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Subject: Happy New Years 2002 - best practices

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Lee Drake
Posts:238

05/20/2002 1:22 PM
David, Brett and I would like to take this time to thank you all for participating in Viruswarning. We've been able to get the news out on potentially harmful viruses, worms and security threats in a timely and accurate manner for over a year now, and in that time our list has grown tremendously. We are currently well over 200 subscribers and going strong. We have subscribers all over the world, individuals, small one user shops, and huge multi-nationals. We even have a subscriber or two from well known AntiVirus product companies. Lately we've had the satisfying experience of having a number of our list subscribers email, call or write to us telling us that we saved them from opening a harmful attachment. We're glad we can make a difference. In that year we've also seen an incredible explosion in the number, cleverness and fast spread of viruses and trojans that threaten our computer resources with compromise or damage. We hope we've helped some of you with making your computer environment a safer and more secure one, and that we've prevented grief for at least one or two of you who might otherwise have been caught by one of these destructive missives. This list will remain committed to attempting to give you early warning on verified viruses that appear to be widespread or to have potentially very damaging consequences. Unlike similar services from virus vendors we don't purport to announce EVERY virus - just the ones we've actually seen causing problems in the "wild" based on reports from our many users and verified by information from news and antivirus company sources. Many of you may be purchasing computers for your year end, or getting new systems as gifts for yourself or others. Don't forget that from the first email you receive or the first time you connect to the internet, your box is vulnerable to infection or compromise. Be sure that you've followed some simple safety precautions: 1) Install antivirus software before bringing the machine online. Preferably a well known, frequently updated, product such as Norton Antivirus or McAfee. Be sure email attachment scanning and heuristic virus scanning is enabled. www.mcafee.com www.sarc.com 2) If your machine is going to be exposed on the internet through a broadband connection consider a personal firewall product such as ZoneAlarm. www.zonealarm.com 3) If you have multiple machines on a broadband connection consider adding a hardware firewall protection box at the connection to the internet. Both of the following make good inexpensive products: www.linksys.com www.dlink.com 4) Be sure that all your windows, internet explorer and media player patches are up to date: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com 5) Be sure that your antivirus signatures are up to date by running liveupdate or the McAfee update download program regularly (at least once a day recommended). 6) Check your email (if using Outlook or Outlook Express) and be sure that it's configured for the RESTRICTED security zone. 7) You can also visit the following sites for tips on security and your system: www.grc.com (port scanning and verification of firewall status) www.microsoft.com/security (security checklists and a testing tool for some platforms) www.zonelabs.com (for information about Zonealarm) www.sarc.com (for information about Norton antivirus configuration) www.mcafee.com (for information about McAfee antivirus configuration) http://www.leedrake.com/virus_notification.htm for instructions to subscribe new users, or unsubscribe yourself from this list. As most of you know, we don't use this list to solicit you for business or to advertise our companies. It's strictly been as a service to you to help to share our knowledge and make your computing environment a little bit better. We intend to continue that tradition into the future. Aztek Computer Solutions, P6 Consulting and Periwinkle Communications wish you a happy and safe holiday, and a productive and profitable New Year. www.azcomputer.net Aztek's Site www.p6c.com P6 Consulting's Site www.toto.com Periwinkle Communication's Site. Lee Drake, Moderator

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