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How to protect your laptop


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At meetings (standards and others) you quite often need to protect your laptop...............

Of course, you need to look at the physical security and backup, perhaps using the IBM microdrive for backup (and you can keep sensitive s/w on it, though of course I guess most of it will be left in swap areas on your PC).

The electronic security is quite a more interesting issue, as LANs (both fixed and wireless) are used at meetings, and most people use microsoft software which needs some work.

Here are some useful sources of security advice and guidance:

  • Antivirus - Norton works well for me, and can also be used to look for viruses on POP mail boxes which I have found catches a few Email viruses.
  • Zonelabs offer a free firewall at http://www.zonelabs.com/.This works very well.
  • To test your system, try http://www.grc.com/ and go to 'Test My Shields'. This will try a few low level number and well known ports for weakness. Without a firewall you will be surprised what is exposed. Other sites offer full port scanning, but at a cost ($ and time).
  • Check your PC for spyware programmes that may be leaking your browsing. http://www.lavasoft.de/ is a good site, and Ad-aware is a freebie.
  • Look out for secure email packages, such as PGP which offers 'plug ins' to many email programmes.
  • Consider access control for your PC (hardware or software) and encryption of your files.
  • Finally, consider blocking cookies that may be looked at by others (if they code their web servers correctly) and maybe tracking your surfing.

I hope this helps!

I also use for email Eudora at http://www.eudora.com/ as this isn't seem quite so prone to outlook type viruses such as 'I LOVE YOU'.