Has your computer ever gotten a virus that was so malicious, you had to completely erase your hard drive by reformatting it? And then you had to go through the arduous process of resinstalling your operating system and all of your programs? That was hard enough to deal with, but the real zinger of the whole ordeal was the fact that, if your computer was set up the way most are, you lost all of your data: all of your documents, all of your music, and most importantly to many, all of your email!

Well, there is a way to avoid losing your data to viruses (aside from having an Anti-Virus program installed, running, and up-to-date, of course). This is something that I do to all of the systems that I build. It is simply to partion the hard drive into at least two partitions. In other words, you have one hard drive, but you set it up in such a way that your computer reads it as two hard drives. So, instead of just having the C drive as your entire hard drive where everything is stored (your OS, progams, and data), and the D drive as your CD-ROM, you have the C drive as your first partition (section) of your hard drive that has your operating system and progams on it, and you have the D drive as your second partition, which has all of your data on it (see screenshot below).

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You can even set it up so that, if you use Outlook Express to send/receive your email, your email is stored on your D drive as well so you won’t lose your email to a virus!

The thing is, most large PC manufacturers set up their systems with just one partition. And if you want to be able to restore it with the restore CD’s that came with the computer, then you will need to keep it set up that way (this is why I prefer to build my own systems, among many other reasons). You can always reformat the hard drive and set it up the way you want to, but you will risk voiding the warranty if it is still valid.

Actually, some major manufacturers do have the hard drives on their systems set up with two paritions, however, this if for an entirely different reason. The first partition, again, contains everything, and the second partition is strictly for storing the restore files that put your computer back to the way it was when you first got it when you choose the restore option (it takes place of the restore CD’s; HP does this to some of their systems).

However, if you have a computer that was built by someone, or if your warranty is up, then you are free to use this type of setup. All you need to do this is the installation CD for either Windows XP or Windows 2000. Windows 98 users will have to use F-disk to do this.

Seeing that Internet Explorer is the most widely used browser by PC users, that is the browser that most of the authors of spyware, malware, etc., target. So, I suggest that you switch from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox (a free program) for your default Internet browser. This will not only greatly decrease the chances of you getting spyware, but it will also increase your security.

Here are some reasons why Firefox is more secure than Internet Explorer:

• It is not integrated with Windows, which helps prevent viruses and hackers from causing damage if they somehow manage to compromise Firefox.
• There is no support for VBScript and ActiveX, two technologies which are the reasons for many IE security holes.
• No spyware/adware software can automatically install in Firefox just by visiting a web site.
• Firefox doesn’t use Microsoft’s Java VM, which has a history of more flaws than other Java VMs.
• You have complete control over cookies.

Even the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team advises that you not use IE (story).

Another reason why Firefox is a great browser is that you can set it up so that when you click on a link to go to another website, it opens up the new website in the same browser window, but in a different tab, much like Netscape. That way, you can very easily switch back and forth between many browsers by just clicking on the tab for that website, which is located toward the top of the browser (see screenshot below).

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For tips on switching from Internet Explorer to Firefox, go here.

To get your copy of Firefox, just click on the download link below:

If you don’t have Windows XP, then you will need a wireless connection manager for your Wi-Fi connection so you can see what wireless networks are available, and choose the one to which you would like to connect. Well, T-Mobile offers a very cool (and very good) Wi-Fi connection manager client for free here:

http://client.hotspot.t-mobile.com/

Here’s a screenshot:

(click to enlarge)

It not only tells you what wireless connections are available where you are located, but it also has a constantly updated directory of T-Mobile’s Hotspots worldwide, which is cool if you are a T-Mobile Hotspot subscriber.

This software is a private version of PCTel’s highly commended Segue Wi-Fi Roaming Client. It is supposedly better than WinXP Pro’s Wi-Fi connection manager, as it has more features.

If you do have Window XP, and you want to check it out, you will have to disable Windows XP’s Wi-Fi connection manager:

1. Click on your START button
2. In Windows XP, go to CONTROL PANEL, and in Windows 2000, go to SETTINGS => CONTROL PANEL
3. In Windows XP, if the CONTROL PANEL that just popped up is all blue, then click on “view in classic mode” on the left”; Windows 2000 users don’t need to do this
4. Double-click on ADMINISTRATION TOOLS in CONTROL PANEL
5. Double-click on SYSTEM
6. In the window that pops up, scoll down the list until you see the program called WIRELESS ZERO CONFIGURATION
7. RIGHT-click on it and select PROPERTIES
8. In the middle of the window that pops up, under SERVICE TYPE, select MANUAL from the drop down menu
9. Below that, under Service Status, if it says STARTED, then click on the STOP button below it (make sure no pop-up ads created with this program are open when doing this)
10. Click OK
11. Close the SERVICES window and the ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS windows
12. DONE!

Having an anti-virus program (AV program) running on your computer is imperative to its healthy operation. Not only should you have an AV program installed and running on your computer, but your virus definitions should be up-to-date as well.

What are virus definitions, you ask? Well, they are simply data files that define what a virus looks like so these data files can say to your AV program, “Hey! Look! There’s a virus! Get it!” And since there are always new viruses being written (yes, I said written..by people that is!), you need to have your AV program set so that it automatically keeps up-to-date with the latest viruses.

I said viruses were “written,” because they are written…by people…malicious people who have nothing better to do with their lives then try to mess with others’ computers. A lot of times, they are written by young kids who get a rush from doing it. Or they want notoriety. But I digress.

Back to the subject at hand.

Not only does this program find viruses, but it also finds Trojan Horses, which are also written by humans. Trojan Horses are the worst type of threat, as these are executable programs that hackers (malicious computer nerds) use to watch what you are typing into your computer. You usually get Trojan Horses via email, but there are other ways to get them as well (downloading something you did not ask for, but were prompted to download when surfing websites, for instance (do NOT do this), or being on an infected network).

With these Trojan Horses, hackers can potentially see you typing in your usernames, passwords, card card info, bank info, etc. However, they have to be online and executing the Trojan Horse on your computer while you are online doing this, which is not that probable, but is possible. In any case, you want to get rid of these as well.

The program is called AVG Anti-Virus FREE Edition, and you can get it here.

Make sure, when you install it, that you perform a Live Update so that it has the latest virus definitions, as stated above. And don’t just do it once. You need to keep on performing this Live Update until it tells you that you have all of the updates. Once this is done, scan your computer. Hopefully it will not find anything. Then, have it set to scan your system every day at a certain time when your computer is on, but you will most likely not be using it.

Protection is key to keeping your system safe from threats, and this free program is just the program to do it.

However, this is not the only program that you need to keep your system running smoothly. There are other types of threats. See my post, “Is your computer taken over by popups?”