What's the Best Internet Security Plan? Follow Me For Some Revelation...

The best Internet security plan? In my humble opinion, here it is: (and "Get a Mac" is not on my list :-)

Update: I recently (June 2010) ran into this video from Kasperksy labs. One of the guests, Costin Raiu, gives a list of important steps for companies to take to be as secure as possible. Even though he is talking about businesses, the same advice applies to all of us. The entire video is good but his comments about this begin at 6:17. It's very good.

And now for my suggestions:

1. Update your OS to Windows 7 64 bit if possible:

   If you have an older operating system, like Windows XP, you're MUCH more vulnerable to attacks. That's even more true now because Microsoft will not be supporting XP after July 2010. Furthermore, Windows 7 64 bit has a couple of special tools it uses in the "kernel" to protect against malicious attacks. Don't worry about how that works. The bottom line is that Windows 7 64 bit is A LOT safer by design than Windows XP and probably Vista as time goes on. Check out this chart:

   

   Courtesy Microsoft Malware Protection Center

   If the image is hard to read, go here This chart is telling you that the taller the bar, the more infections were cleaned on those operating systems by Microsoft's own security tool called the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT). As you can see, Windows 7 RTM is one of the shortest.

   That's a very good thing. Don't worry about the Vista bar being shorter. That's just because Windows 7 hasn't been out as long and this chart only covers the second half of 2009 when 7 was still fairly new. It will get even better. So get Win 7 64 bit if your computer will run it. You can find out here.



2. Use Microsoft Update:

   If you don't have Windows receiving automatic updates, be sure to set it up that way. Even better, there's an option to use "Microsoft Update" instead. This updates Windows and other Microsoft products. Believe it or not, Microsoft reports that even if users update Windows, they don't necessarily update Office and other products.

   This leaves big security holes you will want plugged immediately, especially on Windows XP. To upgrade in Vista and Windows 7, just go to the start menu search bar and type Windows Update and click on it. Once that opens, there will be an option to upgrade to Microsoft Update. In XP, open Internet Explorer, choose Tools from the menu and then Windows Update.

   
   
3. An update utility for third party software:

   I highly recommend using Secunia's PSI (Personal Software Inspector). This free utility will run in the background and scan your system once a week for vulnerable and outdated programs, even Windows updates. It even provides download links for most updates. I have this installed on all of my family's computers.

   Tip: To reduce the number of programs running in the background, I turn off the update feature in other installed programs and just let Secunia PSI alert me to what needs to be updated.



4. An Internet security suite:

   Definitely have a top rated Internet security software package installed. This includes anti-malware components (anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, etc) and a top-notch firewall. It needs to offer real-time scanning of your hard drives, email, instant messages, chats, and so on. Any of the products on the home page will do.



5. Image Your Hard Drive:

   Do a full image of your hard drive on a separate backup hard drive. Then incrementally backup every night. You can set your imaging software to consolidate your backups once a week to save space. I like Acronis True Image.



6. Back Up Your Documents Frequently:
   

   Use SyncToy (free from Microsoft), GoodSync (about $30 but worth it) or other file sync software to update your documents or profile folders regularly to the backup drive. I do this every 15 minutes because I'm constantly writing and changing files. Goodsync does this silently and dependably. I use the same external backup drive that I use for imaging but I synchronize my documents to a separate folder.



7. Get A Portable Backup Drive:
   

   For the best Internet security plan, get a portable backup hard drive and attach it anytime you work away from your primary backup drive. Run a sync program every 15 minutes the same way you do for your primary backup drive.



8. Get An Online Backup Service:

   Bite the bullet and pay for a few gigabytes of a online backup service. If, God forbid, you lose everything in a fire, flood, theft or whatever, you can still get your documents back from a secure location that is NOT IN YOUR HOME. You can get a couple of free gigabytes with some security suites nowadays. I use a dedicated program called JungleDisk because it is very flexible, has no practical limit on storage, and runs reliably. Another popular option is Carbonite.

One note on backups. For large backups, use an external hard drive. For your documents, use an external hard drive AND online backup. Online backup is very slow overall, so it's not practical to back up your entire hard drive. I have 22 GB of documents currently and that initially took several hours to back up online. After that, however, it's much faster since it only backs up changed files.

Some folks have a lot of pictures, music and video in their documents folders. This can run into many gigabytes and it might be too expensive to back them up online. Carbonite advertises no limit but Jungle Disk charges per gigabyte. So, whatever the case, at least do the disk image so they ARE backed up.

That's it! Once you've followed these steps you'll be in much better shape than most people. You don't want your photos, music, and video to be a ticking time bomb. There are other things you should do simply as a matter of common sense when surfing the Net, opening emails, and so forth but we'll cover these in other sections.

If you followed the above plan, here's what you could have done when the nasty virus killed your system:

• Scan your hard drive image using the best Internet security software you can get to make sure it's not infected. Time: 30 minutes

• Scan your separate documents backup for the same reason. Time: 15 minutes

• Re-image your drive from the backup drive. Time: 45 minutes

• Restore your documents since the last image. Time: 10 minutes

Total time to a perfect system: About 2 hours or less. Golf is on again.

There is one caveat...

Well, you knew it was coming, right? Nothing's really perfect. In a few cases, you might back up the threat in your disk image. Make sure you scan the backup for threats before restoring it.

Some, like Acronis True Image, allow you to mount the image just like it's a hard drive. Then you can scan it just like a drive. Just don't run any programs from the image until you do. You need to avoid re-infecting your computer.

Now, this is important: if you do find a virus in the backup image, you can simply go back to the most recent incremental image that is clean and restore from that point back. Then restore your most recent documents from one of your document backups.

Incremental images work wonders. This is why I do one every night. If I get a virus or some other catastrophe occurs, and it does get backed up to the image, I'll probably know it within a day's time. Since I'm doing a new incremental backup every night, I'll probably only be one day from an image that isn't infected.

That means that I may not lose any files when I'm done restoring everything.

So, I'm begging you, don't put yourself through the pain. Get a backup solution right now that works. The best Internet security plan doesn't rely on antivirus alone. It's a first line of defense but it does miss things and can destroy files.

The best defense is a great offense. Think ahead, set up automatic updates and notifications for Window and set up a backup system, preferably both local and online so you have multiple copies of your files in separate locations.

The best Internet security plan is multi-faceted. You'll be glad you did it right some day. I promise.