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True or false: Turning your computer off is a safe way to make sure no one can get into it across the Internet.
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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Quick quiz on computer security


Jan. 18, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   Do you think you know how to protect your computer against viruses and other unwelcome intruders? Find out by taking my true-or-false quiz. I have five questions plus a bonus round. I'll give the answers after I ask all the questions.
   1. True or false: If you don't open attachments, you can't get a virus by e-mail.
   2. True or false: Viruses are a universal problem. The guy next door who uses an Apple Macintosh has to spend just as much effort as you do under Windows protecting against viruses and cleaning up after them.
   3. True or false: Cable Internet connections and other high-speed hookups such as DSL are inherently safer than slower, dialup connections.
   4. True or false: Web cookies are the plague of modern times and should always be blocked.
   5. True or false: Turning your computer off is a guaranteed, totally safe way to make sure no one can get into it across the Internet.
   6. (Bonus round -- a question about your favorite nemesis.) True or false: All spam is sent by professional spammers. Ordinary people such as your sister-in-law or your grandmother would never send out thousands of pieces of spam a day.
   Answers:
   1. Myth: If you don't open attachments, you can't get a virus by e-mail. False. Most viruses get into your Windows PC by hiding in scripts within e-mail. They don't have to be sent as attachments.
   2. Myth: Viruses are a universal problem. False. Viruses are a Windows problem. Other personal computer operating systems are largely unaffected. Here are the numbers: There are 100,000 Windows viruses, 100 Linux viruses and no Mac OS X viruses. Windows is a magnet for viruses not only because it's so common but because it has no built-in security.
   3. Myth: High-speed Internet connections are safer than dialup connections. False. They are far more dangerous because computers on high-speed lines are always connected and are thereby exposed to Internet intruders all the time.
   My advice: If you have a high-speed connection, do two things: Put a hardware firewall between your computer and the Internet (use LINKSYS as the search term on my site for more information) and disconnect your computer from the electrical outlet when you're not using it. See the answer to question No. 5 for why you should do this.
   4. Myth: Web cookies should always be blocked. False. Cookies, which are short snippets of information about you, your computer and your browser, are vital for many legitimate Web sites. They're essential for sites that handle your banking and stock reports, for example. Instead, you need to manage cookies. The best cookie manager for Windows probably is Cookie Pal, which learns which cookies are good and which are bad the more you use it. Use COOKIE PAL as the search term on my site for more. On modern Macs, users of the Safari Web browser can tell it to accept cookies "only from sites you navigate to." This blocks nearly all advertising and spyware cookies.
   5. Myth: Turning your computer off is a safe way to make sure no one can get into it across the Internet. False. Modern personal computers can turn themselves on at a specified time even if they are totally off, and some Windows viruses are able to trigger the BIOS setting that turns them on. Viruses that can trigger this wake-up call usually do it in the middle of the night; your Windows PC can then be hijacked and used as a way station for transmitting viruses, spyware or spam.
   My advice: Plug your computer into a power strip that has a switch. After you shut down your computer, turn off the switch. That will keep it from coming back alive if it's been hijacked by a virus or rogue spyware or "spamware" intruder.
   6. Myth: Ordinary people would never send out thousands of pieces of spam a day. False. About 40 percent of all spam is relayed by hijacked Windows PCs that have been infected by "spamware" viruses. Your grandmother could be a spammer without knowing it.