(Approx. 1,716 words)

A "STRESS-FREE" PC
Jim McKnight, Director, Los Angeles Computer Society
www.lacspc.org
jim.mcknight(at)lacspc.org

 Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

As you know, there is no such thing as a totally "Stress-Free" PC, but there are many things you can do to reduce the stress and worry of owning one. 

As we use our PC's, many of us worry about losing our data files, losing our email, losing our Music, our iTunes, our connectivity to the Internet, losing power in the middle of a critical activity, losing our ability to boot the PC, losing control of our PC to hackers, Spy-ware, etc. Wow, we worry a lot! It's a wonder we dare use our PC's at all.

To help solve and minimize these worries, here is a collection of ideas to help protect your computing environment. These steps are not really that difficult or expensive. In fact, many are free. There is lots of help available to you from User Groups, Friends, Internet Googling, PC Magazines, etc. to implement these suggestions. Details for implementing many of these suggestions are in the various self-help documents on my website at: www.jrmcknight.net.

Will it take a lot of time and energy to implement thess ideas? Yes, at first, but once you have these processes in place, the regular time spent is minimal. Will I see a payback? You will only see a tangible payback for your time and energy if you experience some kind of catastrophic situation. Just like house insurance; if everything keeps running smoothly you will never know if it was worth it. You do get the warm fuzzy feeling of being protected, and you will sleep better at night.

Here are the three main areas of action. First: Protect your PC from bad things happening. Second: Prepare your environment so you can recover if bad things do happen. Third: Practice Secure Behaviors.

PROTECT YOUR PC FROM BAD THINGS HAPPENING:
1. Buy yourself Hardware Router (Even if you only have one PC)
     a. The Router acts as a hardware Firewall.
     b. Put it between your PC and your Modem.
     c. Be sure to change the Admin Log-in password from the default to something private.
     d. Either disable the Wireless feature and hardwire your connection, or lock-down the Wireless using 
         WPA Encryption and a password.
2. Make sure the Windows Firewall is active.
3. Make sure Windows "Automatic Updates" feature is active and all your critical/important Windows 
     updates are installed.
4. Install and activate an Anti-virus Program. Set it up to scan incoming e-mails.
5. Install and activate Windows Defender and other free Anti-Spyware programs. Defender will    
    continually scan your PC for harmful activities (Note: Vista comes with Defender built-in).
6. Firefox (free) browser is generally safer than Internet Explorer.
7. Install McAfee Site Advisor (free) on each of your Internet Browsers. It helps identify risky sites. (Note: 
     It is not related to McAfee's Anti-virus or security suite.)
8. Buy yourself a Battery Backup Power Unit (unless you use a Laptop), so if you lose power at a critical 
     time, you can gently close the PC down.
9. E-mail:
     a. The best single thing you can do to secure your e-mail is to pick a good password. Do not use a single 
          word, but a short phrase, and include some numbers. ie: "happy2cu4now" or "my5kidsrgr8". I avoid 
          passwords that include I, l, 1, 0, o, or O. Too easy to confuse my memory. I prefer to stick with all lower 
          case for ease of entry, but if you like finger exercise, you can include UPPER CASE and special   
          characters to make it even more secure. Be creative: "C@@LDUDE" could work and easy to 
          remember.
     b. Set up your email program to block images, unless OK'd by you. 
     c. Using "Plain Text" e-mail is safer than using "HTML" e-mail, but not as pretty.
     d. Note: Your anti-virus program can scan incoming e-mails, but does not fully protect you.
     e. Thunderbird is a more secure e-mail client than Outlook, Outlook express, or Windows Mail.

PREPARE YOUR ENVIRONMENT (so you can recover if bad things do happen.)
1. RESTORE/INSTALL DVD/CD’s: Make sure you have your "Windows Install" or "System Restore" 
     DVD/CD's on hand (or kept safe off-site). You need these in case of a catastrophic failure. If you do not 
     have them, many manufacturers have instructions on how to burn your own Restore DVD/CD. Do it!
2. BACKUP PLANS: Put multiple Backup processes in place that include:
     a. DATA BACKUPS: Plan regular backups of all your personal data to CD/DVD's (and kept safe off-site).
     b. IMAGE BACKUPS: Plan regular “Image” back-ups of the entire hard-drive, preferably to an external 
         Hard drive. This is a full image of your main Hard-drive that can be used to completely restore the PC 
          back to normal.
     c. TESTING: Test your back-up process to make sure it can restore the system. This is less risky if you do 
          it when you first buy a PC, because you have your system restore DVD's (hopefully) to put things back 
          as they were when you bought it.
     d. ONLINE BACKUPS: If you like, sign up for an on-line automatic backup service like Carbonite, 
          Jungledisk, or Mozy.
     e. RESTORE BOOT DISK: Create a Boot-Disk (using your Backup Program), so if you need to restore from 
          a backed-up image, you are ready to go. This disk should be tested for "bootability" and then kept off-
          site.
     f. FLASH DRIVES: Warning: Do not trust Flash Drives as your only means of data backup. They are prone 
          to unexpected catastrophic failures. Having 2 or 3 duplicate Flash Drives would possibly be a 
          reasonable alternative to DVD/CD’s for your personal Data.
3. HARD COPY BU: Write down or print out all your critical info, passwords, access info, log-in ID’s, etc. and 
     save off-site. Print out a hard copy of all your e-mail contacts and save off-site.
4. PASSWORD FILE: If you keep a list of Passwords on your computer, make sure the file is hidden and/or  
     protected by encryption. Name your password file something that only has meaning to you. Do not name 
     your file; "passwords.doc". Duhh. Use something off-beat, like Recipes.doc or Flowers.doc. Also, there 
     are "Locker" Programs that are free or cheap that will hide, encrypt, and password protect your personal 
     data files.

PRACTICE SECURE BEHAVIORS
E-MAIL:
1. Never open e-mail attachments from strangers.
2. Never click a button or link in an email. If desired, copy & paste the link into your browser and make sure 
     it is going where you think it is going.
3. Be cautious about opening attachments & links from friends and family. Especially if it is something that 
     was forwarded from someone else.
ANTI-VIRUS ~ ANTI-SPYWARE SCANS
1. Run a full Anti-virus Scan at least once a month.
2. For each of your Anti-spyware Programs, run updates and a full scan weekly or at least monthly.
SECUNIA SCANS
Once or twice a month, run a Secunia "Software Inspector" scan to make sure your most common programs are up to date against vulnerabilities. This runs from their website. You do not have to download any programs.
BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP
1. Do your planned backups regularly. At least once a month, backup all your personal data files, emails, 
     pictures, etc. to CD/DVD's, and put them somewhere offsite. (A safe-deposit box or a friend or relative's 
     house).
2. At least monthly, backup an image of your main Hard Drive to an external or second Hard drive.
3. If possible, physically take the external hard-drive containing your backed up image off-site so you can 
     recover easily in case of fire, flood, theft, etc. (A safe-deposit box is good). There are now many small 
     cheap external Hard drives that will easily fit in a Safe-Deposit box. Buy two and alternate them.
4. Periodically printout a hardcopy of your passwords and contacts. Save off-site.
5. Keep your external Hard-drive powered off when not in use.
HARD-DRIVE SURFACE ANALYSIS SCANS
Run a maintenance scan quarterly or semiannually on all your hard drives using a utility like "Spin-Rite". This helps assure you against a surprise hard drive failure. 

REFERENCES & RECOMMENDED PROGRAMS:
MOZILLA Products:
- Firefox Browser - Free: www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
- Thunderbird E-mail Client - Free: www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
   See Thunderbird Step-By-Step setup at: www.jrmcknight.net/

ANTI-VIRUS ~ ANTI-SPYWARE Products
- McAfee Site Advisor - Free: www.siteadvisor.com/
- AVG Free Anti-virus - Free: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/downloads-products/us/frt/0?prd=aff
- Defender - Free: www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx#
- AVG Anti-spyware - Free: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/downloads-products/us/frt/0?prd=asf
- Ad-AWARE 2007 - Free: www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
- SpyBot Search & Destroy - Free: www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

SOFTWARE SCANS & BACKUP:
- Secunia Software Inspector - Free: www.secunia.com/software_inspector/
   Requires the latest version of Java to run: www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp
- Spin-Rite Program: www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
   The SpinRite Storage Utility Program is not free, but is money well spent.
- Acronis True Image Backup Utility www.ugr.com/
   This program is available at a discount at the above listed site and includes a free Tutorial CD.
- Automatic Online Data Backup sites: www.carbonite.com/ & www.jungledisk.com/ Carbonite is
   currently $50.00 per year for unlimited storage. Jungledisk is variable priced on usage but cheap.

BATTERY BACKUP POWER UNITS (also called a UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply):
- When buying a UPS, I suggest you add up all the power ratings on all the PC equipment you plan to   
   connect to the unit, then pick a unit about 1.5 times that amount. ie: If your usage is 300 Watts, buy at least 
   a 450 Watt UPS (equal to about a 700 VA unit).
- The VA rating (Volt-Amps) vs Watts rating is confusing. With PC equipment, 1 Watt is about 1.6 VA. I go by 
   Watts. If the tag on your PC says 2.0A and 120V, then calculate 2.0 Amps x 120 Volts or 240 watts for that 
   device. (VA would be about 400)
- A UPS that is rated too small will fault when first powering on all your equipment at once.
   The first 30 seconds or so is when the highest power usage occurs.
- The most reliable brands seem to be APC and BELKIN. Triplett is OK.

**Always check for the latest version of this document at: www.jrmcknight.net

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).