>How to protect your computer from being invaded. Part1: Building a Fortress? The following steps will show you how to bring your computer one step away from problems mainly for the operating system of Microsoft Windows 95/98 and also XP. This step-by-step guide is actually intended for home users only as I will not try to put in too much detail and too much technical information here. Reason is very simple, because I DON'T KNOW PROGRAMMING and I DON'T UNDERSTAND PROGRAMMING so I won't hope or expect you readers out there to understand too much in-depth technical information. I won't be putting much effort on corporate-level defense structure else I'll be put out of job to pay my school fees. Most of the information here will teach you or at least give you an idea on how to prevent yourself from being 'infected'. Informations on how to debug Windows' registry is NOT INCLUDED as it is not directly related. It will be in a different book though. Some of you out there might be suprised to read "Windows 98". Before Microsoft came out with Vista, Windows XP is so common that 'disguisers' are 'packed' with icons similar to XP's
files and you'll not know until you accidentally accessed it. It's true, with the following partition that I'm going to show you, I do not need to worry about losing datas or anything ever again. - Set a few EXTRA partitions to store your desired files according to category. You need to have your operating system(OS) installation disk/cd/dvd on hand, else you'll end up having a fully prepared hard-disk(HD) only to find out you don't have any operating system to run. - LEAVE your windows folder in your main drive 'C:\windows\' and let softwares do update as necessary. - As for the
PROGRAM files 'C:\program files\' , leave it there but DO NOT use it. Instead, install in one of the partitions that you will be creating like the example that I have shown. I'll use my computer as an example. I have 15 partitions and here goes, in order: - Eg.
Windows 98* - The OS I rely on to debug trojans and viruses (This is my C:\ drive)!
Back up - 1 partition (VERY IMPORTANT & for important files only!)
Back up2* - 1 partition (IMPORTANT but mainly for your user data/Windows CD)
XP Japanese* - 1 of 3 OS I have. I'm a japanese language students so.. :)!
English XP* - 1 of 3 OS. Testing ground for new softwares and demos.!
98 Program files* - 1 partition (photoshop, macromedia, acrobat, Ms Office etc..)
XPJ Program files* - Program files directory for XP Japanese. (all japanese language programmes)
English Program f* - Program files directory for XP english. (all new softwares)
movie & mtv* - 1 partition (*.dat, *.mpg, etc..)
Music* - 1 partition (mp3, real, wave, etc..)
pictures* - 1 partition (*.jpeg, *.gif, *.bmp, etc..)
Media - 1 partition (This partition is full so I have another partition called music.)
documents - 1 partition (*.txt, excel, powerpoint, e-book, etc..)
Installers - 1 partition (Any installers downloaded,
virus pattern update etc..)
Vulnerable - Castles for ALL my live viruses caught. Can be used as temporary storage.
Important:
1. I have 2 HDs and the * beside the partition name indicates hard
disk number 1. OK?
2. ! sign after explanation means I have no anti-virus installed except In Win98 where I do not let it run.
3. NEVER EVER DELETE ANYTHING FROM ANY OF THE ABOVE PARTITION.
4. Instead of NTFS file system, ALL my partitions are formatted in FAT32 as the file system. It enables me to view all partition even when I'm booting in Win98. Win98 will not be able to read an NTFS formatted HD. Pros:
1. With organized settings, I tend to remember where I put my files, and when unexpected ones appear, I'll know something is going on because I know a *.zip file will not exist in my mtv folder in Movie(unless I created one).
2. With my Media partition corrupted, I still have my documents ready for tomorrow's meeting and worry later.
3. If your OS is corrupted, you can format the whole c:\ drive without worry. Nothing is inside anyway. Your programs? They are safely installed under their respective partition. Installation error? No worries, you have all the installers in 1 partition, or you can read along on how you can get your back-up of essential program-file files restored. Documents being overwritten? I don't think so, because your documents are on the other side of the world.
4. Have you been so busy accessing your computer that you don't even have time to defrag the drives? With your newly built fortress, you can defrag the partition with music while typing for tomorrow's meeting. Defragment your documents when you're watching the new MTV you've just downloaded. Now that's what I call multi-tasking.
5. I do not need a boot-disk anymore since I have 2 extra OS to use and check what's going on with the problematic OS, hence infected boot-disk? My assumption is that you don't have any data files inside the disk, so you can safely format it and re-use and you have 1 extra disk. Cons:
1. XP is a REAL PAIN for improper shutdown. When it prompts for scandisk, I have to bear all 15 disks!! Not everytime though. That's the reason I still keep my Win98.
- As for the program files part, be careful as some program will still install in your main drive, C:\Program files\ . To overcome this, For windows 98 : run regedit.exe (usually in C:\WINDOWS\REGEDIT.EXE) and go to :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion Under "programfilesdir" and insert the letter for your desired drive. Eg. I:\ (for my win98) For windows XP : run regedit.exe and look for the following line :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion Under "programfilesdir" and insert the letter for your desired drive. Eg. E:Everytime when you install a program, it'll install into that drive. If it doesn't, you can do it manually and choose your prefered directory. If you don't have any choice, like installation of screensavers, there's nothing much you can do. - What to back up? Basically it's your settings that you have set but NOT limited to settings. To prevent missing files when you do your backup, set your folder so that you can view all hidden and system files and always show the extension of ALL types of files. DO NOT CUT your files when doing backup, COPY them. Documents and setting (The folder with your user name.Space consuming!I put in Back up2)
Your setting (Desktop, folder or whatever)
Start menu (Unless you prefer searching for the file WITHOUT shortcuts)
A copy of your OS installation cd/dvd (for your own convenience)
Your registry (Back up as frequent as possible.)
Your user data (VITAL!!)
Also, use:
Windows XP's Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. Duplicate your most recent setting. - For Win98, your personal application data will be in,
C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\ (your name will appear after this slash IF your computer has more than 1 user.) Copy (only) the whole "Application Data" folder INSIDE your name. You can also copy the folder inside the other user. This is the folder that you need to restore when your program doesn't run after restoration. If it doesn't work, try reinstalling so that it'll restore any files that might be missing during the 'virus attack'. And your user data to backup is USER.DAT. Always do a backup of the most recent copy. The size is ever growing because it stores a lot of informations about the particular user, you, including
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