System Evaluation

This assignment gives me a good opportunity to do a health check on my laptop. I have been using this machine for more than one and a half year, and have done lots of work on it. I use it to write assignments, receive and send emails, download software, create web pages, build a personal database and watch DVD and so on. It’s easy to see my system is often exposed to various threats, such as computer virus, intrusion and malicious applications. I have every reason to keep my system as safe as possible, but actually I didn’t do much to protect my system. It’s time for me to pay more attention to my system security.

The following is the basic features of my system.

• Acer TravelMate 610;
• Pentium III processor;
• 256 MB RAM;
• 20 GB Hard Disk
• CD-RW and DVD ROM
• Windows ME (Chinese)

Maintenance Tools of Windows ME

The most convenient way to maintain the system is to use the Maintenance Wizard. I chose the Express option to set up a regular schedule to have my system maintained. You can also choose the Custom option to specify what you want the system to do by using the maintenace tools, Disk Defragmenter, ScanDisk and Disk Cleanup. You can also run the maintenance tools separately at any time. The purposes of those tools are to clean up unnecessary files and components in the hard disk, check for errors and get your hard disk more organized. Those tools are very helpful for my system to run more efficiently, but not good enough to make my system more secure. Before making any improvement, I need a set criteria to assess the security of my system.

Evaluation Criteria

• Anti-virus capability

As I mentioned above, the system itself only has some maintenance tools to repair defects or error on the hard disk. They don’t have the capability to detect and eliminate computer viruses. To improve my system security, I have done a few things. First of all I downloaded the Norton AntiVirus software from the UNC shareware website. Since my computer does not receive automatic virus definitions files and program updates, I have to update my virus definitions files regularly. By using the LiveUpdate feature, the new virus definitions files will be retrieved from a Symantec site, and the old virus definitions files will be replaced in the Norton AntiVirus directory. In order to verify the effectiveness of the software, I ran the LiveUpdate and scanned the disk to check viruses. The following are the results.

The software successfully detected viruses and quarantined them. I can also choose to scan any drives, folders, files or the entire system. Norton Antivirus also supports scheduled scan and full system scan. I set up a weekly scan to protect my system from attacks.

I'm also pretty cautious before opening any files sent to me in email, because an infected executable attachment can infect my computer. When downloading programs from the Internet, I will choose the "Save to disk" option instead of directly opening it. I think it is helpful to avoid attacks from malicious programs.

• Stability

A system that often crashes unexpectedly not only causes possible loss of valuable data, but also does harm to the disc itself. It's obvious not good for the system security. My experiences with the Windows Me are not very satisfying. The system usually runs fine when running windows programs, but whenever I use programs like dreamweaver or fireworks, the system support seems very limited. The system often crashes when I run dreamweaver and another program simultaneously. My current solution is to avoid multitasking while using dreamweaver and other programs that require more system resources.

• Up-to-date Software

Updates—known as "fixes," "patches," "service packs," and "security rollup packages"—are important to protect my computer and my personal data, because software crackers can exploit flaws to affect my system. Windows Me has the automatic update feature that can automatically check for new updates, determine which updates apply to my computer and download them. It's very helpful to keep my system up-to-date. I turned on the Automatic Updates on my system, and I was immediately notified to download several patches from the Windows update website, and the system will install those patches automatically. The following screenshots show how update works.

I also sign up for update notifications for Micorsoft Office Applications and other software to enhance the security of my system. The Microsoft Security & Privact website actually suggests to update all software instead of one in case that conflicts among applications will cause unintended consequences.

• Firewall

My system currently doesn’t have firewall to monitor incoming traffic from the Internet. Firewall adds an important layer of protection between my computer and the Internet by enforcing restrictions on incoming traffic. My computer's identity can also be protected by firewalls, so hackers' attempts to probe my computer cannot return the type of information that makes it easy to invade.

Recommendations

This evaluation reveals that the security level of my system is insufficient. One thing that I immediately need to do is to install a personal firewall to block unauthorized entry into my computer. I also turned on the Windows automatic updates feature to check for new updates whenever I connect to the Internet. The security of my operating system will be enhanced by installing the latest patches and service packs. It is also important to update the firewall, anti-virus softwares as well as other applications in my system to reduce the risk of virus attacks and intrusion.