Faster Web Surfing & Avoiding Viruses

• Do you need broadband?
  • Cons
    • It costs more money. Comcast charges about $43/month on top of your existing cable bill. (Usually there is a promotion such as $20/month for first 3 months.) DSL usually costs about $50/month.
    • If you only use the Internet for email, it probably isn't worth it to upgrade to a faster Internet connection.
    • If you use AOL and would like to keep AOL as your Internet Service Provider (ISP), you may not wish to upgrade since you'll still need to pay $5-15/month to AOL in addition to the extra $40 or more to your broadband ISP as well.
    • If no broadband ISP's are available in your neigborhood then you will not be able to upgrade.
  • Pros
    • much faster connection
    • your Internet is "always on" and you don't have to wait for the computer to dial your ISP's phone number
    • it's easier to split your Internet connection to multiple computers allowing many family members to surf the Internet at once.
    • you no longer need a second phone line to handle regular phone call

• Presently you may use a dial-up connection to the Internet using a phone line with a telephone modem in your computer. You have several choices when upgrading to a broadband, faster connection.
  • satellite - Customers in rural areas may only have this option. You must have clear exposure to the southern sky and bad weather can affect your Internet connection. The setup and monthly (up to $70/month) costs are a little higher than DSL and cable.
  • DSL - DSL stands for digital subscriber line. It runs over your telephone lines like dial-up Internet service. Your Internet connection is routed over the same phone lines at the same time as your telephone calls. However, not everyone has the capability of obtaining DSL through their existing telephone lines. You must have (POTS - plain old telephone service) lines and be within 15,000 feet or so of a telephone switch. Also, DSL can be tricky since your local telephone service may not be the ISP DSL provider. If there are problems in this case, each company may point fingers at the other.
  • cable - The Internet connection enters you home through your existing cable lines (assuming that you have cable TV). In the Wyomissing area, Comcast Cable that services our local area will be your single point of contact for installation and service. In the last couple of years, Comcast has become the third largest ISP in the nation behind AOL and Earthlink. However, it is the largest broadband ISP. One downside to cable broadband is that if many people in your neighborhood have cable Internet, it may slow down each of those accounts marginally. I have found that this is not really a problem for most people.
• Use these links to compare broadband services or find out what options you have: broadbandreports.com, pcmag.com/broadband , broadbandhomecentral.com
• When you choose a broadband provider, you will have to decide whether or not to use it exclusively or whether or not to maintain your email address at your former ISP (e.g. AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc.) for $5-15/month. You could also use a free email address at mail.yahoo.com or hotmail.com.
  
  
• Necessary hardware to use a broadband Internet connection
  
  
  
  • For just 1 computer to use a broadband Internet connection
    • New modem
      • With satellite or DSL, you'll probably have to use and maybe even rent the special modem that they provide.
      • With cable service, you can rent a cable modem (see this linked picture) from the provider. This modem will be a small device the size of a tissue box that must be placed next to your computer. So far, computers are not available with internal cable modems. It connects to any cable jack in the wall of your home with a typical cable wire. It connects to your computer through an Ethernet cable (picture) or USB cable (picture). You can purchase a cable modem from your ISP (i.e. Comcast). However, you can save a few dollars by purchasing a compliant cable modem at a local electronics store like Best Buy. Right now (3/20/2003), you can purchase a Linksys cable modem for $20 after rebates. While a number of manufacturers make cable modems, my favorite is the Linksys brand. For approximately $100, Comcast will send a serviceman to set up your cable modem. However, it is not very difficult and most computer users are capable of setting one up themselves.
    • Ethernet adapter - Your computer must have an Ethernet port (picture) that allows you to connect it to the cable modem with an Ethernet connection wire that is usually supplied with the modem. Computers that are only 2 or 3 years old generally have the necessary port. If you see a port in the back of your computer that is the same shape as phone jack but just a bit wider, that port is probably an Ethernet port. This means that an Ethernet networking card is installed in your computer and you'll be able to connect to your computer to your cable modem with an Ethernet cable. If you do not have an Ethernet port, then you can usually connect to your cable modem with an available USB port (picture) which your computer most certainly has if its less than 5 or 6 years old. The USB connection is a bit slower than an Ethernet connection so you should use an Ethernet connection if possible.
      
      
  • For 2 or more computers in your home to share a broadband Internet connection.
    • This can be done inexpensively through software called Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) that's built into Windows 98 and up computers. One computer is designated as the gateway and must stay turned on.
    • However, it's best to buy a piece of hardware called a router. Each of your computers connect to the router (which usually has 4 or more ports) through an Ethernet cable (picture). The router connects to your cable modem with an Ethernet cable. The cable modem connects to the cable jack in the wall. The best reason for this solution is that a router works as a great firewall, protecting you from Internet hackers. A normal router can cost anywhere from $50-100 but for a little extra you can buy a wireless router for $80-150. A wireless router allows you to install a wireless networking card ($40-80) in your desktop or laptop computer and avoid having to run an Ethernet cable from each computer to your router. Using a wireless router and wireless networking card combination allows you to connect a PC from a second floor bedroom to a router that is in your basement without drilling holes in the walls and floor to allow the cable to get through. Be careful to follow the installation directions when setting up your wireless router. Otherwise, you may be giving your neighbors free Internet as well as the ability to eavesdrop on your email and web surfing. However, some neighbors intentionally set up $100 directional antennae to share the expense of a broadband Internet connection.
      
      
• Avoiding Viruses and other Kinds of Internet Attacks
  
  
  
  • Firewalls - Afirewall protects your computer from Internet attacks. If you have a dial-up Internet connection through a telephone modem you probably do not have to worry about such attacks. In this case, you use a dynamic (i.e. changing) IP address each time you log onto the Internet which makes you a difficult target to reach. However, if you use a broadband connection (cable or DSL), you probably have a persistent IP address that stays the same and you are technically logged onto the Internet whenever your computer is turned on, even if your web browser is not open. In this case, you should install a firewall.
    
    • Hardware Firewall - A router as mentioned above is considered to be a hardware firewall. It is the best solution though it will cost around $100. Even if you only have one computer connected to the Internet and you don't need to take advantage of a router's ability to share a broadband connection to multiple computers, you should probably use a router for the firewall protection that it provides. If you do use a hardware router, change the default password when you install it. Also, follow the directions and turn off file and printer sharing if you do not plan to set up a home network with your router.
      
      
    • Software Firewall - A computer program that runs behind the scenes and that intercepts attacks against your computer while you are online and that monitors outbound connections. Its important to use a software firewall to monitor applications on your hard drive that attempt to open outbound connections since a hardware firewall doesn't perform that task. Some programs such as your web browser legitimately need to use outbound connections to function. But spyware programs surreptitiously open outbound connections to send spam from your computer. After purchasing & installing a firewall program, it is essential that you keep paying for the automatic updates every year thereafter.
      • McAfee Personal Firewall Plus ($40) - screen snapshot, helps maintain your privacy
      • Norton Personal Firewall 2003 ($50) - details, sold by Symantec, also keeps banner ads from popping up and helps you maintain your privacy
      • BlackIce ($40) - demo
      • Zone Alarm Pro - sold by Zone Labs in two versions Zone Alarm Plus and the more fully-featured Zone Alarm Pro but a free version is also available
      • Free firewall programs include www.symantec.com/securitycheck , McAfee, a free version of Zone Labs, Kerio Personal Firewall, Outpost Firewall Free, Sygate Personal Firewall, or ShieldsUp to detect attacks. Utilities like keir.net/firehole.html and tooleaky.zensoft.com will also check for certain security problems. These programs must usually be manually downloaded or executed in order to perform a scan. They do not update themselves regularly and cannot be scheduled to automatically scan your whole hard drive.
      • Windows XP comes with the Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) but it may not protect you as well as one of the programs above. To see if ICF is running, click Start/Control Panel/Network and Internet Connections/Network Connections. Right-click your Internet connection and choose Properties. Click the Advanced tab and check the first box.
        
    • Removing Spyware - When you download and install free programs, they often implant hard-to-detect spyware programs. Spyware are small programs that have been planted on your computer in order to send your personal information to outside web sites. Search the software reviews at zdnet.com for "spyware" or "adware" to read the latest reviews of this type of application. Visit majorgeeks.com for other general info and links to free downloads.
      • Ad-aware - free from www.LavaSoftUSA.com; scans your computer and detects spyware, adware and other monitoring parasites that you picked up while surfing the Web or downloading music. To have Ad-aware detect spyware as it infects your computer rather than scan your computer at your request, you must pay $27/yr though.
      • Spybot-Search & Destroy - from safer-networking.org and also spybot.info. You can double, your computer's protective immunity by downloading this program and Ad-aware (see above). Be sure to use the Windows Add/Remove Control Panel to uninstall any previous versions of Spybot before installing a newer version.
      • SpySweeper.com
      • pestpatrol.com
      • PCPitStop.com
      • Spyware Doctor
      • McAfee's Antispyware
      • Stopzilla
      • Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware - free beta version (as of 11/2006)
      • HijackThis - an especially powerful tool that goes deeper than Spybot and Ad-aware. This is to be used as last resort after doing a full system backup or a least setting a system restore point. HijackThis doesn't actually remove the suspected virus registry entries but produces a text file that you can submit to TomCoyote Forum or another spyware message board.
        
  • To avoid viruses, your online behavior is your best defense.
    • Do not open email attachments even if they are from friends and you were not specifically expecting them. Be very suspicious of email messages that begin with the greeting "Hi" instead of a more personalized greeting like "Hi Fred". Viruses can easily make themselves appear to come from a friend (i.e. spoofing) by placing your friend's email address in the "From:" area of the email message.
    • Virus scan any floppy disks, CD's, and Zip disks before you use files or programs on the disk.
    • Do not set your Internet browser to a low security setting since Java applets, ActiveX scripts, and other elements on certain web pages could infect your computer. This type of virus infection is possible but remote. To check or change your security settings in Internet Explorer, click the Tools/Internet Options menu command. Then click the Security tab.
    • Regularly read virus updates at us-cert.gov, sarc.com, www.microsoft.com/technet, catless.ncl.ac.uk/risks, McAfee, Norton, or any other antivirus program vendors. You should also check one of these sites before you forward a "virus alert" to everyone in your address book.
    • To avoid both online attacks (that are protected against by a firewall) you can leave your computer turned off when it's not in use. This is especially a good idea if you have a cable modem or DSL Internet connection.
      
      
  • Use antivirus software
    • Leading antivirus software
      • Symantec - Norton AntiVirus 2003 ($50 & then $30/yr); details, demonstration & screen snapshot
      • McAfee - VirusScan Online ($35/yr); screen snapshot
      • free versions: Symantec Security Check, McAfee FreeScan, Grisoft AVB Anti-Virus, Avast.com, Alwil's Avast 4 Home Edition, and Trend Micro HouseCall
    • Installing antivirus software is not enough. You must pay the yearly subscription and set it up to regularly update its virus definitions file to guard against the latest viruses. You typically do this with a credit card number through the program itself.
    • Antivirus programs usually quarantine intercepted, potentially virus-laden files to a designated folder on your computer. You can manually delete those files or inspect them further and open them.
  
  
• Using a Web browser other than Microsoft Internet Explorer
  
  • Since much of the spyware, adware, worms, and viruses can infect your computer due to the weaknesses of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), one way to keep your computer more secure is to use another Web browser. Practically all Web sites can be viewed equally well in these other browsers and you can always visit Web pages using IE if necessary since Microsoft makes it impossible to uninstall IE from a Windows computer. Microsoft has stopped upgrading IE and, even though the vast majority of people currently use IE since it comes free with their Windows computer, it is likely that Web pages will begin to function better in other Web browsers that follow the W3C standards.
  • Firefox is available from www.mozilla.org as part of the Mozilla Suite. It is free and offers some conveniences not included with IE. For example, it offers tabbed browser windows that make it convenient to flip back and forth between 2 or more different browser windows. It also allows you to find a word within a Web page simply by typing the word. It also includes a popup blocker, a password manager & a cookie manager. The Mozilla suite includes an HTML editor that allows you to create Web pages. The suite also includes an email program named Thunderbird with a built-in adaptive junk mail control that gets smarter with use as you customize it.
  • Opera is available from www.opera.com. Opera is a little more cluttered than Firefox but it has some additional features. The full-version costs $39 but the ad-supported version is free.
  • Netscape is still available in version 7.2 as a free browser. It can be downloaded from a link at netscape.com but this one-time leader of browsers is not really upgraded any longer.
    
• For the Geeks
  • Broadbandreports.com is a site that gives broadband news, consumer opinions, connection testing, service finders, and more.
  • NetPerSec & NetStatLive are free programs that allow technical-minded computer users to analyze your Internet traffic to see if there are bottlenecks.
  • Though it is sometimes not permitted in the contract you signed with your broadband ISP, you can host your own web site on your home computer through a broadband connection. The ISP will usually forbid your web server from being hosted on port 80. This can be dangerous if you don't know exactly what you are doing, but Windows XP Professional edition comes with Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) built-in. UWith Windows 98 or Me, you can use Personal Web Server. Free web servers include Simple Server at analogx.com and TinyWeb at ritlabs.com . People will be able to surf to your web site by typing an address like http://123.45.67.890 if your ISP gives you a static IP address. If you want people to be able to surf to a web site with the domain name www.yourname.com, you can register a domain name ($7-35/yr) through netsol.com, gandi.net, and other registrars. Then you can run a DNS server on your home computer such as the one that comes with Windows XP or the $80 Simple DNS Plus from jhsoft.com. If you don't want to run a local DNS server, you can use a Dynamic DNS Provider (see list at www.technopagan.org/dynamic ) that will allow people to surf to your web site at an address like john-doe.dynamic-dns-server.org . If your ISP only gives you a dynamic IP address, you can subscribe to a service at tzo.com ($59/yr) that lets you register a domain name through tzo.com allowing web surfers to access your site at www.yourname.com even though you web server uses dynamic IP addresses.
  • You can also run incoming and outgoing email servers from your home broadband connection. To do this you should probably be sending your mail through your registered domain name or a dynamic DNS service's domain name. Otherwise, your sent mail will probably be rejected as spam by the recipient's ISP.