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1)
Download and Install 2 firewalls: Zone Alarm
AND Esafe. After installing Zone Alarm,
you can double click on the little icon (in your system tray at the bottom
right hand corner of your machine), and click on the programs tab and then
on either the Server or Access side of any application that it shows. And
force each and every application to ask for your permission to do just
about anything regarding accessing the web. In other words, when you click
on either Server or Access it will give you the option of choosing to
block, allow or ask you for permission (X, check or ? mark). You will find
that some applications require themselves to be servers, like real player
and IRC. Generic Host Process for Win32 will have to be allowed to do what
it wants if you wish to surf the web. Most other applications will run
well without ever being allowed to act as a server. If you're in doubt,
put a question mark on all of the applications, on both sides, then allow
what you want ONLY when you absolutely have to.
It's
hard to believe that some people actually feel that it's safe to surf
WITHOUT any firewall. I like running 2 firewalls as both of these
applications try reporting to their home bases (just like Windows XP
does). But each firewall (application) will ask you if the other is ok to
report home. And you just say no. This way each firewall protects you from
the other one giving your data out.
2)
Read Batten
Down Those Ports. If you're already an information technology wiz
(someone who works in that field and knows most of the common
terminology), you can skip to
page 4
of that document to get right to the USEFUL details.
3)
As the above page states, go to
Gibson Research Corporation,
and have your ports checked to see if anything is open. If you have
installed Zone Alarm and done what I suggested, in step 1 above, no ports
should be seen by their web based testing tool; except for unplug and
pray. If you surf around on their site enough you will know what port that
is, download their tool for closing it; and that will close that port as
well.
4) Also, as is stated on the 4th page of the page in
number 2 above, go to
www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers. Then go to start / run and type
in cmd. At the command prompt type in
netstat -an. Then compare your open ports
with those at the IANA page. If you type, at the c:\ prompt,
netstat -an> c:\ports.txt," this will pipe
your open ports information to a text (.txt) file onto your c: partition.
You can then go into windows explorer and to the C: drive and double click
on the ports.txt file, and it will open in notepad. Then you can save this
file to your desktop and use it to, over time, close each of the open
ports as much as your time and patience allow.
5) CLOSING PORT 139:
With the above work, you will notice that port 139 is open. There is a
checkbox for "Disable NetBios Over TCP/IP" in Network and Dialup
Connections. If you have Windows XP, go to:
start / settings
/ network connections, and right click on the local
area connection icon (that represents your Network Interface Card)
and click properties. In the local area
connection properties dialog box (on the general tab), click
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) , then click the
properties button just below that. Click
Advanced, WINS
tab, then click the radio button beside Disable
NetBIOS over TCP/IP, then OK,
OK, and OK. If
you wish to confirm that port 139 is closed you can again run the
netstat -an command at the DOS C: prompt. If
you don't run Windows XP, and wish to close port 139, you can find more
information on doing this, in other operating systems, at
How To:
Demystifying NetBIOS.
6) Download and install
AVP and keep updating
your virus definitions from this page frequently.
7) Help your PC boot MUCH faster AND
close another open port by turning OFF Instant Messenger. Learn how, and
more importantly WHY with
Outlook & Outlook Express: Security Zones Part 4. In Outlook it's
easy. Click on Tools /
Options / Other (tab). Down at the
bottom remove the check from the small box
next to "Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft
Outlook." Click apply /
OK. You can also read how to disable port
1900, which Messenger broadcasts through, in the registry, at
Disable
Windows Messenger broadcasts on UDP port 1900.
Even though messenger can be disabled in
Outlook, and stopped from broadcasting in Zone Alarm, if you don't disable
it in the registry, and you turn it on in Zone Alarm, immediately it will
want to begin broadcasting to the internet.
8) Buy a router
at Fry's Electronics, or Best Buy, or one of the other retailers. Shop
around as they can be had for 30 bucks or less these days. (Don't forget
the network cabling you will need also; this may come with the router; or
not).
If you are using a Cable Modem with a
USB cable, you will need to have a NIC (Network Interface Card) installed
and switch to using it instead of USB. Good luck if you don't have any
open PCI slots on your motherboard.
Anyway, with Unix you can close all
your ports individually. With any form of Windows this is impossible. Even
though systems can't see your ports externally, because you are running a
software firewall, spy-ware can secretly open ports on your system and or
install keylogger software to get you passwords, and do other nasty things
like changing your system to track you with cookies, IDs, etc.
The next step,
in securing your system, is to install this router. These days they come
pre-configured with ALL ports closed; and GUI interfaces that use your
browser to easily configure them. In other words, you don't have to be a
Cisco wiz kid to get one configured. So, even if a piece of
malicious software successfully uses an open port on your system, that
port can't send traffic through a router that has ALL unnecessary ports
CLOSED.
9) Download
Ad-aware 6.0 build 181 and
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.2 and use these to clean your system
of Spy Ware that you will find hidden and installed on your system. After
running Spybot, but before you delete what it finds, go to
this page and read what that program found on your system. In other
words, educate yourself on what is being secretly placed on your system.
10) There are other ports to be closed. But this is
all that I have time for presently. If you use
Google to find out how to close the
rest of your open ports, as opposed to just hiding your PC with a
firewall, send the information to me, and, as I test and verify it, I will
add it to this web page.
11)
You may also wish to check out some of the other links that I have posted
at my virus and / or
security pages. |
