10 of the Best Ways to Protect Your External Devices from Viruses

In this modern era where everyone uses computers, you cannot assure that you are always safe. If you're still not familiar with the term Virus then this is your time to know them.

VIRUS or Vital Information Resources Under Siege is a harmful computer program that replicates itself to spread to other computers. One of the most common ways of diffusing them is through removable storage devices such as USB keys, External Hard Disks, CDs, VCDs, DVDs and similar things. VIRUS creates a copy of them in storage devices and is launched, usually at auto-play, to infect the next computer.

In this case, there are lots of ways to protect yourself from this harm:

1 - Install an Anti Virus

Making sure that you have an UPDATED Anti Virus installed in your computer is one way to make sure that your computer is safe. Just make sure than other than being updated, your AV must scan removable devices automatically on the time it is inserted.

2 - Online Back-up

Always make sure that you have back-ups of files that you have saved in your USB drives or external HDDs. This is would be very useful in times of "worst case scenario", wherein you would need to re-format your disks. Online Back-ups are advisable during this cases.

3 - Turn-off your Auto Play

Virus usually hacks the auto-play to run a certain program. This is activated when you open a folder or a drive. Most viruses use this method to infiltrate and re-copy themselves on the victim system. To disable it on windows:

XP users:

a) Click Start], click [Run], type [gpedit.msc], and then click OK.
b) Under [Computer Configuration], expand [Administrative Templates], and then click [System].
c) In the [Settings pane, right-click [Turn off Autoplay], and then click [Properties].
d) Click [Enabled], and then select All drives in the [Turn off Autoplay] box to disable Autorun on all drives.
e) Click OK to close the [Turn off Autoplay Properties] dialog box.
f) Restart the computer.

For Vista and Win7 users:

a) Click [Start], type [gpedit.msc] in the Start Search box, and then press enter.
b) If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
c) Under [Computer Configuration], expand [Administrative Templates], expand [Windows Components], and then click [Autoplay Policies].
d) In the [Details pane], double-click [Turn off Autoplay].
e) Click Enabled, and then select All drives in the [Turn off Autoplay] box to disable Autorun on all drives.
f) Restart the computer.

4 - Know your files well

Make sure that you know all the files installed on your external devices. When I said all, I mean ALL files including archived, hidden and system files. This is pretty handy on inspecting your devices on searching for potential viruses.

Usually, a USB key would only have all your normal files saved (not unless you saved a hidden file in your key). On the other hand, External Hard Disks (HDD), have system files installed in them like RECYCLER which is a directory used for Recycle Bin.

5 - Always use Right Click when Clicking

Avoid using double left click when opening external devices. Using the double-click to open a file, directory or drive, is like activating the auto-play. Usually when you hit the right click the options might be different when the file or folder is infected.

By default, folders and drives should have "Open" and "Explore" as options respectively, files on the other hand should have "Open" as the very first option. Also don' be fulled by the ICON, usually viruses show themselves as folders.

6 - Know the function and how to remove autorun.inf

Virus most of the time creates autorun.inf file in your USB key that usually have [system file] and [hidden file attributes]. This way you may not notice them initially.

Autorun.inf is an instruction file associated with the Autorun function. It is a simple text-based configuration file that tells the operating system which executable to start, which icon to use, and which additional menu commands to make available. In other words, it is tells Windows what to do when opening a drive. Take note that not all autorun.inf are dangerous. But most of the time they are especially if they are hidden.

To detect this without opening the drive, you can try this:

a) Run the command prompt or cmd. (All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
b) Type [dir [DRIVE-PATH] /a:h] Example: dir f:/
- This should list all hidden files inside your drive.
c) Type [dir [DRIVE-PATH] /a:s] Example: dir f:/
- This should list all system file inside your drive.
d) If in both steps b and c, an autorun.inf file appears then it's time to worry especially when it comes also with a suspicious exe or folder.

To delete it: NOTE: Make sure that the autorun.inf and the exe file is virus before deleting it, usually an external hard disk may have such files too that is required for it to run.

a) Run the command prompt or cmd. (All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
b) Type [attrib -r -a -s -h [AUTORUN-INF PATH]] Example: attrib -r -a -s -h f:/autorun.inf
c) Delete it by [del [AUTORUN-INF PATH]] Example: del f:/autorun.inf
d) It is advisable too to remove the suspected exe file using the same commands, just replace the [AUTORUN-INF PATH] with the path of the exe file.

7 - Insert On Trusted System only

Very self explanatory, never insert your external device to systems you don't trust

8 - Enable Write Protection to your External Devices

There are different ways to do this, one is to buy a USB key storage that has an external toggle switch that can do it. Another is to use a software that can temporarily lock your storage devices.

When you disable writing in your external devices, virus cannot copy themselves onto your device. The cons for this one is that you too cannot copy nor write to your storage key too.

9 - Learn How to Search! Know the Virus Trend!

My first attempt on virus removal was when I was blamed after a virus spread during my college years. Being curious on the virus' name, i did some searching and find out how to remove it. This curiosity turns into knowledge and a hobby for me to know or dissect a virus. Basically, having a knowledge on how a virus act is one way to avoid being affected. :)

10 - Think Before You Click Policy

This is a new policy that is being noted worldwide. It's as simple as think before clicking. This is not just applicable to social networking sites but also in virus protection. Even if you already pass the items above, it is still important to think before opening or running applications coming from external drives (or even in a system).

The list above are all based on my experience. Proof to say that experience is the best teacher! Cheers!

About Beneath The Tree A collection of algorithm, code and other programming methods. Includes programmers' point of view, interests and game reviews.
About Aj Banda, the author
a software developer and a blogger. I used my blogs to share my knowledge to the world but most of the time it serves as a reference of my previous algorithms and source codes.

10 Tips on Developing and Designing your Website

For three years, I have done a lot of web site application and most of them are corporate sites. So I thought of sharing some of the things I have learned from my work. Let's start by differentiating the term web designer and web developer. It should be clear that this two jobs are related to each other but not similar.

Web Designer vs. Web Developers

Web designer usually handles the front-end of the site. They are the ones who are concerned with the user interface (UI) of the website, basically they are the artistic people who knows the tricks and techniques of CSS and scripting that they can use on the browser wars.

On the other hand, web developers are the ones assigned to the back end of the site and doing the logic behind. They are the ones who used their brain cells on making the site work and as well as protect the it from invaders (technically called spams and other bots that tries to harm the site).

1 - First screen without scrolling is important (aka 'Above the Fold' )

Basically this defines the first impression a visitor sees everytime they see your site. It is a rule of thumb that they should know all the information about your site without scrolling down. The upper part should always explain or at least give a brief description on what to expect on your site. Avoid too large banners that almost occupy half of the screen. Put all menu and navigation on the upper part of the site and make sure it is visible enough for the users to see. Place all non-important things below or on other pages. Do not place them on the top unless you want it to be seen intentionally.

Thanks Harrison for the term 'Above the Fold'. :)

2 - External Files

This applies to all your scripts and styles. It is advisable to use external files instead of placing them inside your HTML (or whatever you are using) to customize your site. Why? Usually this is used to boost the speed of the sites. External scripts are saved on cache and so the next time you visit the said site it would be faster than the first time.

Now what if you're using blogger for your site host, well you can use other third party services to generate external scripts that you can call anytime. You can try Pastie by Josh Goebel for example, this generates text files that you can access from your site so that you can use it for your scripts and styles.

3 - Know your image well

Portable Network Graphics or PNG are the most common image type being used on web sites. It is because the said type supports transparency and is more convenient to use because it is smaller than using Graphic Interchange Format or GIF.

But upon using this, make sure that you know the consequence of this. There is actually an issue about PNG's transparency on Internet Explorer. Reports said that the previous version of IE doesn't support the filter that fixes this issue. There are lot of tutorials on the net that solve this issue, some of them uses CSS while others use javascript. As a developer, I don't recommend javascript solutions since these can be disabled on browsers. For CSS here is the porperty to add to resolve the issue:

...
view plainprint?

filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(...);
...

See this report on how to properly use it.

4 - Flash are good but is not advisable at all times

So you want to add flash on your site? Think twice. It is now very common that you'll receive visitors who are using mobile browsers to surf the net. Most of this mobile browsers doesn't suppport such file types and thus will just ruin your site on the said browsers

Another problem is that flash, which is commonly on SWF format, have issues on web designing. These files always comes to the top part of your site (foreground). So even if you use your z-index property knowledge, it won't go on the background of your other items. To resolve this you can always use the wmode property of flash files when you are trying to embed them.

5 - Make sure that your site is readable

Most of the time, this is the issue I'm getting. People are always telling me that the fonts are too small or too big. Actually there are no rules on using font-size. The issue arises depending on the audience you are trying to target. Usually you can use larger fonts for older people, on the other hand, I usually use 12 to 14 px for corporate sites.

Font-styles are also important to consider. Make sure that they are READABLE. Don't use Monotype Corsiva or Wingdings. Most of the time Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri are used for sites, others are just too much for sites and are not advisable. Courier are used for source codes and typewritten type of letters, leave it to those kind of blocks and never use them on your site.

Know how to use bold and italic letters, avoid using them regularly and never (as in never) use them as a default font for your site.

6 - Be careful with client-side scripts

Javascripts and JQuery are common on web developing and web designing. But before adding this, make sure that you know the consequence of using this. There are actually some browsers and users that are blocking this scripts for their protection. Make sure you know how to handle this cases especially if these scripts does a lot of important actions on your site.

During this case, noscript tags can be helpful.

7 - Anything you post on the web can be stolen

It is a stupid fact that everyone should know. I actually have a client before that wants her files to be protected in a way that no one can download it.. well for me it is stupidity!

As I have said, almost everything you see on your browser are being stored on cache, and how do they do it? the browser downloads it and saves it as temporary files for future use. So that's it! It needs to be downloaded so that it can be shown on the screen. So if there is something you don't want others to see.. Store it on your hard disk, unplugged your computer, place it inside a drum, cover it with cement and bury it. That way no one can steal your files! >:-)

8 - Place all scripts below the page

Make sure that the content is always above the unnecessary scripts. The reason why the visitors visit is because they want to see the content of your site. By placing the scripts below, users will be able to see your contents even if the page is still loading.

9 - Dress properly

Sites are like a product selling himself or a person attending a party. They need to look good depending on the occassion. Make sure that the colors blend together, unless you're selling "colors" on your site. Usually, 1-3 colors are enough for corporate sites. For kiddy sites, pastel colors work well.

Again, choose your colors right!

10 - Make it interactive

It's now the era of Web 2.0, interaction is a must! Visitors needs to interact to your site. Leave reading to books and encyclopedia. Viewers need to be somehow entertained while they are viewing your site. Add things that they can click like social sharing or social bookmarking buttons. If you can't add something like that, at least add some moving objects like animations. Anything that would catch attention so that users can continue reading.

Last and most important of all, though speed is our top priority we always need to make sure that everything works fine, errors are handled well and all unexpected cases are catch nicely (expect the unexpected as they always say). Now, when you are sure that everything works as you want it to be, then it's time to worry for speed. Happy developing! :)

~ Aji Banda

• Reference/Source: Ajibanda.blogspot.com by Aji Banda [8/03/2011]



About Beneath the Tree A collection of algorithm, code and other programming methods. Includes programmers' point of view, interests and game reviews.

About Aj Banda, the author
I'm Aj but some calls me aji. I'm a web programmer and a blogger. I used my blogs to share my knowledge to the world but most of the time it serves as a reference of my previous algorithms and source codes.