The inner vision
The inner vision
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1° How to prevent
the execution of viruses hidden in email attachments ?  |
| Any Microsoft Office document coming from Internet, mainly
by way of files attached to e-mails (export your files *.DOC in .RTF format,
which maintains the layout but ignores macros) may contain VIRUSES. It is safer not to execute the macros they contain and to see these documents without running the application which opens them. Besides the security and the speed for opening documents, viewers allow you to print them quickly, and don't alter the list of last files opened by the application involved. a) Install the 3 Office viewers for Word97 
+ Excel97 + PowerPoint97.In order to download the 'Word 97 for Windows 95, 98' viewer (4350 ko), just click on the icon => 
For the others, see the Microsoft download Space : http://www.microsoft.com/france/download/visio.asp b) You can open documents with Windows Explorer by sending them through a right click to the proper viewer with the option "Send to". To do so, create shortcuts towards the viewers in the directory "C:\windows\SendTo". c) If you want to open them directly, set 'display' as the default action after double-clicking on a file (the path matches my settings) => Display Menu / folder Options / File Type. * Microsoft Word DOC Document + DOT Model + RTF Format : add a 'WordView' key =>C:\Pgms\WordView\wordview.exe "%1", and click the "default" button.When you will open such file types, either by double-clicking in Explorer, either via the 'display' command for attachment files in your Internet mail program (Outlook, Becky, Eudora..), or even through the Start button/Documents, it will launch the matching viewer. |
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2° How to prevent
the execution of viruses written in Visual Basic ?  |
| Proceeding as stated in 2), look for the "VBScript
Script File" filetype, check, and if necessary modify, the 'Edit'
key (or you can add the key "Open with Notepad"), so that the
application is "C:\Windows\Notepad.exe". With this key highlighted,
click on the 'default' button. If you don't find this type, create a text file (right-click in a directory = > New), and name it "Test.vbs". A right-click on this file opens a pop-up menu, whose "Open with" option let you choose the program with which you wish to open the ".vbs" files. Choose Notepad in the list of applications, and don't forget to check 
"Always use this program " to open this kind of files.
You can do the same for the "JScript File" filetype (js
+ jse).
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| 2nd solution : Create
a "Vbs.reg" file with the following contents => REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\vbsfile\shell] @="edit" =========== Right-click on "Vbs.reg" and merge with the register. |
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3° How to prevent
virus spreading through the address book ?  |
| Staying away from standards (sometimes automatically
installed ones), can be a wise measure, because they are the first targets
for viruses. You can keep your Outlook (Express), but you'd better use, at least for the incoming mail, another E-mail client. So, I suggest a light and friendly "sushi ", Becky! => 
You can also use the mail program embedded into some browsers (Mozilla
naturally, because it's a free software, or Opéra,
light and fast). Finally, there are other successful but paying tools (at
least if one wants to have the maximum of evolved functions) such as Eudora,
IncrediMail
ou The
Bat. * Before launching your mail software, you can "clear the ground" with a free tool such as"OutClock" (downloadable athttp://alain.tauber.nom.fr/ or at http://www.telecharger.com/) which allows you to go on the server and to remove the intruders. You can make lists of refusal of messages (by address and by subject) and white list of addresses. You can process several letterboxes simultaneously. When your cleaning is done, switch to your mail software. 
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4° How to control the "cookies"
?
 |
| Will the advertising lobby succeed in amending the European
directive project about privacy protection ? Indeed, this project requires a " preliminary explicit assent " from the Internet users because « cookies, spyware, Web-bugs, hidden identifiers and other similar tools which sneak into the users' system without their knowledge can be seriously pre-judicial to their right to privacy ». Solution : a suitable tool which let you select the cookies that you accept or not, such as the shareware "Burnt Cookies" ($5), that you will find at www.andersson-design.com/bcookies (bcookies.zip : 755k). Although it tends to freeze (I wake it with Norton CrashGuard), it gives a pretty good idea of the sneaky bazaar-keepers' troop who are interested not by you, but by your purchasing power. |
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5° And if I have no antivirus,
or if it is not updated ?
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While the viral attacks proliferate, a free access to an antivirus is
still available. |
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Free Antivirus : Norton antivirus
=> www.symantec.com/downloads |
| Free Antivirus on line
(permanently updated) : www.secuser.com/antivirus Useful if no antivirus is installed on your computer or to confirm the result of a difficult cleaning. My trial : after a 8mn download for the " HouseCall " checking engine (ActiveX control) from Trend Micro Inc., then you can run it offline by going on the " HouseCall " page that you will have set as one of your Internet Explorer favorites. This tool can find but cannot delete some viruses. You can then either erase them by yourself, or download the free version (1 month) of Pc-Cillin's antivirus, at the same address. |
| Conclusion : in order to enjoy a long-lasting and real time protection, we have no other way than to buy an antivirus (2 reliable companies : McAfee with 'Viruscan', and 'Norton antivirus' which gives free removal tools), what I did. By the way, I wonder why politicians, who are supposed to take into account the common good, still did not touch on the idea of a public and free antivirus : the governments cannot offer what a private company gives for free ? |
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6° How to deal with "spywares"
?
 |
| With a "cookie ", the data stay on
the PC. The Web server merely reads them to check whether the Internet user
is already identified, but no datum is sent back as in the case of "spywares
". These feel free to settle down on your machine "without your full will's consent ", and take advantage of your Internet connections by swallowing up your bandwidth and sending you ads.. Solution : the very popular firewall from ZoneLabs, 'ZoneAlarm', free for personal and non-profit use. See at => www.zonelabs.com and you'll thwart these sneaky ones. |
| Don't miss the security site Secuser.com , or find other security links |
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