Introduction: Hacks #95-100
You're
wondering how the heck to get all the
"stuff" from the old PC to the new
one. Unless you've got all of the installation disks
for your software and want to reinstall all of it—and have
backed up datafiles to another tape, CD, disk, or
network—you've got a big chore ahead.
The next series of hacks presents applications you can use to copy
files, settings, and even some applications from one PC to another.
Previous chapters showed you dozens of ways to tune up a PC, and of
course you'll apply the most appropriate hacks to
this new PC. You built it, configured it, got it set up just the way
you like it, and you probably don't want all that
work on your new PC to go to waste. The programs and data you work
with are invaluable to your life and your occupation. Leaving them
and your whole PC at risk makes as much sense as leaving your car or
home unlocked in a high-crime neighborhood. The Internet is as much a
"friendly global village" as it is
a seething hotbed of malicious activity covering everything from
questionable marketing methods to multimillion dollar identity theft
and fraud scams.
In my anxiety to tinker with fresh PC installations, I have let
unprotected Linux and Windows systems connect to the Internet and
subsequently come under attack or become infected within a matter of
seconds. It is not a pretty or pleasant sight. An essential part of
setting up a new PC is making sure it becomes and stays safe and
stable. This three-tiered approach to protecting yourself, your
family, and your employer can save you hours of work and potentially
thousands of dollars of personal or corporate worth:
- Virus protection
-
Whether
you prefer AVG, Trend, F-Prot, McAfee,
Norton, or Panda, you simply must have virus protection on your PC.
Even if you download little or nothing to your PC, exchange files
with no one or only with people you trust, and don't
use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, a virus will find its way
to your PC eventually.
- Network protection
-
I
include both hardware and software
firewalls as well
as
anti-malware [Hack #98] protection
in this category. What you do with your PC is your business—you
didn't buy it or build it just to let someone else
take control of it. Hardware firewalls block most if not all
undesirable incoming traffic, and software firewalls protect you from
what may get through a hardware firewall and from programs running on
your own PC, including some malware. Malware protection is necessary
to eliminate hidden applications that may circumvent the firewalls
and consume your resources without your knowledge.
- Backups
-
Backing up
your data is
considered long-term protection, but a failure can happen at any time
and may be self-induced as you're hacking your way
through this book. Whether you make a complete image of your
PC's hard drive or merely copy your documents to a
CD, you owe it to yourself to perform some kind of backup.
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The first thing you must do when setting up a
new Windows, Linux, Unix (the list goes on and on!) PC is to get the
latest operating system updates. On Windows, you
can do this with Windows Update (available off of Internet
Explorer's Tools menu). On Linux, Unix, and other
operating systems, the method varies. Apply these updates
early; apply them often.
Every new install involves a bootstrapping problem: you
can't securely connect to the Internet without
running the updates; you can't get the updates
without connecting to the Internet. The solution to this is simple:
get a firewall [Hack #99]
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