “The page might be temporarily unavailable.” It used to be there, but today it's not.

Now try http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and see what happens. Better, right? Well, those of you using Windows 98, for instance, wouldn't know about this, because your Menu link to Windows Update (Start - - > Windows Update) is linked to the first URL, the one that takes you nowhere. You will be able to connect to the Windows update Web site by typing http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com into the Address Bar of Internet Explorer. You folks with XP will be taken to the proper address, the one that's actually available.

So, you've gotten yourself to the right page, been welcomed to Windows Update . . . . now what? You'll find in baby blue text “Scan for updates” with a green arrow beside it. Click this link and Windows Update will scan your computer, the end result of which will be to provide you with a selection of updates tailored just for your system. You'll also find a recently added section on this page that describes steps you could take to protect yourself from the Blaster Worm, last week's sinister infection. Follow the advice, grab the updates, patch the security holes.

How important is all this “stuff”? One of the reasons viruses are able to spread so easily is because too many don't get the message, too many don't take the necessary precautions. Read Ross's column again, now, and follow his advice. And remember to add Windows Update, at the right address, to keep your operating system current. You'll be doing your part to keep the internet running smoothly.

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