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Description Contents Description
Computer Security is a huge issue for most people, whether it be concern about the many viruses that are passed via disks and email or whether it be concern for personal details when shopping online. Of course there are many ways to protect your computer and your details and this book explains them all. Written in the usual, extremeloy popular, Idiot's Guide style, this book will appeal to anyone with a PC. topContents
Contents Introduction xiii Part 1: Know Your Enemy 1 1 ‘Don’t Buy A Computer, But…’ Beware The Enemy On Your Desktop 3 Are You The Master Of Your Own Computer? 6 Meet Our Cast Of Characters 7 Thinking Secure Thoughts 11 Operating System Alert 12 Watch Out For Relatives, Friends And Colleagues 14 The Balanced Approach To Computer Security 15 2 ‘…If You Buy A Computer, Don’t Turn It On’ 19 A Mish-mash Of Mismatched Machinery 19 Causes Of Hardware Failures 21 Acts Of God (And The Electric Company) 23 Doing It Yourself 25 Is Your Computer Out-of-date? 28 Buying A Machine With Security In Mind 31 3 SOS (Save Our Operating System) 35 Pity Your Operating System 35 The Windows OS And Application Software 38 -How Application Software Integrates With The OS (The_ Windows API) 39 Knowing The Weaknesses In Windows 40 Responding To Windows Error Messages 41 Updating Your OS From The Internet 43 Configuring Your OS For Stability And Security 45 4 Building A Secure System 55 Do-it-yourself Computer Building 55 Designing Your Own Hardware Platform 57 Planning Your Disk Drive Configuration 59 Choosing The Right Software 61 Organizing Your Computer Work Space 63 A Quick Look At Other Operating Systems 66 5 Vicious Viruses, Wiggling Worms And Bouncing Bombs 69 What’s Bugging You? 69 The Low-down On Computer Viruses, Worms And Logic _ Bombs 72 How Computer Viruses Attack Your Computer 76 Spotting The Invaders In Your Own System 79 Tracking Down Anti-virus Software 87 Dealing With the Aftermath 90 Part 2: Taking Control Of Your Own Machine 93 6 Thinking Digital 95 Understanding Digital Data 95 Digital Data Representation 98 Storing Digital Data 99 Programs Versus Data 100 Data Storage Locations 102 Data Security Strategies 105 7 The Curse Of Software 109 Why Software Is So Fragile 109 How Software Operates Within The Windows Environment 110 Common Software Problems 111 How To Deal With Software Crashes 113 -Emergency Brakes – The Three-finger Salute 115 Taking Control Of Software Operations 117 Stopping The Auto-starters 121 -Housekeeping Routines – Keeping Your System Spick And _ Span 125 8 In With The New And Out With The Old 129 Loading Up Trouble For Yourself 129 How New Software Installs Onto Your Computer 130 The Hazards Of Installing New Software 132 How To Install New Software Safely 135 How To Remove Rogue Software Completely 137 9 Back-ups – Computer Lifesavers 141 The Terrible Risks To Stored Data 141 You Are Backing Up Your Data – Aren’t You? 142
-The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Different Back-up _ Media 143
Deciding On A Back-up Strategy 144 Using Windows’ Back-up Utility 150 Save Disk Space With A Compressed Back-up 152 Third-party Back-up Software 152 Part 3: Going Cryptographic 157 10 What Have You Got To Hide? 159 Your Right To Privacy 159 Scrambling Your Secrets 163 The Mechanics Of Data Encryption 163 Choosing Your Passwords And Pass-phrases 168 Hiding The Existence Of Data (Steganography) 170 Encryption Algorithms – The Tricks That Frighten _ Governments 171 11 Locking Up Your Secrets 175 Choosing The Right Level Of Security 175 Level 1: Basic Security 177 Level 2: Serious Security 182 Level 3: Advanced Security 189 12 Wiping The Slate Clean 195 The Tracks You Leave Behind 195 The Delete That Doesn’t Delete 199 Deleting Your Data Completely 201 Deciding On Data Deletion Techniques 204 Part 4: Networks, From LAN’s To The Internet 209 13 Networks And Network Security 211 Data Railways – The Growth Of Computer Networks 211 The Growth Of The Low-cost PC 214 Network Security 215 Building A Secure Network 216 14 The Internet – Data Sharing Goes Global 225 Enter The Internet And The World Wide Web 225 The Origins Of The Internet 226 ARPANET 227 NSFNET 228 The World Wide Web 229 The Development Of The World Wide Web 230 The Internet As A Communications Medium 232 Controlling Your Connection To The Internet 233 Internet Hardware 234 Internet Software 236 Modifying Your Dial-up Connection Settings 242 15 The Unseen Enemies On The Web 247 Meet The Predators 247 Understanding HTML 248 The Dangers From Active Code 251 Internet Traps And Snares For The Unwary 256 Software To Smooth Your Browsing 258 16 Surfing Unseen 261 The Case For Anonymous Web Browsing 261 The Information Your Browsing Reveals 262 Using Web Proxies To Keep Your Online Activities Private 265 Using An Anonymous Proxy Server From The Web 267 Installing Proxy Software On Your Own Computer 270 Using A Web-based Privacy System 272 17 Cleaning Up Your Web Tracks 277 Who Knows Where You’ve Been 277 The Data Your Computer Stores Without You Knowing It 279 -How Snoopers Track Your Online Activities 285 Automating The Clean-up Process 288 18 E-mail – A Double-edged Sword 293 How E-mail Actually Works 293 Who Can Read Your E-mail? 294 Web-based E-mail Accounts 296 Damned Spam 297 The Nastiness That Lurks In E-mail Attachments 301 Encrypting E-mails (And Other Transmitted Data) 302 Sourcing E-mail Encryption Software 304 19 Web Crime And Commerce 309 Who Watches The Watchmen? 309 Internet Crime 310 -Commercial Profiling 313 Website Privacy Policies 315 Spyware – The Commercial Snooper At Work 315 Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) 318 Purchasing Online 319 Digital Signatures 321 Secure Storage For Personal Details 323 20 Where Do The Children Play? 327 The Moral dimension 327 Do You Know Where Your Children Go? 328 Pornography, Violence, Racism ... Keeping The Horrors _ At Bay 332 Your Children As Marketing Targets 337 The Dangers From Internet Chat Rooms 339 Safe Sites For Children 341 Part 5: Trespassers Will Not Be Forgiven 343 21 Hello Hackers, Everywhere! 345 Hacking And Cracking 345 What Is A Hacker 346 The ‘Hacker Ethic’ 347 Hackers On The Internet 348 The Hackers’ Tools 351 A Hacker Speaks … 353 Understanding Software Ports 355 22 The Trojan Horse 359 The Trojan Wars 359 Additional Dangers From New Technologies 362 Spotting A Trojan At Work 362 Protecting Yourself Against A Trojan Horse 364 Anti-Trojan Software 367 23 Building A Wall Around Your Computer 371 The Mighty Firewall 371 How A Firewall Works 372 Firewall Strengths And Weaknesses 376 Third-party Firewall Software 377 Physical Barriers To Intruders 381 24 Now DO Something … 385 Developing A Security Strategy 385 Part 6: Resources 395 Appendix 1: List Of Common Trojan Horses 397 Appendix 2: A Useful List of TLAs (Three-letter Acronyms)_ And Some Two- And Four-letter Ones As Well 407 Index 411 top
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