Computer Protection
Is your computer protected against common computer sickness? In this section,
you will actually install protection software on your computer, scan your hard
disk for damaged sectors, and develop a backup schedule. Please read the What
is Malware and Fighting these problems sections, and then follow the "What
you should do now" instructions.
Mandatory Reading about Malware Definitions- click
here
What you should do now:
- Plan how you will backup your work for this class. For small projects, you
can just email copies to yourself. For larger projects, you can store a copy
on a backup or alternative drive, or on a USB drive. Remember that an electricity
hit might destroy any drive permanently attached to your system so be sure
to backup to something not attached to your PC (USB drive or External Drive)
occasionally.
- If you have a windows PC and do not have an antivirus program running, you
should purchase one or install one of these free antivirus programs: http://www.freebyte.com/antivirus/
Note that Since Windows 7, Microsoft Security Essentials comes installed on
your system, so you just have to be sure it is on if you choose to use it
as your anti-virus. Norton Anti-Virus is free if you live on campus. Call
877-3340 for information. (Macintosh considers virus protection its job, so
it essentially comes with a built in antivirus program managed by Apple.)
- Read your anti-virus program information to see whether it protects against
spyware. If it does not, you can download spybot by clicking on http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
- Installing Malware-Bytes is a good idea as it will catch adware that anti-virus
programs do not concentrate upon. Some of the sites you may visit for the
class will generate adware, and Malware-Bytes will remove it. You can download
it from https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/
and choose the free version.
What your assignment is:
Here is a sheet you can fill out to outline your PC Protection schedule and
to answer some questions on malware:
Copy the following sheet into a word processor and fill in your answers. :
http://home.adelphi.edu/~pe16132/csc170/hardware/systemtools_pcprotect.htm
Upload these answers to moodle.