As we discussed in the in the series, the best way to prevent infection by a Virus is to Disable Autorun. So how do you disable Autorun? The easiest way to do this is using Group Policy Editor which is a . To Turn Off AutoPlay/ AutoRun follow these steps :
Watch this step by step Flash Tutorial

1. Goto START»RUN gpedit.msc

2. Browse to the folder Computer Configuration»Administrative Template»System.

3. Scroll down and Open Turn Off Autoplay option.

4. Enable it and select All Drives

This will be a system wide change. Instead if you need to turn Off Autorun just for your user account do the same in the folder -

User Configuration»Administrative Template»System

Please read the previous post in the series for some more useful tips on preventing Viruses.You might want to use the Address bar tip give at the end of last post in this series too.

This is a small list of folders and files which were displayed by the method mentioned on the previous post in this series.

Hidden folders and files in C drive of Windows

Recycler : Recycler is aanother form of Recycle Bin. The Recycler folder contains a Recycle Bin for each user that logs on to the computer, sorted by their security identifier (SID).

System Volume Information : This contains the log files and backups of important System Files that are used for System Restore in Windows. (System Restore allows you to roll back all the settings and System Files to a previous time)

MSOCache : MSOCache is the folder that contains cached Office installation files. The folder is safe to delete.

NTLDR : This is the Windows NT boot loader. This is replaced by winload and Windows Boot Manager in Windows Vista

NTDETECT.COM : This file is used by Windows NT during startup to detect basic hardware required to boot the OS. This is used for Systems having BIOS.

Autoexec.bat : is most often used to set environment variables such as keyboard, soundcard, printer, and temporary file locations. It is also used to initiate low level system utilities.
These are the main folders and files in XP.

pagefile.sys : This is the actual pagefile, as the name indicates, of Windows. This file is used as virtual memory on your system.

hiberfil.sys : As the name indicates this is the file used for Hibernation. While hibernating the system stores all the content of the RAM to this file and shuts down. The next time you start your system the RAM contents are restored from this file.

An LCD flat panel display is much better for your eyes if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer. If you spend a little more money than a CRT monitor you can get a sleek ,light and less power hungry LCD TFT display. I was recently searching for an LCD monitor and finally bought the HP 1908w 19″. So I was forced to do a little research (lol) in the area. I am sharing it because some of you may get some benefit from it.

Size :

If you are using the LCD for daily work and not for group entertainment (like a movie) you will not need much larger than a 19″ screen (or may be 22″ if you go that far).

Aspect ration :

Aspect ratio is the ratio of width and height of your screen. 4:3 means for 4 units of width 3 units of height is taken (like 1024x 768 is 256x4 and 256x3). If you like to use your monitor mainly to watch movies go for a 16:10 wide screen aspect ratio. You can get 16:9 also on some Samsung models. If you plan to use it mainly for document editing and office work it would be better to go for an aspect ratio of 5:4 (10280×1024).

Response time :

Response time would not be much of a concern to you unless you are a die hard gamer. If you are then go for something like 5ms or faster (3ms). The Gray to Gray response time is more of a use to the customer actualy.

Contrast :

To put it in simple terms contrast is the intensity difference between Black and White pixels. Go for higher contrast.

Brightness :

Here also the higher the better. but never settle for anything lower than approximately 280cd/m^2.

Connectors :

VGA the 15 pin connector is a standard. Go for DVI or even HDMI ports. Here even if you don’t have a graphics card that supports DVI you can use the monitor with the VGA cable. (VGA is th 12 pin connector – normally blue that you can connect to the onboard graphics of any computer).

Price :

Here in India you can get a decent 19″ LCD screen for upward of 220 US dollars. If you need more features you got to spend more.

Bottom Line

Go for LCD monitors as they provide you with maximum screen size(viewable) in any size class. If you are a professional designer or something there are only very few LCD TFT screens that can compete with CRTs as of now. Search for more than three manufacturers and in more as many shops as you can. Always ask for a demo of the product if you haven’t seen one of the models before. Use the monitor in a dark room also if possible. Play a movie and also ask for the warranty details.

One of the main reasons of rapid spreading of viruses is due to the presence of Autoplay in Windows. Autoplay feature was originally introduced to enhance user experience. An easy way for a virus to enters a PC is through exploiting this option. You can see Autoplay in action when a driver CD of you Motherboard or a Printer start its installation process as soon as you inserts it. Here let us look at how Autorun can be added to a drive (CD, USB, HSS etc..) and make it Windows open a program automatically when you puts it in or double clicks it.

Adding Autoplay to any drive is as easy as creating a text file and typing some commands into it. Have a look at the Autorun.inf file (this makes Windows run programs automatically from CDs) of the Microsoft Office 2007 CD.

The Right Click menu has been modified according to the entries in the autorun.inf file. The file need to be saved with the name Autorun.inf  The bad part is that autoplay can be added to any drive. And a virus can create an autorun file in a USB drive inserted into an infected system. It then makes the autorun file such that not only does the autoplay option open an infected file but the Open and Explore commands in the right click menu will also do the same.

This is the Screen shot of an Autorun.inf file created by the virus Infostealer.Wowcraft.D virus

It will automatically install itself with out you ever knowing, if autoplay is enabled. You might have figured out how easy a virus can infect a Windows based system.

Prevention :

As they say prvention is better than cure. Here are some steps you can take to prevent infection of viruses due to Autoplay.

1. Disable autoplay (more baout this on next post in this series)

2. Always Open a CD or Pen Drive (USB stick) by using the pull down menu of your address bar. You can also type the drive letter followed by a “ : “  eg. D: in the address bar or Run box and press enter.

More about disabling autoplay will be posted in the next post.

The Disk Management object under Microsoft Management console can be used to Change Drive letter association, find unrecognized partitions or Mount a logical drive into a folder as in Linux.

If you want to prevent access to a drive, read 2nd tip in “Points to note” given after this post or read how to Prevent access to select drives using Registry.

“One of the key differences between Windows and Linux is the tree structure used in Linux for filesystem. In Linux everything is a hierarchical leaf or branch of the Root “\” directory. It was only recently that Linux started loading (mounting) drives other than the system drive automatically. (If you want to know more,  here is an article which will explain the Linux file hierarchy). To implement the Linux style tree structure in windows is pretty easy and is explained here.”

Open Disk Management object by typing “diskmgmt.msc” in START » RUN box or in Command Prompt. Here you can see all the Primary (Blue) and Logical (Green) partitions available on your system.

You will be able to see the Linux partitions too. Select a drive and Right Click on it. Here you can see an option “Change drive Letter and Paths“. Under this option you can remove a drives letter change it or mount a volume into a folder.

Screen shot of my H and G drives mounted in a folder “C:\Drives”

Consider reading The post on Microsoft Management Console if you want to know more.

This is the start of a series of posts that will guide you through using Microsoft Management Console to manage your system. In this post most of the text has been excerpted from the MMC help file. The MMC allows you to control and manage the many available options from an easy to use interface. All the options are also available from the Windows Registry. But for many dealing with Registry is not an easy task. Also for simple administrative tasks involving MMC using the Registry will be an overkill for many. (You can find the posts on Registry here) The following i a brief into to MMC from the MMC help available in Windows XP.

The extension of console objects are always msc representing Microsoft Console. They can be found under “%systemroot% \system32 ” folder. A backup copy of each could be found under “%systemroot%\system32 \dllcache ” folder

Introduction to MMC

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) can be used to create, save, and open administrative tools (called MMC consoles) that manage the hardware, software, and network components of your Windows system. MMC does not perform administrative functions, but hosts tools that do. The primary type of tool you can add to a console is called a snap-in. There are two general ways that you can use MMC: in user mode, working with existing MMC consoles to administer a system, or in author mode, creating new consoles or modifying existing MMC consoles.

The following administrative tools appear under Windows XP

Component Services

Used by system administrators to deploy and administer COM+ programs from a graphical user interface, or to automate administrative tasks using a scripting or programming language. Software developers can use Component Services to visually configure routine component and program behavior, such as security and participation in transactions, and to integrate components into COM+ programs. For more information, see Using Component Services.

Computer Management

Used to manage local or remote computers from a single, consolidated desktop utility. Computer Management combines several Windows XP administrative tools into a single console tree, providing easy access to a specific computer’s administrative properties. For more information, see Using Computer Management.

Data Sources (ODBC)

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a programming interface that enables programs to access data in database management systems that use Structured Query Language (SQL) as a data access standard. For more information, see Using Data Sources (ODBC).

Event Viewer

Used to view and manage logs of system, program, and security events on your computer. Event Viewer gathers information about hardware and software problems, and monitors security events. For more information, see Using Event Viewer.

Local Security policy

Used to configure security settings for the local computer. These settings include the Password policy, Account Lockout policy, Audit policy, IP Security policy, user rights assignments, recovery agents for encrypted data, and other security options. Local Security Policy is only available on computers that are not domain controllers. If the computer is a member of a domain, these settings may be overridden by policies received from the domain.

Performance

Used to collect and view real-time data about memory, disk, processor, network, and other activity in a graph, histogram, or report form. For more information, see Using Performance.

Services

Used to manage the services on your computer, set recovery actions to take place if a service fails, and create custom names and descriptions for services so that you can easily identify them. For more information, see Using Services.

# To open MMC, click Start, and then click Run (WIN+R). In the Open box, type “mmc“.

# The consoles available in Windows XP are listed below. To access any just type their name (include the .msc) in Windows Run box (WIN+R)

certmgr.msc
ciadv.msc
compmgmt.msc
devmgmt.msc
dfrg.msc
diskmgmt.msc
eventvwr.msc
fsmgmt.msc
gpedit.msc
lusrmgr.msc
ntmsmgr.msc
ntmsoprq.msc
perfmon.msc
rsop.msc
secpol.msc
services.msc
wmimgmt.msc

The follow up posts in this series will deal with managing you computer with the MMC.