Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

I got my first laptop, an HP Pavilion, in 2003; it came pre-loaded with Windows XP. I made the mistake of connecting it to the Internet BEFORE turning on Windows Firewall. (Oddly, Windows Firewall was turned off by default– DUH!). While downloading Windows updates the first few minutes of using the laptop, I was hit with the Blaster worm. My laptop suddenly shut off– *poof* — then restarted. Then shut off, restarted, shut off, restarted…. I was terrified. I’d just bought the thing and it acted like a zombie.

Circuit City customer service told me my laptop had been infected with the Blaster worm. I had to reformat the entire operating system (thank God, Windows supplied disks back then).

It was a good lesson– turn on the Windows Firewall before ever connecting the machine to the Internet. I always use third party firewalls (Comodo), but I always turn the Windows Firewall on before I get the third party download.

Windows Firewall not comes turned ON by default. About time.

Getting a new computer is fun. But you just can’t plug it in to your ethernet and start surfing away. The Internet is too evil to do that, now. Here are some tips:

1.) Activate the Windows Firewall. It’s not the strongest of firewalls, but at least it offers some protection. You can go online, download your third party firewall, and install it. Then, shut off your Windows Firewall.

2.) Download Windows Updates. Oftentimes, computers are preloaded months previously with operating systems. As the weeks or months pass while the computer sits on the shelf, waiting to be purchased, Windows Updats come and go. Security holes are discovered and plugged. You don;t know when your operating system was installed– download the updates first thing. Sometimes this can be a real pain– downloading updates can take hours– you just got a new computer and want to use it! But the updates are important.

3.) Get an anti-virus program going. Windows now has something, I think. But again, I prefer third party (AVG). Download it, update it, and get it going.

You can read more tiips and some how to’s at the Microsoft website, including how to activate the Windows Firewall, which can be difficult to find in XP.