CYBER NOTES by Dave Benore

Updates, Updates, and more Updates!

Those of “us” computer users that use the Internet, and that’s most of us, may or may not have plugged into the need for updates. Well, what the heck are those?

In the past (last September), we spoke of antivirus programs that detect computer viruses and delete them. (There are not real viruses in computers. What we call computer viruses are nasty little programs, written by creeps that have nothing better to do, that actually replicate themselves in your computer files. They do, however, affect your computer’s “health”.) We also spoke of the need to keep them up to date.

This is done by using the internet to connect to the antivirus program maker and downloading the latest additions to their program. This is called updating. When you buy the software you get free updates for a certain time period, usually 3 or 6 months, and then you can subscribe to their continuing update service for a small fee per year. DO IT! It is absolutely necessary as new viruses come out all the time. Think of it as inoculating your computer against new “diseases”.

Last May we spoke of Spyware in detail, and mentioned Firewalls in passing. A little more firewall information is needed. Firewalls are the name of a class of computer programs that also protect your computer but in a different way than antivirus programs do. Firewalls act as “guards” at the door of your computer connection to the internet. They stop outsiders from establishing a connection with your computer, without you knowing it, and stealing information from you—like passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. Need I say more? Firewalls, today, are as necessary as antivirus programs—maybe even a lot more considering the proliferation of identity theft we hear about now.

Firewalls also need updating just like antivirus programs do. They are updated in exactly the same way. Both antivirus programs and firewall programs are often improved or added to once a week--sometimes more. Every time a new virus or “Trojan Horse” program is discovered, the antivirus and firewall makers come out with a new update to protect against the new offender. (Trojan horse programs, nasty guys also, are usually stopped by firewalls.)

Spyware, which we spoke of last May, also is periodically updated to protect against this new kind of hackers’ attack weapons. So now there are three kinds of updates to pay attention to. But wait! That is not all. There is a fourth update to look at.

Microsoft, the maker of the Windows Operating systems (95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP) also updates their operating systems. They do this when they find “bugs” in their system. (A “bug” is the name for a previously unnoticed flaw in a program.)

Now days, hackers find these little bugs in the operating system and exploit them to gain access to your computer while you are on the internet. They can then steal information from you or cause your computer to malfunction.

Microsoft creates “patches”, little programs that fix these bugs, and make the patches available to the users of their Windows Operating systems. Each patch prevents hackers from one more way of gaining access to your computer. But to get these patches, you must UPDATE your operating system. Go to www.microsoft.com and look for the link to “windows update”. Click on the link and see a new window open called “WINDOWS UPDATE”. (How about that!) Click on “scan for updates” to see what your computer needs.

Microsoft, via the internet, will look at your computer’s operating system files and determine if new patches are available. Some are marked “critical updates”. These are the updates that protect your computer against hackers. Download and install all critical updates. Other updates may not be of much value to you. Windows XP can do this for you automatically. Older systems might require you to do this manually. Once every week or two is about right. (Sidebar: Microsoft no longer “supports” Windows 95 and are about to stop supporting Windows 98, so updates for those systems may no longer be available. I have not checked on this.)

Now for the last problem: If you only use a dialup modem connection over phone lines, many of the updates will take forever (hours) to download because they can be very big—sometimes several megabytes. In this day and age high speed internet connections, called broadband, are almost mandatory to receive the larger updates. Cablevision and esedona are two who do offer broadband connection service locally. Once you have it, you will never go back to dialup connections. The difference is speed is awesome!

Happy computing!