Secure Windows Xp Tutorial

Secure Windows XP In Eight Easy Steps.

1. Get a firewall. (even if its free) The standard firewall that comes with Windows XP is almost useless "alg.exe". Here are a couple of very good free firewalls. Sygate personal firewall from www.sygate.com and ZoneAlarm from www.zonelabs.com

2. Get a spyware removal tool. My personal favorite is AdawareSE from www.lavasoft.com

3. Be sure to get a virus scanner. Your choice, as there are many good ones out there. I don't have a personal preference.

4. Change your web browser to Mozilla Firefox available from www.mozilla.com, as it is much more secure than Internet Explorer and best of all it's open source, with tons of add ons you can download to use with it.

5. Go to control panel / network connections / generals tab / internet protocols TCP/IP/properties/advanced/wins and disable tcp/ip over netBIOS.

6. Go to control panel / Folder Options. Then select view tab go down until you find "Use Simple File Sharing (recommended)" and uncheck it! *Note* not found with service pack 2.

Tweaking XP without service pack2 reduces security Risks.

7. Go to start menu / run type "msconfig" without quotes select "services" tab Things to uncheck are the following...

Remote access connection manager
* remote auto connection manager
* remote desktop help session manager
* remote registry
* secondary logon (may disable guest accounts)
* telnet
* net meeting remote desktop sharing
* server
* net logon
* automatic updates (do it manually)
* help and support
* tcp/ip netBIOS helper
* wireless zero configuration. (Unless you use wireless Connection)
* telephony (unless you use dialup connection)
* application layer gateway service (Turn off windows firewall first)

Optional: uncheck the following...
* messenger
* alerter
View example image

Ok. Security tweaks are in place. Now lets reboot pc.

Beginners may stop here. If you're advanced and enthusiastic continue to number 8

8. Lets check to see if anything is connected to the internet.
go to start menu /run type "cmd.exe"
then in the black window type "netstat"
View example image

this command tells you current connections and their port numbers
if anything looks suspicious to you, disable your connection until you fix it.
You may want to write down all programs listening and their port numbers, then go to www.google.com to search for the name *.exe for instance find out what "isass.exe" is.

*Note* Memorize or write down listening ports.

Use task manager's Process ID (PID) feature to match programs with net connections.
Concurrent with the cmd command "netstat -o" So you think you got a trojan on your system?
View example image

I would continue this PID matching part but I think you got the basics. Keep your free firewall running at all times even if you get annoyed with the popups asking to connect to the internet. These tips won't make you hack proof but they are basic tweaks to keep you moderatley safe from attacks. If you share a printer on LAN or use remote logon and or guest accounts then some of this is not for you and I cannot be held responsible if your shared printer or dial up service etc no longer works do to applying the security tweak configuration. :)