Tech tips -
So you read my column about the conficker virus. You have seen on the news how Microsoft has offered a $250,000 reward for information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible. You ran the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (January 2009 edition) and your computer is not infected.
But, now you are thinking to yourself, I do all the automatic security updates, but how can I be sure that my computer is actually up to date and that I don't have something strange done with my machine to make it a big blinking target to all the perverts on the internet?
A free tool available from Microsoft called the Baseline Security Analyzer will scan your computer and give you a detailed report about the current security condition of your machine.
Although it is aimed primarily at IT professionals, this tool is easy to install and just as easy to use. The detailed report is easy to understand, and there are instructions on how to take corrective measures for any issues it finds.
To get the tool, go to Microsoft.com and just search for it by name. On the download page, choose the en (for English) version of the msi. There are both x64 and x86 versions so just choose the one that corresponds to your box.
Once downloaded, double click the msi to install. Accept all the defaults. Start the tool and choose to scan this computer. You will need to be connected to the internet while running the tool.
On the computer I just scanned, the tool correctly identified that I had not installed the latest Silverlight Security Update. It told me that I had too many administrator accounts on my computer and that some of my user accounts had non-expiring passwords. It told me other useful things like unnecessary services I had running and that I should have logon auditing enabled.
Not only the wrong things, it also gave me green checks for things I had done correctly like disabling the guest account and not having autologon turned on. It didn't find any problems with Microsoft Office.
Safe surfing is good surfing!
toddmusseau@gmail.com
.jpg)
.jpg)
