April 1 is approaching, with its usual threats of internet bots and viruses -- this year some particularly grim ones. Please take a moment to make sure your computer is secure.
The three best computer moves I've ever made (and 2 of them are free):
1) Secunia vulnerability scanning. It's free, and it scans all the programs on my computer to make sure they're up to date and not leaving any barn doors open due to known security vulnerabilities. Adobe, Flash, Quicktime and such programs are real hotpoints for that sort of thing, and Secunia will catch them all, monitor as they get updated, tell you where to get the updates, and tell you why each vulnerability is a risk. If you don't already have Secunia, go here now and download it: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal.
2) AVG Anti-Virus free. I walked away from the annual fees and the system-hogging of commercial virus scanners and started using AVG free. It is quick, effective, and has kept me safe. http://free.avg.com/ If you aren't convinced a free anti-virus program can be as good as -- even better than -- one of the paid-for heavy hitters, read this article: http://weblog.infoworld.com/securityadviser/archives/2008/12/the_only_two_th.html
3) And, finally, Mozy for computer backups. I started with the free version, and was so impressed I now use the paid version, which allows me to back up bigger stuff -- all of it! I back up photos and my music library now, not just document files. I pay a small annual fee and I control when the backups occur. I can restore a single file or a folder or everything with about 2 clicks. For a fleeting moment I considered a separate hard-drive backup instead, but all hardware fails, eventually, and I wanted something off-site, so if a tree falls on the computer and the backup hardware I can still get to the files and keep working. (Don't laugh about the tree -- the Cherry Pie Press computer has narrowly escaped two very large tree disasters over the last few years, one of elm and one of oak.) MozyHome Remote Backup, http://www.mozy.com/.
Showing posts with label Secunia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Secunia. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Keep your poems safe: Part 2
I've improved my backup and cleanup strategy a little, and greatly simplified it (again!).
Earlier I'd crowed about the security scan at http://www.secunia.com/, and I'm still crowing but they've added a significant upgrade, and still (for now at least) it's free. Secunia offers Secunia PSI, which you can download and run from your computer (instead of just from their website). Secunia PSI adds some significant handy stuff -- you can configure it easily to run at startup or whenever you want, and after the initial download and first-time scan it performs seamlessly, quietly, and does so without hogging the system. It displays links for updating software, clear indications of whether the software you have is dangerously outdated or is merely obsolete, and allows you to say "ignore" if you know it's obsolete but want to keep it anyway. It provides links to the vendor website for software that is obsolete, so you can look for replacement software.
What does this have to do with poetry? Ah, not much. But if you're reading this blog, you are probably writing and storing poems on your computer, so you'd best keep that system in good shape. Secunia PSI is a first-rate way to do that. If you let programs such as Java (which you probably have, even if you aren't aware of it) or Adobe get outdated, you've left the barn door open and nasty little viruses may come creeping in to do unspeakable things to your computer. Secunia PSI requires one download, and from there you can let it do its thing, and it will politely and unobstrusively inform you when any program has been updated, or has gone obsolete and needs a spruce-up.
That leaves....backups! I still use http://www.box.net/ and highly recommend it, for quick file backups and for file sharing. I have also started using MozyHome (http://www.mozy.com/) which, like Secunia, requires a free download, one initial setup and run, and then purrs like a kitten in the background to keep your system forever backed up. MozyHome requires patience the very first time you run it -- you tell it what you want backed up, and it does your complete backup, telling you how much of the available free online space you are using. My backup took about 12 hours, and included quite a lot of documents and spreadsheets and photos. After that first run, I've set MozyHome to run backups every week, quietly in the background, and it does so obligingly and quietly and very quickly, since it picks up only files that have changed since the last backup. It also will let you restore individual folders or files quite easily. It's a dream. It is, in fact, much easier to use than http://www.box.net/.
So, for 0 dollars -- zip! nada! -- I have two reliable backups, with one of them covering all documents on my computer and regularly backing up any changes. And for the same great price I have a scan, thorough and now ongoing, to make sure my virus-prone applications don't get outdated and vulnerable. Secunia PSI and MozyHome are both easy to download, easy to configure for when you want them to run, and after the initial setup are reliable, pain-free, and best of breed. Even the technologically faint of heart can use them without breaking a sweat.
Earlier I'd crowed about the security scan at http://www.secunia.com/, and I'm still crowing but they've added a significant upgrade, and still (for now at least) it's free. Secunia offers Secunia PSI, which you can download and run from your computer (instead of just from their website). Secunia PSI adds some significant handy stuff -- you can configure it easily to run at startup or whenever you want, and after the initial download and first-time scan it performs seamlessly, quietly, and does so without hogging the system. It displays links for updating software, clear indications of whether the software you have is dangerously outdated or is merely obsolete, and allows you to say "ignore" if you know it's obsolete but want to keep it anyway. It provides links to the vendor website for software that is obsolete, so you can look for replacement software.
What does this have to do with poetry? Ah, not much. But if you're reading this blog, you are probably writing and storing poems on your computer, so you'd best keep that system in good shape. Secunia PSI is a first-rate way to do that. If you let programs such as Java (which you probably have, even if you aren't aware of it) or Adobe get outdated, you've left the barn door open and nasty little viruses may come creeping in to do unspeakable things to your computer. Secunia PSI requires one download, and from there you can let it do its thing, and it will politely and unobstrusively inform you when any program has been updated, or has gone obsolete and needs a spruce-up.
That leaves....backups! I still use http://www.box.net/ and highly recommend it, for quick file backups and for file sharing. I have also started using MozyHome (http://www.mozy.com/) which, like Secunia, requires a free download, one initial setup and run, and then purrs like a kitten in the background to keep your system forever backed up. MozyHome requires patience the very first time you run it -- you tell it what you want backed up, and it does your complete backup, telling you how much of the available free online space you are using. My backup took about 12 hours, and included quite a lot of documents and spreadsheets and photos. After that first run, I've set MozyHome to run backups every week, quietly in the background, and it does so obligingly and quietly and very quickly, since it picks up only files that have changed since the last backup. It also will let you restore individual folders or files quite easily. It's a dream. It is, in fact, much easier to use than http://www.box.net/.
So, for 0 dollars -- zip! nada! -- I have two reliable backups, with one of them covering all documents on my computer and regularly backing up any changes. And for the same great price I have a scan, thorough and now ongoing, to make sure my virus-prone applications don't get outdated and vulnerable. Secunia PSI and MozyHome are both easy to download, easy to configure for when you want them to run, and after the initial setup are reliable, pain-free, and best of breed. Even the technologically faint of heart can use them without breaking a sweat.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Keep your poems safe
After pouring your heart and soul into your poems, do yourself a favor and make sure you don't lose them. A few basic steps can prevent tragedy.
There are various ways of making a backup copy -- copy to some external media such as flash drive or separate hard drive, or for some people a printed copy will work just fine. But what happens if that copy goes AWOL? Backups are as likely as your primary copy to develop technical problems and become inaccessible. Consider a worst scenario -- if your house burns down have you lost your primary copy of your work AND your backup copy? Big-time ouch.
So pick a backup method that will survive a worst scenario occurence, and keep your backup current. I back up to a flash drive, and am considering an external hard drive as a faster and more reliable way to do that. I also back up to an online secure area - I used to copy everything to briefcase.yahoo.com but have recently found box.net to be easier to use, and just as free. An added bonus for online backups is that my poems are now accessible anywhere I can get internet access. Most online backup services also provide a way to share specific folders, so you can keep your backup private but copy poems into a public shared folder and define who gets access to that -- great if you need to collaborate with someone.
As a publisher, I have the same (or greater) backup concerns with my contact list, sales history, and copies of any chapbooks published or in process. Online backups are perfect for this. And a public shared folder (where I control access) is handy for backing up a cover image and also sharing it with the author while we're making final production decisions.
Ok, backups done. What else? Basic security. My day job is at a large publicly traded corporation, and since I work with computers and am responsible for supporting some of our traveling / consultant financial advisors, I can sometimes find myself on the bleeding edge of security concerns. Laptops out in the field will run into the same security issues you and I run into at home, but on a larger scale since an infected laptop can (I kid you not) bring down a significant portion of the whole company. They aren't as easy to lock into the tight security network that the in-office computers are corralled in. So let's just say I've grown paranoid, with good cause, about computer security. And I know that even some of the security whizzes at my company will confess they've been hacked or phished or otherwise faced security risks on their home personal computers despite their deep knowledge of security and despite following all the "best practices" for preventing such problems.
So whatever you are doing for security, do just a little bit more. If you're already keeping your operating system and your virus scanner and your firewall updated, great. (If you're not, go back to GO, do not collect $200, and you're already a lost cause, sorry.) Take one more easy step and go to http://www.secunia.com/, and in the left column under Software Inspectors select the "Online" option. You'll go to a screen that will offer to scan your computer for any security risks caused by out-of-date software. Yes, this is important. Outdated software versions in something as innocuous as iTunes can let a hacker or virus plow through your system with a backhoe. So select the "Start" button and wait for the bad news. (If the Secunia software won't run, you most likely have a terribly outdated version of java, and you should take a detour to http://www.java.com/ and ask it to check if you have the most current version of java -- if you're outdated that site will let you download the latest version.)
Secunia will present a list of software that you should upgrade, and it will describe the security risk each presents, and give you a link where you can update to the latest version. I thought I was in good shape until I tried this Secunia scan -- my version of java was totally obsolete (it doesn't automatically prompt you to update like some other software), and once I'd fixed that I had a list of half a dozen programs that had turned my system to Swiss cheese despite all my care with virus scanning, firewalls, and backups. I had to update iTunes, RealPlayer, Adobe, Adobe Flash Player -- it was really really embarrassing!
Secunia is reasonable in its reactions too -- it will only flag an outdated version if there's a risk associated with it. So you might find you can keep an older version of your browser or some other software, as long as there's no security risk.
Alright, poet, now you can sleep at night...
There are various ways of making a backup copy -- copy to some external media such as flash drive or separate hard drive, or for some people a printed copy will work just fine. But what happens if that copy goes AWOL? Backups are as likely as your primary copy to develop technical problems and become inaccessible. Consider a worst scenario -- if your house burns down have you lost your primary copy of your work AND your backup copy? Big-time ouch.
So pick a backup method that will survive a worst scenario occurence, and keep your backup current. I back up to a flash drive, and am considering an external hard drive as a faster and more reliable way to do that. I also back up to an online secure area - I used to copy everything to briefcase.yahoo.com but have recently found box.net to be easier to use, and just as free. An added bonus for online backups is that my poems are now accessible anywhere I can get internet access. Most online backup services also provide a way to share specific folders, so you can keep your backup private but copy poems into a public shared folder and define who gets access to that -- great if you need to collaborate with someone.
As a publisher, I have the same (or greater) backup concerns with my contact list, sales history, and copies of any chapbooks published or in process. Online backups are perfect for this. And a public shared folder (where I control access) is handy for backing up a cover image and also sharing it with the author while we're making final production decisions.
Ok, backups done. What else? Basic security. My day job is at a large publicly traded corporation, and since I work with computers and am responsible for supporting some of our traveling / consultant financial advisors, I can sometimes find myself on the bleeding edge of security concerns. Laptops out in the field will run into the same security issues you and I run into at home, but on a larger scale since an infected laptop can (I kid you not) bring down a significant portion of the whole company. They aren't as easy to lock into the tight security network that the in-office computers are corralled in. So let's just say I've grown paranoid, with good cause, about computer security. And I know that even some of the security whizzes at my company will confess they've been hacked or phished or otherwise faced security risks on their home personal computers despite their deep knowledge of security and despite following all the "best practices" for preventing such problems.
So whatever you are doing for security, do just a little bit more. If you're already keeping your operating system and your virus scanner and your firewall updated, great. (If you're not, go back to GO, do not collect $200, and you're already a lost cause, sorry.) Take one more easy step and go to http://www.secunia.com/, and in the left column under Software Inspectors select the "Online" option. You'll go to a screen that will offer to scan your computer for any security risks caused by out-of-date software. Yes, this is important. Outdated software versions in something as innocuous as iTunes can let a hacker or virus plow through your system with a backhoe. So select the "Start" button and wait for the bad news. (If the Secunia software won't run, you most likely have a terribly outdated version of java, and you should take a detour to http://www.java.com/ and ask it to check if you have the most current version of java -- if you're outdated that site will let you download the latest version.)
Secunia will present a list of software that you should upgrade, and it will describe the security risk each presents, and give you a link where you can update to the latest version. I thought I was in good shape until I tried this Secunia scan -- my version of java was totally obsolete (it doesn't automatically prompt you to update like some other software), and once I'd fixed that I had a list of half a dozen programs that had turned my system to Swiss cheese despite all my care with virus scanning, firewalls, and backups. I had to update iTunes, RealPlayer, Adobe, Adobe Flash Player -- it was really really embarrassing!
Secunia is reasonable in its reactions too -- it will only flag an outdated version if there's a risk associated with it. So you might find you can keep an older version of your browser or some other software, as long as there's no security risk.
Alright, poet, now you can sleep at night...
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